Reinhard

"Excuse me, you two! Sorry to interrupt. Your master-disciple relationship is a little unusual, but I should warn you: the East Pole Kingdom has been chaotic lately. If you're from another country, you'd best stay out of dark alleys!"

"Ha! Sorry about that! I was talking with my master and haven't had a chance to thank you for saving me. I'm Subaru Natsuki, and this is my master, Uchiha Hane. Thank you for coming to my rescue!"

Subaru straightened up and bowed deeply to Reinhard.

Reinhard waved a hand.

"There's no need for that. As a guardian of this city, I was only doing my duty!"

Surprise flickered across Subaru's face.

"You're a city guard too? You don't look like one!"

Reinhard shrugged. "It's my day off, so I'm not wearing my uniform. My name's Reinhard. If you don't mind, we can call each other by name!"

Subaru nodded at once.

"Ang, judging by your names and clothes, neither of you seems to be from this country. Where did you come from, if you don't mind me asking? If you run into any more trouble, I can help with that too!"

Subaru scratched his head. "We're from an island nation to the east. As for what comes next..."

At that, Subaru glanced at Hane, as if asking whether they should involve the city guards. After all, he was no match for the enemy awaiting him.

If the city guards could deal with that monster, he would hardly complain.

His master couldn't intervene, after all. If some restriction on his powers was the reason, Subaru didn't want him to die there too. It seemed unlikely, but he couldn't ignore the possibility.

Hane shook his head slightly.

Subaru gritted his teeth and chose to trust Hane without much hesitation.

"Reinhard, I'll handle