Chapter Summary Time
The story begins to another flashback to the same time period when Subaru was training with Clind. Subaru, Garfiel, and Otto are playing some kind of a board game, I can't tell exactly what it is, but there are some militaristic references to it. They're pretty much all making fun of each other, 2 ganging up on one, and then a different 2 ganging up on a different one, continually. It's pretty much just a heartwarming scene of the 3 bros.
The present begins with Subaru reacting to being called a POW. He looked around and noticed how there are a lot of armaments: weapons, armor, and a lot of warriors. He makes the distinction between warrior and knight: knights must strive to defend the human heart as well the human body, so they must be beautiful. Warriors have no such obligation, so they're allowed to be much more rugged. There is a mixture of human and demi-human warriors in the camp Subaru is in.
Subaru had absolutely no mobility, and the first thing Subaru says, is 'where is the girl that was with me, Rem'. A new guy, different to the man who was speaking to him about being a POW appears, and he mocks Subaru for asking about the girl he cares for right after being told he was a POW. Now there are two men in front of him crouched down: the kinder man, with bright orange hair, who had been talking to Subaru somewhat respectfully til now, and the violent man who had shoved his shoe into Subarus mouth. Subaru askes again, where the girl he was with was, and one of them, I can't tell who, responds saying she's fine, I'm fine, everybody's fine. (Or something to that effect). Subaru is in disbelief, he's very happy to hear it, but he's not 100% sure if they're telling the truth understandably, so he leans forward more and almost falls over, till the nicer guy held Subaru's forehead and said Oops, you might now want to fall over, lest you bite your tongue and die. Subaru said not to give him a half-assed answer, and to tell him if Rem is safe, and the niver guys tells him that that was a ruthless answer.
Subaru seems to accept the answer now, and he accepts that he's a POW, but then he asks what happened to Rem, why isn't she with with/near him. The nicer guys says that he hopes his questions will be answered a little more obediently now, and says she's in prison. Subaru is super confused, but his mind is immediately overwhelmed with pain as a man wearing an eyepatch steps all over Subaru's broken left hand and fingers (EEEOWWCH). THe nicer guy yells at 'Jamal' to stop, because Subaru would end up fainting again. Jamal says he's annoyed, and mutters about how there are only 3 broken fingers, but then nicer guy says 'Jamal' very clearly and carefully, with a flat tone of voice. Jamal says 'I understand' and immediately stops messing with Subaru.
Then, Jamal tells Subaru to say thank you to "Todd" (I think it's Jamal saying it?), and we learn nicer guy is named Todd. Jamal steps out of the tent and he yells 'Do it' as he leaves. Todd scratches his head and explains that Jamal is pissed off because it was Jamal's troops that found Subaru et al at the waterside, and Rem stomped all over about half of the forces. He also mentions that the captains face had been crushed by Rem. Subaru, imagining this, wants to put a hand to his head, and says 'I hate him' (To probably Jamal, I guess). Todd asks Subaru about his fingers, and Subaru replies that they're broken but the pain is getting better. Despite this, there are constant waves of pain, but Subaru bits his teeth back and deals with it.
Subaru tests out the name Todd, asking him if it was okay, and it seems that he says he's been called Todd-san as well, but he gets to the point and says 'about the question from earlier'. Subaru says he should answer honestly, and asks Todd what he wants to hear. It seems Todd asks something about 'Shuduraku'. Subaru gives no response to this except 'huh?' and Todd says, I see, you have nothing to do with it then. Subaru says to hold on, he hasn't answered any of Subaru's questions either, and then Todd says something about the people of Sudrak and Samurai, I think? Subaru asks 'what is the Sudrac people?' and Todd replies with 'We're looking for them. That huge forest ... somewhere in the Badheim jungle.' It seems the purpose of the war camps is to find some group of people inside that massive jungle, and Subaru was caught up in this mess. As Todd says Baheim jungle, SUbaru tries to look back to where he points, but he can't cuz he's tied up. So Todd relents and turns Subaru around, and Subaru says it would be utterly impossible to search through a jungle that big, and he thinks about how comparing it to the Amazon wouldn't be a metaphor nor hyperbole. Subaru says it's impossible, and Todd says that if you're gone for years, your fiancée would leave you, implying that's what happened to him.
After some dialogue , Todd tells Subaru he'll let him walk, and he unties the rope in his legs. Subaru puts his hands under his armpits and uses that to life himself to his feet. As they walk, they have some small talk. Todd asks Subaru if Subaru is a nobleman, but it seems Subaru doesn't respond/doesn't notice the question. They walk around and Subaru decides to observe the camp in silence. He notes that they look like they will wage war, and there are over 100 people at the camp. Now Subaru realizes the question, once Todd mentions the knife in the sheath that he found on Subaru once he was captured. Subaru stands in silence as he thinks about the masked man, wondering if has anything to do with this 'people of sudrak' stuff, especially since the knife he gave Subaru was so instrumental in gettin through the jungle. He doesn't want to betray his benefactor. Todd asks Subaru what happened, and Subaru stays in silence, thinking about how he was prisoner, so he wasn't treated in a friendly manner, but he was treated reasonably. Todd asks again what happened, and Subaru replies by saying that the knife is a family heirloom, and that he took the knife from his house. Todd is a little surprised, since the knife has a family crest on it, and the crest is none other than that of the Volachia nobility. Todd says that the sword wolf crest is on the knife, and that it would be something like a direct gift to an honorary family from the emperor himself. Subaru goes 'wait'. This is when Subaru looks around, sees the similar crests on flags and such, and then finally realizes how much shit he's in because he's in Vollachia. He now realizes he cannot just go up to people and say "Hey, I'm the knight of a Lugunican royal candidate, please let me go home' because he knows that the relationship is very complex between Vollachia and Lugunica.
Subaru's impression of Volachia when he was reading literature was that it was a den of evil. He thinks about how Volachia is a country where the strong get everything, and the weak get nothing and are oppressed. Subaru thinks and thinks, until he's jostled out of thought by a bunch of people shouting "Vive Volachia". Todd laughs at Subaru and asks him why he was so interrupted by that shout. After Subaru stops and thinks about how he can't reveal he's from Lugunica, Todd asks him again what's up. Subaru says sorry, he was just feeling the tremors in his heart from the awe-inspiring shouts from the warriors. Todd replies saying how that's unavoidable, since if Subaru's a person who has a connection with an imperial aristocrat, it's natural that he'd be impressed by the way the empire ought to be. (Seems like there's a lot of nationalism and imperialism in Vollachia, even more so than Lugunica)
As they continued walking, Todd told Subaru to look up and he pushes his back. There are several cages lined up in a row, and he finds Rem. Subaru rushes over to the cage and asks if she's alright, til Subaru falls over and smashes his head into the cage. Subaru mutters to himself that he's gonna end up scaring her, and Rem replies saying that she's not afraid, and asks if Subaru's nose and teeth are alright. Subaru asks if she's worried about him, and Rem goes 'What? No.' Subaru is sad at the cold remark. Subaru was a little upset at that but he looked at Rem's eyes and stood himself up, breathing out a sigh of joy, and he hardened his cheeks. Todd asks if the meeting was alright, and after some dialogue between the three of them, Louis is brought up.
Todd says the golden haired kid in being treated in a red tent for forehead injuries. Subaru thinks to himself the equivalent of 'Oh fucking shit no". He thought that way because of the chance that if Louis was healed using magic, her actual mind and personality might come back, and he's worried that she would end up wrecking the entire damned camp. He shouts "Everyone will die" and rushes over to the red tent he was told of. As he approaches it, he hears some shouting or something like that, and a golden bullet flies out of the tent and impacts straight into Subaru, and then Louis ends up straddling him like she did at the beginning of the arc. Todd approaches them from behind and asks if Subaru's left hand is okay. He lifts Louis away from Subaru and he sighs in relief, because Subaru was worried that forehead treatment would mean using magic. Turns out it was just bandages and the likes. Some dialogue, and basically, a supply crew comes in every once in a while to get food and stuff to the camp. They can't leave the camp whenever they want since there's other camps that might re capture them from the same faction. Subaru says he'll leave with the supply crew, and Todd okays it, but since they're not here yet. they have to stay. Subaru and the others are okay to stay, but they have to work with the camp, since they can't leave people there who just eat and don't work. Chapter ends with Subaru saying 'Is it any better than eating some guy's shoe?'