A Random in Re:Zero

"How is this possible?! Did you know I would come here!?"

Gilbert accused Russel, but not before taking cover to escape the sniper's range.

"I really don't understand what's going on." Russell shrugged, speaking sincerely as he moved suspiciously, but his enemy was distracted by the unexpected threat and didn't notice.

"Where did that son of a bitch come from?"

From his position, Gilbert could have fired at Russell without risking the sniper, but as he was considering the idea, the guild leader extended his hand, which held a small orb that had been gathering mana for a while.

"Activation!"

With a flash of red, a protective barrier enveloped Russell. Gilbert groaned as he realized the unfavorable tilt on the scales.

"Tsk! Shit, it's not worth dying to kill this bastard. I've lost my advantage, so I have to retreat for now."

Activating his Divine Protection, Gilbert turned invisible along with the objects he was carrying and fled. Russell hurried to look through the broken window, searching for the person who had saved his life.

To his dismay, there was no one around except the people passing by on the streets, but none of them were carrying a weapon like a bow or a crossbow.

"Who was it?"

The merchant guild leader muttered that question to himself, deeply intrigued by the identity and motives of his mysterious savior.

Turning around, Russell nearly jumped in surprise. In front of him stood a young, blue-haired woman wearing a maid's outfit. She bowed to him.

"You are..."

Meanwhile, Gilbert ran as far as his body would allow before he was forced to stop to catch his breath. The wound on his shoulder hurt, but it could have been much worse.

If the arrow had hit him a few inches lower, it could have pierced a lung or his heart. He was very lucky to be alive.

"Fuck my plan..."

Because of the bastard who had shot him, Gilbert was exposed and consequently, he would be wanted throughout the royal capital.

His goal of becoming the most successful businessman in Lugunica seemed much further away after that unfortunate incident.

This left him with revenge as his only viable objective.

"I'll have to wait for the dust to settle before going back for that scum Russell. Oh, and I also have to find and punish whoever ruined my plans, but who could it have been?"

Gilbert's schemes continued to unfold all the way. He was determined to achieve this without further fail. No one could stop him a second time.

But Gilbert didn't know he was running in the palm of a hand that would soon close around him and crush him.

This brought a smile to Leandro's face, as he had been following him since he left the guild, moving swiftly and silently like a hunter following the trail of his prey.

The blood flowing from Gilbert's wound had a salty, metallic smell, strong enough to be detected by the nose of the boy who came from another world.

Despite the anger boiling inside him, Leandro did not grow impatient, because as they say, revenge is a dish best served cold.

A few minutes later, Gilbert stopped at a large building in the slums, deactivating his invisibility after entering.

Immediately, the people in the room turned toward him and greeted him respectfully. Only one man showed no inhibitions as he approached Gilbert.

"What happened to you?" He asked, pointing at the wound on his shoulder.

"I failed." Gilbert replied, shrugging calmly.

"Are you kidding? It was supposed to be a piece of cake with that gun!"

"That was a bad assumption."

Sighing, Gilbert took a seat among the men working at the tables. Those next to him shuddered but continued with their tasks, though their hands were shaking.

"Turns out someone was ready to kill me, and they came within inches of doing it. I wonder who the hell they were and how they knew what I'd do."

The other man shrugged, unable to formulate any assumptions. Gilbert began to play with his fingers while musing aloud.

"I don't understand, Alaric. Everything was going well: I successfully tricked Russell into thinking I'd lost everything and kept this new organization hidden from spies... Tell me, where did I go wrong?"

"I... don't understand it either. Maybe the information leaked somehow?"

"That's impossible, after all, you are the only one who knows my plan."

Alaric gulped as Gilbert emphasized that point.

"Unless you betrayed me, there's no way something like this could have happened. But you didn't, did you?"

"No, I would never do something as stupid as betray you, Gilbert..."

"Ah... I think I'm overthinking this."

Gilbert beckoned Alaric to stand in front of him.

"Alaric, you're my right-hand man, the only man I've trusted for the past ten years..."

"I know, and thanks for-"

"... It's incredible that it took me so long to understand that was a mistake."

BANG!

With a single shot, Alaric's head was pierced by a revolver bullet. Gilbert hadn't hesitated for a second to end the life of his most loyal subordinate.

Gilbert's mind had become so twisted and deranged that he saw enemies everywhere. He was alone, isolated from the rest of the world.

Alaric's body collapsed to the floor. A silence fell that no one dared break, except Gilbert himself.

"Matter resolved. There's no more double agent."

Scratching his cheek with the barrel of his revolver, Gilbert looked at his men with a sinister expression.

"Or am I wrong?"

Now, everyone froze in fear. Gilbert pointed his gun at the terrified workers, but lowered it shortly after.

"Nah, it would be very tedious to conduct a thorough search right now. It's important to have clear priorities."

He walked toward his office, trampling Alaric's body as he stepped over him.

"Someone get the trash." He ordered, then began to think about his next move, conjuring up the image of Anastasia Hoshin in his mind. "Today, no matter what happens, I'm going to kill that bitch."

***

After meeting with the maid, Russell reported the attack to his men, reinforcing security around him while speaking with Rem.

"Did Roswaal send you?"

She shook her head at the question.

"Not exactly. Master Roswaal has given me certain permissions that allow me to act on my own, as I am now."

Technically Rem wasn't lying, but what she didn't say was that Roswaal had ordered her to stay close to Leandro, among other things.

"I see, so you're here on your own, huh?"

"That's right. My partner and I are chasing the man who tried to kill you. I came to check that you weren't hurt."

Russell raised his eyebrows in curiosity. It was unusual enough to see a servant of Marquis Mathers acting independently, but what was even stranger was her connection to Gilbert.

More importantly, she mentioned a companion. Could that be the person who shot the arrow?

"Who's your partner? Shouldn't they be with you?"

"His name is Leandro, he's the mansion's new butler. He's tracking our target."

Rem's response confused Russell.

"A butler? That's odd. Roswaal hasn't hired anyone for years, probably because he prefers to know his employees well, given the risk of allowing a stranger to live so close to him (especially now that he's become that girl's sponsor). But now it turns out he brought someone else... He definitely didn't do it randomly."

"Mr. Russell? Are you okay?"

Knowing it was useless to try to understand how Roswaal's mind worked and what plans he had made, Russell gave up and returned to reality.

"Why are you after Gilbert?"

"He stole a very dangerous weapon that belongs to Leandro."

'Dangerous' was a word that carried a lot of meaning. Russell didn't miss that, even though he was already certain it was true. Gilbert wouldn't have attacked him so openly without checking: in fact, he mentioned that he had already killed some gentlemen using the revolver.

"You mean the metal device? I couldn't see it working."

"If that had been the case, you would already be dead."

Rem's bold words brought a smile to Russell's face, and he found himself deeply interested in learning more about the weapon. Its value would be proportional to its power, and its value determined how much money Russell could make by selling it.

"What kind of gun is that?" Gilbert pointed it at me like he was going to throw something.

"About that... Leandro only said that it is a powerful invention from his homeland, the weakest among the other weapons he will produce with the help of the blacksmith Nadir Ashveil."

"There's more where that came from!? And he managed to get the famous God of Creation working again!? Besides, what's he up to by wanting so many powerful weapons? Is it his plan or Margrave's?"

The merchant bit his lip. His instinct told him this was a great opportunity. He needed to meet this boy and find out everything he could about him.

There was a chance the boy posed a threat to the kingdom, in which case Russell had to eliminate him quickly, even if it put him at odds with Roswaal.

But if that were not the case, Russell had to settle a debt with Leandro for saving his life, even if it was a side effect.

"At best, I can make a lot of money with this. I have to get my hands on those weapons."

"Mr. Russell, what do you know about Gilbert? Do you think he'll run away now that he's been discovered?"

"I don't think so. Gilbert never tolerated anyone being superior to him. His temper led him to ruin, so I know he won't stop until he gets what he wants or until he dies."

Rem looked down and thought about the risk of staying instead of accompanying Leandro, letting him be near such a dangerous man, ready for anything.

"I hope your plan works."

The morning passed without further incident. At the royal palace, the conference proceeded in the same manner as the previous loop, including the subsequent duel between Julius and Leandro.

From the stands, Anastasia sighed when she saw her knight 'losing' to a mere butler. When he returned to her side, she gave him a resigned smile.

"As kind as ever... You must really like that boy for you to do something like that for him."

Julius kept his expression neutral, betraying no emotion beyond his eloquent gestures. His cloak fluttered as he bowed to her to answer.

"I don't understand what you're referring to, Lady Anastasia. It was a fair duel, and my defeat wasn't planned at all."

"Are you sure?" The girl raised her eyebrows, visibly skeptical.

"I admit I didn't go all out, but in the context of a sword fight, I had the advantage and was still disarmed with just one clever trick."

"It means the reason for your defeat is that you were arrogant and didn't use your full strength."

She took pains to point out that the outcome of the duel was Julius's responsibility, not Leandro's. Anastasia wasn't an envious person, but she found it ridiculous that someone with no background or accomplishments could suddenly appear and gain approval to be part of the elite.

This insulted Anastasia's efforts to rise to the top of society, starting from the bottom on a steep path. She saw Leandro as an opportunist with more luck than ingenuity or merit.

"Of course, and yet that doesn't take away from my opponent's performance. His determination to improve will take him far, even if he seems weak now."

The respect and admiration with which Julius seemed to view a person he had just met caused Anastasia to sigh wearily.

"No matter how you look at it, he has no notable talent or ability. While he did shut up some elders in the throne room, he's far from qualified to be a knight."

The lady and her gentleman then withdrew. Their conversation had been witnessed by another similar couple, and it was much to the liking of the fiery woman who shared the title of royal candidate with Anastasia.

"Well, that was quite fun. That commoner sure knows how to put on a show. I wonder what kind of act he'll show me next time."

With his features hidden by his helmet, Aldebaran couldn't contain his expression of hatred. The only thing he disguised was his voice, speaking casually so as not to betray his true emotions.

"You shouldn't pay too much attention to him, Princess. People like him only bring trouble."

Priscilla immediately became serious, grabbing her knight by his helmet and smashing him against the ground mercilessly.

"Who are you to tell me what to do? I don't care about your inconsequential mindset. This world works in my favor, so your statement is meaningless."

Aldebaran bit his tongue to avoid responding. He wasn't angry with Priscilla; rather, he felt frustrated and fearful that she would again suffer the fate he couldn't change.

On the other hand, Crusch was very thoughtful after her brief conversation with Leandro. The young butler gave the impression of someone transparent with his feelings, but one who harbored dark secrets. The princely manner with which he spoke and carried himself contrasted sharply with his brazen actions, like the one Felix mentioned, still indignant about it.

"A blow to the butt?"

The Duchess smiled, not at all bothered by the boy's boldness with Felix, who was driven to despair by the indifference with which his lady was handling the matter.

"Yeah, that's right! That's why I'm telling you it was a mistake inviting him into your house! You need to reconsider, or that pervert will try something on you! I mean, he probably can't do anything even if he wanted to—he can't possibly be as strong as Lady Crusch, much less Grandpa Wil."

"From what you're saying, he's more likely to go after you than me." She mocked.

"I'm serious here! You don't care that he's looking at you with predatory eyes?!"

"Felix, he just has a somewhat shocking personality, but I assure you his intentions are very clear. Haven't you seen the way he looks at Emilia?"

"I..."

Felix recalled Leandro's conversation with Julius, when the steward had confessed how much he cared for the half-elf and said he hoped to become her knight one day. The unnatural gleam in Leandro's eyes suggested he was in love with his lady; obsessed, to say the least.

The cat boy was speechless, feeling that he couldn't argue with that.

"Still... I can't let my guard down around him. I'll protect Lady Crusch!"

***

Gilbert took up position and prepared the revolver. His men had been working to replicate the weapon's mechanism so they could create more for mass production. Such an object would revolutionize the global market, bringing tons of money and prestige to whoever patented it.

For now, the team of blacksmiths had only managed to create enough ammunition to supply the only existing model. With this, Gilbert had plenty of bullets to carry out his revenge.

The merchant waited patiently until Anastasia appeared on the street with Julius. He silently approached them, his invisibility activated. The purple-haired couple headed toward a carriage, ignoring the imminent threat.

"I wish you knew you'd die for me, you conceited bitch..."

Grinning wickedly, Gilbert aimed at Anastasia's head and pulled the trigger.