Re:Zero Prequel: Bonds of Ice

Re:Zero Prequel: Bond of Ice (Re:ゼロから始める前日譚 氷結の絆) is a limited edition short story that was included in Re:Zero BD 1.

On the 23rd of 2018, there was an anime adaptation announced that will adapt the novel as an OVA. For more information regarding the Bond of Ice OVA, see Re:Zero OVA 2.

Chapters

 * Prologue: Four Greats and a Foreigner
 * Chapter 1: Called by You
 * Chapter 2: I'm Right Here
 * Chapter 3: If It's for You
 * Chapter 4: I Can Become Anything
 * Epilogue: The Meaning of Happiness

Characters

 * Emilia
 * Puck
 * Melakuera
 * Muspel (mentioned)
 * Zarestia (mentioned)
 * Odglass (mentioned)
 * Roswaal L Mathers
 * Chap

Prologue
The prologue introduced the four great spirits, who were all born as minute spirits who then became quasi spirits, spirits and finally great spirits. It introduced the "Arbitrator", Melakuera; the "Phantom Killer", Zarestia; the "Stone", Muspel and the "Sacred Beast", Odglass. Finally, it introduced an outsider who possessed the same amount of power as the four great spirits, but yet was not one of them. That outsider was the Beast of the End.

Chapter 1
In Elior Forest, Emilia got up from her bed and went about her daily routine. Her daily routine consisted of first wiping away the snow and frost that accumulated on the ice statues where her fellow elves were frozen. Following that, she went out to map the layout of the forest.

After she met up with Puck, the two of them ventured out as they had noticed signs that a group of men had entered into the forest. They found the men on the snow-road pushing a cart uphill. Emilia confronted them, warning them not to go any further as the road ahead was extremely dangerous. Meanwhile, Puck hid in a grove of trees watching on. The men sneered at her interference, and the ringleader, Chap, threatened her with a crossbow.

The situation escalated, and Emilia fought Chap and his men, resulting in her victory after Puck caused the crossbow string to snap against Chap's face, severely wounding him. The men quickly abandoned the site, leaving behind the goods they were trying to smuggle into the forest.

Emilia got Puck to make her an ice sleigh to carry the goods, to later trade at a village on the outskirts of the forest. With the goods hauled back to her home in the forest, Emilia continued with her daily routine.

Meanwhile, Puck wanting nothing to do with her mapping the forest, instead materialised in an area of the forest that had been invaded by one of Melakuera's eyes. He destroyed it before it could take flame, leaving behind only a morose echo as he realised what this meant for Emilia.

Chapter 2
After a few days, Emilia and Puck went out to mine for pyroxene in an area of the forest which had an abundance of it. After she pried out enough pyroxene from the rocky veins, Emilia and Puck headed to the village to trade them.

She entered the village, with Puck keeping back by the trees. As soon as the villagers spotted Emilia, they ran from her, hiding in their houses. Emilia continued on and went to marketplace to exchange her goods with the only person who treated her kindly. An aging old man who wore a bandana around his head. The man gave her some new shoes as well as food, and in addition, Emilia gave him the goods she'd seized from Chap and his men before along with the pyroxene. After she's completed the trade, she leaves the village feeling like she's being watched.

Meanwhile, at the same time, Chap was recovering from his injuries in the same village, watching Emilia leave. One of his subordinates turned up with news. He gave the subordinate commands to prepare the cage, and his subordinate obeyed. Chap plotted revenge against Emilia.

A few days later, after receiving a warning from Puck to now let her Flowers of Ice bloom no matter what, Emilia headed back in the direction of the snow-road. Once she reached an area near it in her efforts to map the forest, she saw wheel tracks nearby that looked as if they had been concealed on purpose. After investigating them, she stumbled on an ambush set by Chap and his men.

After Chap tried to get Emilia to enter into his cage, so he could sell her in a slave market, using the villagers as potential hostages, a fight broke out. Chap had brought along the Orthrus Demon Beast, and he set it on Emilia. As the fight went on, they intruded on the Snow Blight Demon Beast's territory in the north of the forest. Thus, they were attacked by it, resulting in many deaths. In a desperate bid to kill it, Emilia used her Flowers of Ice to drain its vitality from it. Though she succeeded in killing it, she did not have the power to stop it, or control its range. Thus, it started to drain away the vitality from Chap and his remaining men too. Before they could die, Puck materialised and put Emilia to sleep so to stop the ability.

A while after Puck chased the surviving men from the forest, Emilia woke up and remembered what had happened. She hurried to the village to make sure they were safe, but she was greeted by the marketplace owner, who told her they did not want anything more to do with her. The reason was because some flowers of ice had bloomed as far as up to the village. Upset by this, Emilia complied and never returned back there again.

Meanwhile, in the Mining City of Ganaks, Chap was trying to persuade his superior to give him more men to once again try and capture Emilia. After some talk, Puck showed up and threatened Chap to make sure he never tried to exact his revenge again. As a result, Chap was cut off from the organisation by his superior.

After this, Puck reunited with Emilia. After he was caught up with what had happened to her at the village, Puck suggested they should leave the forest. Emilia refused. Instead, Puck decided to teach her about how to make contracts with micro-spirits, so she could defend herself when he wasn't around. As Emilia leaves off ahead, Puck once again spots one of Melakuera's eyes. He destroyed this one too, vowing he would not let any harm befall Emilia.

Chapter 3
After Emilia woke up from her recurring nightmare where she partly recalled her first meeting with Puck, Emilia headed out to get on with her daily routine. This time she intended to explore the northern part of the forest, as previously it was a no-access zone due to the Snow Blight's influence.

Meanwhile, as Emilia set about to do that, Puck headed to the southern area of the forest where Melakuera had intruded with one of his seven divisions. Melakuera had turned up as he had sensed great power that threatened the balance of the world having come from the forest. Exterminating the source as arbitrator of the world was behind why he had started to burn the forest. Despite all of that, Puck managed to persuade Melakuera to retreat from the forest successfully for the time being.

On the other side of the forest, Emilia ran into a Guiltylaw. But before she was forced into a confrontation with it, a mysterious viscous black liquid called the black water engulfed the Guiltylaw and dissolved it. Emilia managed to retaliate with the help of her new micro spirits and froze it, chipping off a piece to show Puck back at her home.

When she arrived back, Emilia showed Puck the piece of black water she had brought back. Puck immediately identified it for what it was, and told Emilia she had not defeated it. As if to prove his point, the black water unthawed itself and tried to attack Emilia. However, Puck re-froze it and crushed it into a 2 centimetre ball, before then crushing it into tiny pieces.

Puck set out to find the remaining black water by teleporting to the spot. He came back a little while later, and reported that he had managed to track down the black water Emilia had frozen and destroyed it. However, there was bad news. He had caught glimpses of more black water around the forest, and he heavily advised Emilia to not go anywhere near the northern part of the forest.

Emilia disregarded Puck's advice out of fear of the black water spreading to where all the frozen elves were, and to save the forest. She continued to fight various black water patches, but the amount was seemingly endless.

Meanwhile, Puck returned to the southern side of the forest to confront Melakuera again, fearing that the latter had caused the spread of the black water, which was the kurohebi's poison that had frozen 100 years ago.

Melakuera declared war on Puck, having learnt what had transpired between Emilia and the men that operated in Ganaks. Melakuera's intent was to kill Emilia, whilst Puck's was to protect her. The two started to fight, destroying the southern side of the forest.

As the fight pressed on, Emilia found herself surrounded by black water. A red micro-spirit appeared out of nowhere and guided Emilia to a lake in the forest. The lake was frozen, and had a black hue to it. Before realisation hit her, the lake erupted, spewing out a mass of black water which was referred to as the great black water towards Emilia.