The White Whale Hunt

The memory ended there. Subaru Natsuki rubbed his slightly itchy eyes, unaware of the change in them.

Instead, he tried to work out who that man was and why he wanted to kill him. But no matter how hard he thought, he had no leads. The man had seemed to appear out of nowhere.

Subaru had never seen him before.

"No!" Subaru slapped his cheeks to pull himself together. "I can't keep stumbling around in the dark. I have to find a way forward from what happened last time!"

With that, he sank into thought.

After a while, his eyes lit up.

He remembered that when he had gone to see Crusch last time, the cute cat-eared young man beside her, Ferris, had told him a story.

Will, the former Sword Saint—the old man who had trained alongside him at the beginning—had apparently lost his wife to the White Whale.

If Will had not possessed a special blessing, he probably would have forgotten his beloved wife like everyone else.

Perhaps Subaru could use information about the White Whale to secure Crusch's cooperation, then bring other factions on board.

Resolve returned to Subaru's eyes. This time, he was not walking in knowing nothing.

Subaru glanced back at the empty villa.

"Wait for me, Emilia! I, Subaru Natsuki, won't be someone who's all talk and no action!"

With that, Subaru ran toward the Karsten Family's estate once more.

Before long, he had made a well-reasoned case and shown Crusch the photographs on his phone.

This time, unlike the last, Crusch looked at Subaru with growing admiration.

"I agree to this alliance. You were somewhat rash during the Royal Selection,

but you are still a fine knight. An insult to one's lady is an insult a knight must answer.

And now you have