Chapter 1: Arriving in Lugunica
The star "Castor" is one of the brightest in the Gemini Constellation, surrounded by other famous stars such as Pollux, Betelguese, Rigel, Aldebaran, Capella, and Mirfak, which were amongst other constellations like Orion, Hyades, Auriga, and Perseus.
Although referring to Castor as a star in a singular fashion is technically erroneous, since it is a star system consisting of six individual stars, it only appears as one when you view from Earth with the naked eye because of how the light reflects against our cornea.
Granted, this didn't lessen its majestic luster in the slightest; its bright white radiance was still one of the most alluring sights.
In mythology, Castor was usually paired with another star in the Gemini Constellation, Pollux, which refers to the twin sons of Zeus and Leda in Greek and Roman mythology.
However, its symbolism didn't end there.
Occasionally, Castor was referred to as "Apollo".
Symbolically named, "a ruler yet to come."
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Dozing off in the confines of his most beloved structure on Earth, the library, wasn't uncommon for Castor Germain.
In fact, the times when he didn't could be counted on one hand, thanks to the unhealthy amount of time he spent in the land of unparalleled learning, which prevented him from getting proper rest and nutrition.
To count the number of times his mother had chewed him out because of this habit would require more fingers than the Hecatoncheires, monstrous ancient Greek giants with one hundred arms.
His love for the local library resulted from his undeniably absurd ambition that every person it had been disclosed to had looked at Castor as if he belonged in a nut-house.
He wanted to read every book on Earth.
Every single one.
Non-fiction, science-fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, horror, thrillers, the list continued on and on.
He loved each one. He considered every book a different world you could immerse yourself in at a moment's notice, a privilege he firmly believed everyone around him was overlooking.
Like Neil Gaiman once said, a book is a dream that you hold in your hand.
Speaking of dreams, his randomly occurring power naps had caused him to experience quite a few while he was reading whatever book had become the latest subject of his fascination.
The one he was experiencing at present was easily one of the strangest he had ever experienced.
He was standing amid a bustling, beige-colored cobblestone street.
The people passing him by were all dressed in strange clothing that reminded him of some of the medieval fantasy books he had read, and the same went for the bizarre, wide coloration of their hair.
Some of them weren't even people.
A noticeable number of anthropomorphic animals were present: dogs, cats, foxes, deer, you name it—it was there.
Maybe I've been reading too much fantasy as of late… I ought to diversify my palette a little more. I've been meaning to catch up on the latest installment of 'Programming for Morons' anyway, hopefully I'll be able to code my own reading list manager soon enough.
"Woah! Watch where you're stepping buddy!"
A man driving a carriage swerved to the side, glaring at Castor with sheer indignation as he narrowly avoided turning him into a pancake right then and there.
The carriage wasn't being pulled by a horse, but rather a bipedal lizard-like creature with rough, dark-green scales covering its body, and a large tail protruding from its rear. All in all, the specimen looked like some kind of mutated velociraptor.
How bizarre… I don't recall reading about such a creature in any of the fantasy stories I've read. I wonder how my mind created such a design for this dream?
Then again, the sensations he felt around him were quite potent for a dream, not to mention its lucidity.
The ultraviolet rays of sun beating down on his pale skin.
The crisp air swirling through the streets and the walls of housing around him.
The smell of sizzling cooked food in the air, some of which he recognized, and others he didn't.
It was all so undeniably vivid.
I feel so… unnaturally aware. Usually, when you're dreaming, you don't even realize that you're dreaming until it's over. You hardly even question what's happening around you before it's too late…
He took a deep breath. From what he could tell, all his memories were perfectly intact. Of course, it's not like you'd really notice that your memories were messed up unless you encountered some kind of paradox within them.
Unless of course… this isn't a dream.
"Hey!" A voice called out to Castor, belonging to a young man who appeared to be a few inches shorter than him, presumably also a little younger.
He had medium-length thick black hair that was combed backwards, a fairly athletic stature, and most noticeably of all, a pair of sharp, intimidating eyes that made his sclera stand out more thanks to the small size of his irises.
Wait a second…
But Castor quickly lost interest in his appearance, his eyes shifting to the young man's familiar attire.
His attire consisted of dark-gray tracksuit bottoms with orange stripes on each side, a matching tracksuit top with the letter 'N' etched into the left breast pocket, and a black t-shirt underneath. The ensemble was finished by a pair of black sneakers, also with orange secondary coloring.
He was wearing clothing from modern Earth!
Last time I checked, dreams weren't a two-player thing…
If he wanted confirmation that this wasn't all a figment of his imagination, then this was pretty solid evidence.
"Who are you?"
Unlike the young man, Castor's outfit was more suited to warm weather.
He was wearing nothing other than a short-sleeved red-bull racing t-shirt with a matching set of shorts. The only notable aspect of his attire was his dark, square-framed reading glasses.
The same outfit he wore basically all year round.
"Hehe! I'm glad you asked!" He struck an odd pose, putting one hand on his hip, and pointing the other high up into the air. "My name is Subaru! Natsuki Subaru! A fellow Isekai Protagonist just like you!"
Last name first? He must be Japanese judging from his looks, well, I should've concluded that from the use of the word 'Isekai'.
Castor tilted his head in confusion, "Protagonist? I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't quite follow…"
Just from his eccentric demeanor alone, Castor had a suspicion that Subaru had some kind of mental impairment.
"Oh don't play dumb! We're both obviously from Earth judging by our clothing, and now we're in a fantasy parallel world! Naturally, the next step is for us to awaken our powers and go on a journey to save the world! Although… I'm unsure where the cute girl who summoned us is… maybe she's running late?"
Subaru scratched his cheek, looking around him in search of said cute girl.
Judging by how Subaru spoke, Castor concluded that the strange young man genuinely believed every last word coming out of his mouth.
To think people said I belonged in a nut-house… they should get a look at this guy.
"Oh well," Subaru proceeded to shrug. "If our summoner isn't going to show herself, I'll just give my abilities a test run in advance. Never hurts to get ahead of the game, don't you think?" He nudged Castor with his elbow, "Oh wait! I just realized! I haven't asked for your name yet! How rude of me!"
He's quite the chatterbox as well.
"Castor, Castor Germain."
"Oh! Like the star!" Subaru extended his arm and vigorously shook Castor's hand, "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Castor! I'm Subaru! It means a cluster of stars where I'm from, so I guess we already share something in common."
"Yeah, you already told me your name." He chuckled awkwardly.
"I know, but it didn't seem like you were listening, so I thought it wouldn't hurt to make sure." Subaru smiled confidently.
"Nonsense, I'm always paying attention." Castor insisted, crossing his arms.
"Sure, sure." Subaru nodded smugly, "Anyhow, I'm going to go ahead and test out the power I received; you should probably do the same."
"Power?" Castor scratched his temple, "I don't recall getting anything of the sort."
"That's because our cute summoner is supposed to tell us! But since she isn't here, we're going to have to figure it out for ourselves."
I think this guy might be a little deluded, and I like cheap power fantasy books as much as the next guy. But that doesn't necessarily mean I've lost the ability to differentiate reality from fiction…
Subaru started to move his arms and legs strangely, making all sorts of impromptu sound effects that attracted the unwanted attention of the bystanders.
"Mama, is he alright?"
"Don't make eye contact with him sweetie, it's better just to pretend they don't exist when you see people like him in public…"
Castor pressed his lips together upon hearing the conversation of the cautious mother and daughter.
Not just because he was standing next to the subject of their scrutiny, but because he had come across a glaring realization.
He could understand what they were saying!
The chances of him fully understanding the language of a different world seemed far too good a coincidence to be true. Moreover, he also found it fairly odd that Subaru's English had sounded so perfect to him—the only reason he hadn't contemplated it earlier was because of the possibility that he had been studying it for a long time.
Being bilingual is a great boon to have when job hunting in this day and age.
I wonder, are they really speaking English? Or does everything just sound like English to me? Maybe something in my head's translating everything for me… or being transported here could've done something to my brain to make me understand them.
At that very moment, Castor was hit with a very uncomfortable sensation.
"Gaaaaaahhh!" Castor clutched the sides of his head, wincing as he experienced a pounding headache completely out of the blue, which seemed to resonate with something deep inside him.
"Dude! Are you alright!? What's wrong!?" Subaru's eyes widened as he supported Castor by the shoulders, genuinely concerned for the well-being of his fellow protagonist.
Castor's own voice started to speak to him from within his head in a deep, hollow fashion.
"Authority of Fascination."
"Brisk Mind — Learn anything you set your mind to in the shortest amount of time possible, the greater the interest, the quicker the rate of learning."
"Grand Archive — Store all memories within your head in the form of a grandiose library that can be navigated with naught more than a thought, replay and review what you've learnt in whatever form you deem most suitable, and archive all that you have learnt throughout your existence."
"Mark of the Scribe — The ability to read, write, and speak everything and anything. Continue the journey to amass all the knowledge the world offers, and pry into the world's wide-open secrets with your all-encompassing senses."
Eventually, the voice vanished, and with it, so did the pain.
"I'm fine… huff… I'm fine," he reassured Subaru while putting his hand out, his breath still noticeably laboured.
"Are you sure? You looked like you were in a lot of pain to me…"
"Yeah… I'm good, I don't know what just came over me."
That was technically a half-truth, while he didn't have the faintest clue as to what an Authority of Fascination was, he had a pretty good idea of what Brisk Mind, Grand Archive, and Mark of the Scribe were supposed to be.
These were abilities.
Abilities that he could activate at will, in order to serve the same ambition he had when he was on Earth.
Well I'll be damned…
As fate would have it, Subaru was right. Castor did in fact have powers, although whether they had anything to do with his firm belief in the role of an Isekai Protagonist could still be left up to debate. Castor had never had any ambition to be a hero on Earth, and he doubted he'd have it on this world either.
Right now, there was only one thing on his mind.
He needed to find the nearest library!
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Welcome to my Re:Zero fanfiction. You're all probably wondering how I plan to incorporate Subaru into this. While I do plan for him to keep his Authority of Envy, I'm not going to have it be Return by Death anymore since that would make writing this story impossible for Castor.
As for what his ability will be? You'll have to stay tuned and find out soon.
I'm incrementally adding Advanced Chapters as I go, so right now there are 2 Advanced Chapters available on my p@treon, which will be increased to 15 as I update this story. With how fast I'm writing right now, I doubt that'll take long tbh.
You can support me there if you'd like to read ahead → p@treon/Accel14
For those reading on Webnovel, here's a picture of the MC if you're interested.