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The man known as "Aldebaran" was a mysterious figure who, like Subaru Natsuki, was originally from Japan on Earth. After being summoned to the other world, he spent a decade as a sword slave in the Holy Empire of Volakia. He had some form of past with the Witch Echidna, and wielded an unknown Authority. His numerous battles left him with many scars, including his face which he covered up with a helmet. He eventually entered the service of Priscilla Barielle, whom he sought to place on the throne of the Kingdom of Lugunica.
Aldebaran was a middle-aged man with light skin, hairy legs, and a muscular build who stood at five feet and seven inches tall and weighed around seventy kilograms. He had black eyes, unkempt long black hair wrapped loosely in a ponytail, and facial hair consisting of a goatee beard and untended stubble. His left forearm was missing, and he had a pair of large scars on his right forearm in the shape of claw marks. His face was heavily scarred, making him unpleasant to look upon.
Every piece of clothing Aldebaran wore gave a slightly different impression. His ensemble consisted of a pair of green split-toe sandals with yellow buckles, sand-colored linen trousers, a bandage around his right wrist that matched the one that went around his missing limb, bandages of the same assortment that were wrapped around his feet like socks, an open green linen vest with yellow lining and a hem of white fur, and a shabby yellow mantle that reached down to his hips. Additionally, he wore a brown belt with a golden buckle that had a collection of green pouches attached to it. Al's weapon of choice, a beautiful sword with a fat blade that resembled a Chinese crescent sword, was fastened in its sheath at the rear of the belt. Perhaps Al's defining physical quality was the pitch-black helmet he used to conceal his scarred face. The helm in question, in contrast to the rest of his clothing, was very refined and featured a plume of neat red hair as a crest. His overall shabby look, including his clothes and unshaven legs, made him look like a bandit or some other kind of lowlife. It could be said that his appearance was the polar opposite of his mistress Priscilla Barielle's.
Personality
Outwardly, Aldebaran was an overly friendly man who spoke pleasantly to most people he conversed with. He wasn't quick to anger, as he usually brushed off the insults of Priscilla and Subaru Natsuki without placing any kind of stock in them. Because of his light-hearted tone and friendly disposition, Al was a man who was easy to get along with, even when taking his eccentric behaviour into consideration. However, his attitude also portrayed him as a childish man who needed to shape up and act his age. Despite happily wearing strange clothing that labelled Al as a suspicious character upon first sight, the man from another world did care somewhat about his appearance, as he demonstrated insecurity regarding his disfigured face several times. He adored the helmet that he wore on his head, as he felt that he wouldn't be able to have face-to-face conversations without it.
According to the man himself, Aldebaran was rather naïve and inexperienced when he was first transported to the other world, two traits that cost him his arm and his freedom. After spending nearly two gruelling decades in the other world, Al's experiences had morphed him into a hardened survivor. He never hesitated to take the lives of his opponents, especially those who threatened the life of his mistress Priscilla. That being said, being covered by the blood of his enemies was a horrible feeling for him, regardless of however many times he cut down his foes. The one-armed wanderer was a figure of mystery, as he subtly displayed several times that he was hiding important parts of his past behind his friendly demeanour. One example of this was when he discovered that both Ram and her twin sister Rem were still alive, a fact that saw him briefly lose himself in anger despite the fact that both sisters didn't recollect meeting him before.
Powers & Abilities
Powers
Magic: All living beings were born with a gate, a metaphysical apparatus within a person's body that autonomously absorbed the ambient magical energy that existed in the atmosphere and stored it in the individual's od (soul). So long as they were trained to do so, a person could then use their stored magical energy to perform superhuman feats. A prominent use for mana was magic, a practice that consisted of expelling mana out of one's own gate and manipulating it to create specific supernatural phenomena. The power of a magic user depended on their training and the amount of mana their gate could absorb. Mana typically existed in one of six elemental states: fire, water, earth, wind, shadow, and light. Every person had an ingrained inclination to one of the six elemental attributes, which allowed them to learn magic of that element with greater ease. Despite originating from another world, Aldebaran had a gate. He was taught how to use magic by the Witch Echidna. Al's natural attribute was shadow magic, though his talent in said element was focused on the practice of one particular spell that he could not use liberally. As such, he was additionally taught earth magic by Echidna to use on other occasions. Because his talent as a magic user was mediocre, Al made up for his lack in power by using his earth magic in inventive and underhanded ways.
Earth Manipulation:
Al using Dona to summon a pillar of earth from the ground.
Al using El Dona inside Lust's body to burst her open from the inside out.
1/2
The chief application of earth magic, as its name implied, was to generate and telekinetically manipulate dry landmass. Al was capable of using a basic-level earth magic spell, called "Dona," to summon a single wall of earth that could defend him from incoming attacks or strike enemies if summoned in the right place. He could also use a more advanced version of dona, called "El Dona," that allowed him to form earth out of thin air and burst it outwards into deadly spikes.
Temporal Reload: The greatest weapon in Aldebaran's arsenal was an ability he claimed to be an Authority, a type of power gained by absorbing a Witch Factor. Upon activation, Al's Authority warped space-time around him to create a special territory within a certain radius of his position. The conditions needed to activate the Authority remain unclear, and if Al left the designated territory his power would cease to take affect. While within said territory, Al would be designated as either the "victim" or "subjugator" based purely on chance. Every time Al died inside his territory, time would rewind to the point at which he first deployed his Authority. If Al was designated the victim, only he would retain memory of the time loops in which he had died and as such could develop a strategy against his enemies via trial and error. If Al was designated the subjugator, then only his enemy would retain the memory of all the failed loops in which they killed Al. As a result, enemies under the affect of the subjugator aspect of the power would slowly lose their will to fight as they were forced to repeatedly replay the same loop of time. From Al's perspective, subjugated opponents would simply give up as soon as he activated his Authority. Regardless of whether Al was the victim or the subjugator, the Authority could only be deactivated when he chose so.
Healing Magic: Using water magic, Al is capable of healing wounds. This is enhanced when using another body to heal.
Optical Camouflage: By combining Yang and Wind Magics, it is possible to bend light and hide one's aura, making the user invisible. However, using this is difficult while moving, even with the Divine Dragon's body, meaning that he would have to stay still in order to use it.
Abilities
Expert Fighter: Having spent over a decade fighting as a sword-slave on Gladiator Island, Aldebaran was a highly experienced combatant. He showed expert proficiency in hand-to-hand combatant and bladework, with particular preference for one-handed swords. Due to his experience and his Authority, Al was highly resourceful in a fight. Though an expert fighter in his own right, Al was still outclassed by a lot of warriors and couldn't hope to compare against truly talented combatants.
Quotes
“
Subaru: Wait, wait, wait! You can't just go and hit on Mili while I'm away you jerk! Aldebaran: Looks like your buddy's got a screw loose, little lady. He's more worried about losing you to another guy than happy to see you. The man's heart is so complex, its a frill to watch. Subaru: You've got a pretty messed up fashion sense, doncha mister helmet. Aldebaran: Now that's no way to talk to someone. I can overlook that since I'm a cool, good-natured man, but some might lop off your head for that.
You sure are lucky, bro. Be grateful for this coincidence. We just happened to be on our way to the castle, too.
„
~ Aldebaran and Priscilla picking Subaru up.
“
If you have doubts, don't do it, brother. I mean, let me ask you, is he honestly all that great? If he takes it all upon himself and things still work out, yeah, he's great. But must people couldn't handle having this burden heaped on their shoulders. I sure couldn't and you couldn't, either. So, why should he be made to carry all of the weight? I feel sorry for him.
„
~ Al dismissing the suggestion for Natsuki to make a speech to the besieged city of Priestella.
“
Look, brother. At the end of the day that little lady is what's most important to you, right? Everything I do is solely for my princess. Which is why I'm happy to put off certain things that might get in the way. You should do the same. So stay focused on making sure that Emilia gets rescued. And those guys in the Witch's Cult are just another group of blood-thirsty savages. Nothing good can come of getting tangled up with them.
„
~ Al advising Natsuki to focus on protecting what mattered to him.
“
If you're gonna do this, brother, heroic delusions are the only real burdens you'll end up carrying. Losing is unacceptable. You have to win. You'll carry people's hopes, their expectations, and you'll fight to protect their future. If you go through with this, that's how it'll have to be.
„
~ Al warning Natsuki about the burdens of choosing the path of heroism.
“
When it comes to you, I'm not interested in holding anything back, either. And I'm in a bad mood today. So you had better get outta here before I die, you damn mollusk.
„
~ Al's threat to Lust at the start of their fight.
“
――Ol Shamak.
„
~ Al sealing Subaru Natsuki with a forbidden shadow magic.
“
It’s starting, Teacher. ――So that I may be myself.
„
~ Al talking about the mission Echidna gave him, after sealing Subaru Natsuki.
List of Appearances
Light Novel
Ex Volume 5: The Tale of the Scarlet Princess
Vermillion Swordwolf
Short Story Collection Volume 1
The Day I Stopped Being the Following Star
Volume 4
Chapter 2: Blessings, Reunions, and Promises (First appearance)
Chapter 3: On the Very Worst of Terms
Chapter 4: The Candidates for the Throne and Their Knights
Chapter 5: Subaru Natsuki, the Self-Proclaimed Knight
Volume 6
Chapter 2: A Pig's Greed (First identified as Aldebaran)
Volume 15
Chapter 4: Next Time, I'm Sure We'll Have Tea (Voice only in vision(s))
Volume 16
Chapter 2: The Water Gate City of Pristella (Mentioned only)
Chapter 4: Noisy Tranquility
Chapter 5: Theatrical Malice (Mentioned only)
Volume 17
Chapter 3: Witch Cult Disaster Response HQ
Chapter 5: The Operation to Retake City Hall
Volume 18
Chapter 1: Picking Up the Pieces (Mentioned only)
Chapter 2: What It Takes to Be a Knight
Chapter 3: The Newest Hero and the Oldest Hero
Chapter 4: The Stars Etched into History
Volume 19
Chapter 2: Paean to a City in Flames (Mentioned only)
Chapter 6: Regulus Corneas
Volume 20
Chapter 2: The Territory Victim
Chapter 3: A Warrior's Acclaim
Chapter 6: The Results of the Battle for Pristella
Chapter 7: Ripples on the Surface (Mentioned only)
Volume 24
Chapter 3: —Stand Up (Mentioned only)
Anime Adaptation
Episode EX: Memory Snow
Episode 12: Return to the Capital (First appearance)
Episode 13: Self-Proclaimed Knight Subaru Natsuki
Episode 16: The Greed of a Pig (First identified as Aldebaran)
Episode 48: Love Me Down to My Blood and Guts (Voice only in vision(s))
Episode 51: Theatrical Malice
Episode 53: Gorgeous Tiger
Episode 54: Operation: Take Back the Government Office
Episode 55: A Dark Torrent (Appears in flashback(s))
Episode 56: Conditions of the Knight
Episode 57: The Newest of Heroes and the Most Ancient of Heroes
Episode 58: The One I'll Love Someday
Episode 59: City Scramble (Mentioned only)
Episode 60: The Plan to Conquer Greed
Episode 63: The Warrior's Commendation
Episode 65: A Hideous Dinner Party
Episode 66: The Result of the Battle for Priestella
Manga Adaptation
Chapter 3: Truth of Zero
Episode 2: The Orange Girl (First appearance)
Episode 3: Shared Homeland
Episode 4: The Royal Selection Begins
Episode 5: Statement of Conviction
Episode 6: The Silver-Haired Witch's Request
Episode 7: Subaru Natsuki, the Self-Proclaimed Knight
Episode 8: The Self-Declared Knight and the Knight Proper
Episode 16: Immature Negotiating
Trivia
Like other Witch Factor bearers and related figures, Aldebaran received his namesake from a celestial body. The name Aldebaran was derived from "Aldebaran," the brightest star in the Taurus constellation. As "al-Dabarān," its original Arabic rendering, the star's name meant "the follower." The Arab people referred to the star as the follower because it appeared to follow the Pleiades, a star cluster also located in the Taurus constellation, across the night sky.
Aldebaran was the first of the Royal Selection knights to be featured on a cover of the main light novel series. He made his cover debut in the background of the fourth volume cover, as opposed to Felix Argyle who first appeared on the fifth volume cover, Reinhard van Astrea who first appeared on the eighth volume cover, and Julius Juukulius who first appeared on the thirty-fourth volume cover. Subaru Natsuki has yet to appear on any light novel covers.
Heroes