Russell Fellow

Debuting in Arc 3, Russell made a deal with Natsuki Subaru to participate and cooperate in negotiations with Crusch Karsten on the condition that he relinquish his cell phone once he had finished hunting the White Whale.^[1][2] At some point after the end of the arc, Subaru forfeited his cell phone to Russell under Crusch's supervision.^[3]

Appearance

Russell is a tall man with dull blond hair and blue eyes. He wears a good quality suit with a limited number of adornments as to not look crude, giving off the impression of an able man.

Personality

Russell is a realist that is shrewd with money. He tends to decide on things based on profits and losses and is only interested in figuring out how he can earn the most, leading to him being described as a mosquito that tries to drain as much money as possible from his opponents. He has a notable reputation in the underworld of the Royal Capital, including in the slums, and although he is married, his marriage was purely for political purposes, therefore he has no love for his wife.^[4]

However, beneath this image lies a very cunning and ruthless man. Heavily loyal to the Kingdom, he is willing to do anything to maintain the authority of the Kingdom, including having people threaten members of House Astrea after learning the danger that a young Reinhard van Astrea. Furthermore, he has no qualms in using curses to torture his subordinates who fail him, and he is indifferent to their suffering so long as it means.

History

Russell was born as the second son to the Fellow family. From a young age, he was involved with the Six Tongues, quickly acquiring a role that allowed him to act as a supervisor. As the son of a merchant who frequented Fareed Impusen, a noble who felt burning patriotism for Lugunica, Russell found himself in the position to give advice to the man, guiding him in a direction that led him to founding the Golden Wing Party while having him believe he made all of his choices of his own volition.

Once Upon a Time in Lugunica

Roughly 15 years before the events of the main story, at the age of 14, Russell Fellow set up Roswaal L. Mathers's mugging, right after the latter left the Royal Castle after the ceremony where he inherited the family name of Roswaal. By having his subordinate Belmont steal Roswaal's golden plume, which coincidentally resembled the symbol of the Golden Wing Faction, he aimed to insure that the man had no ill plans with the Kingdom. He accompanied Roswaal in reclaiming his plume from The Brotherhood, led by Marcos Gildark, a knight who deserted his position to support the residents of the slums, and witnessed the two fight. Later, he teamed up with Roswaal and helped him form an alliance between two rivalling groups: The Brotherhood, led by Marcos Gildark, and the Golden Wing Faction led by Fareed Impusen. In their conversation afterwards, Roswaal insinuated to Russell that he had caught on to how the Golden Wing Faction had been truly founded.

That same night, Russell met with Belmont, ordering him to accompany Fareed and the Brotherhood to Costuul. When asked about Roswaal, he said that the noble had caught on to more than he had bargained for, having perceived Russell's involvement with the Golden Wing Faction. Belmont also informed Russell that the Divine Protection of Mind-Changing had been detected from the Astrea Manor. The mansion was then invaded by multiple unknown assailants, and Heinkel suspected of and questioned for potentially holding intentions of insurrection by means of the Divine Protection of Mind-Changing. Quickly realizing that his son was the only person who could have used it, having so in an attempt to aid his father with convincing Marcos to rejoin the Royal Guard, he rushed to Reinhard's room and scolded for his actions, and the young boy, who had erased the Divine Protection forever, saw a figure outside of the mansion's window who mouthed to him a threat: that he must protect the Kingdom for his family.

Once Upon a Time in Lugunica II

Happening on Marcos some time later, Russell revealed that he had been aware of the knight's unrequited feelings for Theresia van Astrea, choosing to keep them hidden. Afterwards, dropped by the Royal Magic Research Institute as was Roswaal conducting an experiment, and Serena Dracroy, a noble from the Vollachia Empire who was visiting Lugunica as an envoy on official business, showed up, requesting a tour of the facility. When Roswaal left with Serena to educate her on magic, Ilzea, who had been a researcher in the Royal Magic Research Institute, was ordered by Russell to keep an eye on Roswaal's activity, worried that his enthusiasm to teach educate a noble from Vollachia in magic could lead to them using it in the future.

However, Roswaal had been preemptively aware that Ilzea was affiliated with Russell and had a means of contacting him. Detecting a wavelength of mana that resembled Serena's magic stone earrings as she was leaving Lugunica with Alagar in custody, Roswaal, realizing she had been put in a situation where the magic stones needed to be used, requested Ilzea to get in contact with Russell. Roswaal decided to to trace Serena's magic and contact them himself, and was given a Conversation Mirror by Russell, which he used later to contact him when notifying him of the situation with the assassins and seek his opinions. Once the situation was resolved, Alagar was allowed to remain in Lugunica so long as he hid his lineage, assuming the new identity of Gwain Merette, and being employed by the Fellow family.

At some point, Russell became the treasurer of the Kingdom’s Commerce Guild, as well as the Director of the Six Tongues.

Riot in Flanders

Following the failure of Helaine Gatness’s plan to replace the leader of The Balance with a pawn who was easier for her to manipulate and manage, she was taken into custody by the Six Tongues. Russell interrogated her, outlining that she disobeyed her orders by attempting to act on her plan and the balance of power in Flanders was satisfactory the way it was. Once she finished giving her explanation, he punished her with torture via a curse mark engraved on her back, inflicting intense pain to her when he placed his palm on it.

The Lion’s Ferocity

Following the Battle for Priestella, Felt and Reinhard escorted the captured Sin Archbishop of Wrath to the Royal Capital’s Prison Tower. As Reinhard took her into the tower, Russell met Felt outside of the tower and invited her to dinner at his home. Later that night, she and Reinhard attended his dinner, where Russell was left starstruck by their relationship. Shortly after, they began discussing the intensifying heretic hunts of the Holy Kingdom, the actions of the mayors of the City-States, and signs of a civil war brewing in the Empire. Russell also mentions that big waves of change are rolling, one that hasn’t been seen in 400 years, which Felt attributes to Subaru and Emilia.

Abilities

Divine Protection (加護 Kago): Russell has the Divine Protection of Evaluation (目利きの加護, Mekiki no Kago),^[4] which enables him to determine if an item is of good or bad quality, and if the item is in front of him, he can evaluate its condition and quality with perfect accuracy. However, if he is evaluating an item he's never seen before, he can only know if it's of good or bad quality, and he gains no knowledge of how it's used or how much it's worth.

Six Tongues (六枚舌): Russell is the current Director of the Six Tongues, a secret organization that acts as the backbone of Lugunica from the shadows. At his command, they take on numerous missions, whether it is to maintain order, to quash illegal organizations, or to subdue anyone who threatens the Kingdom.

Trivia

• At a talk show held on March 30, 2024, it was confirmed that Russell would be active in Arc 10.

References

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