Re:Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu (LN) - Volume 1 - Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1 

THE END OF THE BEGINNING 

1 

—This is really going to be a problem. 

With no money and no idea what to do, he repeated the thought over and over again in his mind. 

Well, it wasn’t completely accurate to say he had no money. The wallet in his pocket was filled with all the cash he owned, enough to go on a little bit of a shopping spree if he had to—under normal circumstances. But in this case, “no money” is really the only way to describe his situation. 

“Yeah, but the currency system here is completely different, isn’t it…” 

The young man flicked his rare notched ten-yen coin in the air and breathed a deep sigh. 

He didn’t really have any features about him that stood out. He had short black hair and was of average height, being neither short nor tall. He was a bit muscular, though, as if he had been working out, and the cheap gray tracksuit that he was wearing really suited him quite well. He had small irises, so the whites of his eyes stood out, but right now, the way his eyes were downcast, he didn’t have a very aggressive or championing look to him. 

He looked average enough to be quickly lost in a crowd…but right now, most of those passing by looked at him out of the corners of their eyes as if they were looking at something strange they had never seen before. 

But that was to be expected. After all, among all those onlookers, not one of them had black hair, nor were any of them wearing tracksuits. They had blond hair, red hair, and brown hair…some even had blue or green hair, among others, and they were wearing armor, or black robes, or the kind of costume a dancer might wear…that sort of thing. 

As he stood before the waves of open stares, the young man crossed his arms and had no other option but to accept the truth. 

“This has got to be one of those…” he said, snapping his fingers and pointing out toward the crowd of onlookers. “One of those so-called ‘I’ve been summoned to another world’ deals, right?” he said as an oxcart-like vehicle pulled by a giant lizard-like thing crossed in front of him. 

2 

Subaru Natsuki was an extremely ordinary boy, born on Earth, the third planet in the solar system, to a middle-class family in the nation of Japan. If you were to sum up his nearly seventeen years of life, the previous sentence would be enough to describe him, and if you felt the need to add anything else, the extra sentence, “He was a third-year public high school student with a tendency to not show up to class,” would be sufficient. 

Placed at a fork in the road of life, such as “whether to pursue a college degree or jump straight into the workforce,” people are generally forced to make a decision one way or the other. That sort of decision-making is something everyone has to deal with and part of what we call life, but in Subaru’s case (you might call it his specialty) he was a bit better than your average Joe at running away from things he did not like. In avoiding such a decision, the number of his unexcused absences had piled up, and before he knew it he was a bona fide truant, the kind parents weep over. 

“And to top it all off, now I’ve been summoned to a whole different world. I guess that seals the deal. I’m a high school dropout now. But seriously, what the hell is going on?” 

He felt as if he was having a not-so-well-thought-out dream, but even after pinching his cheeks and smacking his head against a wall, he wouldn’t wake up. 

Subaru sighed. He had drifted away from where he was, getting all sorts of curious looks, and was now sitting against a wall in an alley just off the main road. 

“Assuming I really have been summoned to a fantasy world…the state of civilization appears to be the usual, medieval-like setting. So far, I haven’t seen anything mechanical, but the roads are pretty well paved…and of course I can’t use any of my cash.” 

As for whether he could communicate with the people here, and regarding the value of goods, those were things that Subaru checked immediately upon realizing he had been summoned to a different world. 

Fortunately, he had no problem communicating, and he was able to confirm that commerce was handled in a currency of gold, silver, and copper coins. His first contact, a merchant at a fruit stand, wasn’t all that welcoming to him, though. 

As for why Subaru was so quick to accept and understand his current situation, the fact that he was a modern Japanese youth poisoned by anime and games had something to do with it, and for that he was very thankful. It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that as an adolescent boy, this sort of otherworldly summoning was the kind of thing you’d dream would happen to you, but on that note… 

“Without a little bit more of a welfare safety-net thing going on, a laid-back guy like myself isn’t going to be able to deal, you know?” Subaru complained. 

Given his current situation, and pitiful starting equipment, he couldn’t help it. 

His belongings consisted of a cell phone (which looked like it would run out of batteries soon), a wallet (filled with membership cards from various video rental stores), a cup of instant ramen he’d bought from a convenience store (pork bone and soy sauce flavor), a bag of crispy snacks bought from the same store (corn soup flavor), his favorite gray tracksuit (unwashed), and well-worn sneakers (two years old). That was it. 

“I don’t even get a single Excalibur? I’m done. What am I supposed to do in this getup?” 

Well, there’s only so much you can hope for when you’re summoned to a different world on your way back from the convenience store. It had happened in the blink of an eye. 

Subaru had already gotten hungry and eaten half of the one thing he had that might have been of any use—his pack of crispy snacks—before realizing that he had just gone through his only source of food. But worrying about it wasn’t going to help him now. 

Even if he’d wanted to put his hopes on the possibility that this was being staged as part of an elaborate reality TV show, the large lizard carts and look of all the people passing by nipped that in the bud. 

“The fact that no one seems to be paying attention to them means that they’re probably normal…both those giant lizards and the half-humans.” 

Subaru grumbled and looked on as people with strange outfits and colorful hair passed by, but out of all of them, the ones who really drove home the fact that he had been summoned to another world were the half-humans. 

Without having to look too long Subaru could see people with dog ears and cat ears, and there were even some who looked like they were lizardmen. But of course there were also ordinary humans, the same as Subaru. 

“So this is a world with half-humans…and probably wars and adventures, too. As for whether there are any animals I’m used to around… I’m not too sure, but given that lizard cart thing…it looks like they use animals in the same way we do.” 

After putting all of that together, Subaru let out a long breath, but not a sigh. If things unfolded the way he had fantasized about before about otherworldly summoning, he ought to be able to use his knowledge of modern civilization to hold sway over everyone else…but there were a lot of things that still didn’t make any sense. 

“The truth is, I have no idea what to do next, and I still have no idea how or why I was summoned. I don’t remember stepping into a mirror or falling in a pond, and if I’m to believe this is the otherworldly summoning format I’m used to, where is the beautiful girl who summoned me?” 

The lack of a main heroine in this otherworldly summoning setup was a big hole in the plot. If this were taking place in a 2D world, someone in the creative department was seriously slacking off. If Subaru was really summoned for no reason and then abandoned just like that, it put him on the same level as single-use disposable goods. 

Now that Subaru had finished establishing the state of his surroundings, he really couldn’t think of anything better to do than return to his default state of escaping from reality. 

“I guess if I keep this up, it’s no different from locking myself up in my room back home.” 

The thought of his parents crossed his mind, but right now he wasn’t in a position where he could just sit around feeling homesick. Thinking he had to do something about his current situation, he stood back up and turned back toward the main road, but… Just as Subaru was about to walk out onto the main road, he almost bumped into someone who moved out in front of him. 

“Oh. Sorry ’bout that.” Subaru gave a short apology and tried to continue past, but… 

“Hold up!” 

…he was grabbed firmly by the shoulder and pulled back into the alley. Nearly falling over himself as he turned around, Subaru looked up to see that the person who had thrown him back was a man with a large build. 

Behind that man were two of his buddies, and the three men stood in such a way as to block Subaru from exiting the alley onto the main road. 

The way they moved, it didn’t appear this was the first time these men had done this, and Subaru had a bad feeling about what was going to come next. 

“Umm… May I ask what you three fine fellows plan on doing with me?” 

“Oh, it looks like this one here’s a smart one! Well, nothing to worry about. Just give us everything you’ve got on you, and there’s no need for anyone to get hurt.” 

“So that’s the deal, huh? Yeah, I guess it would be. Ha-ha… This really sucks.” 

The men’s gazes were filled with scorn and ridicule. They looked like they were in their twenties, with the meanness of their personalities reflected in their faces and dirty appearances. They didn’t look like they were half-humans, but they certainly weren’t saints, either. 

You couldn’t call it an unusual plot development. Encountering thugs was a way to show the dangers of everyday life. In other words… 

“Damn, I’ve triggered a compulsory event.” 

3 

As he looked at the men smirking, Subaru tried to hold the status quo with a fake smile and considered his options. He was in quite a pinch, but since the beginning of time, in stories where humans are summoned to other worlds, those humans tended to be able to wield some kind of superpower. If Subaru had been summoned to this world under the same conditions as the stories he was familiar with, it was very likely that he had been given some sort of power. With that thought, Subaru felt that his body was a little lighter than usual. 

“I’m starting to get the feeling that this world’s gravity is, like, only a tenth of my world’s. I can do this. I can do this! I’m going to mow you all down and make this the first chapter of my glorious future! You’re only here so I can pull experience points off of you, you scum!” 

“What the hell is he going on about?” said one of the men. 

“I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure he’s making fun of us. Let’s kill ’im,” replied another. 

“Took the words right out of my mouth… You’re going to regret this!” returned Subaru, before flying forward with a straight jab from his right hand, aiming for the big man in front. Subaru’s fist collided with the man’s nose, but he also cut his fist on one of the man’s front teeth and started bleeding. 

—I hit someone for the first time in my life! Wow! It hurts way more than I expected. 

Subaru was confident in his fighting form, but he had never been in a real fight before. The man who was punched fell to the ground. Without taking a moment to pause, Subaru leapt at another of the men, caught off guard, as his next target. With a clean arc he landed a kick on the side of the next man’s head, slamming him into the wall of the alley. 

This was going even better than he’d expected, and he started to be sure of the notion that he was invincible in this new world. 

“I guess in this world my stats are pretty good! What a rush! Now to finish this!” 

Turning back around, Subaru bent forward to beat down the last man standing, when his eyes centered on what that man was holding in his hand: a glinting knife. 

Immediately Subaru dropped to his knees, bent over forward, and with a spectacular single motion prostrated himself, pressing his forehead against the ground. 

“I’m sorry, that was absolutely terrible of me, I ask that you forgive me and please find it in your generous hearts to spare my life!” 

Prostration—it was the most exteme form of showing absolute submission to another and the lowest form of Japanese humility. Just where did all of that fired-up feeling go? Subaru felt as if he could hear the blood drain from his body. Desperately clinging to any hope of mercy, he tried to make himself seem small and continued to apologize. 

With a knife involved, fighting was out of the question. No matter how you might train yourself, if you were stabbed, it was all over. All things in life are transient. 

Before he knew it, the two that Subaru thought he had defeated were back on their feet. One was holding his bleeding nose and the other was shaking his head back and forth, but other than that both looked as though they were in surprisingly good condition. 

“What?! You mean to tell me that my one-hit knockout punch only did that much damage?! What about my superpowers?!” 

“I dunno what you’re going on about, but shut your trap! You’ve really done it now!” 

It looked as though Subaru had been completely wrong about being summoned into another world coming with the promise of some kind of powers. He wasn’t really any stronger than he had been before. 

One of the men stepped on the back of Subaru’s head, scraping his forehead against the ground and causing him to bleed. Another then kicked him in the face, and Subaru curled into a ball as tightly as he could as he was subjected to further acts of violence. 

After all, the one who hit first was Subaru. The men didn’t hold back at all. 

—Crap, this really, really hurts. Like, I could die. No, seriously. 

Unlike in his own world, there was no guarantee that these thugs wouldn’t take his life. At this rate, it would be better to try one last-ditch effort to retaliate before he was beaten to death… 

“Stop moving, you whelp!” 

“Ow! No, don’t… Ow! Ow! Ow!!” 

The man with the knife stomped on Subaru’s hand as he tried to get up, then readjusted his grip on the knife so that the tip was held back toward his arm, ready to strike. 

“After we make sure you can’t move we’re going to take everything you’ve got. That’s what you get for acting tough, you punk…” 

“I-if you’re looking for money or valuables, I’m sorry but you’re out of luck. After all, I don’t have a cent on me…!” 

“Then those strange-looking clothes and shoes’ll do just fine. You can just stay down and be food for the alley rats!” 

Oh, so there are rats in this world, too, Subaru thought. I hope they aren’t big, like monster rats or anything. Subaru looked at the knife about to come down as if it didn’t concern him at all, distancing himself from reality as best he could. 

Subaru didn’t see his life flash before his eyes, and he didn’t feel like time was slowing down, either. The end would probably come like the cutting of a thread, he thought. 

—But just then… 

“Hey! Out of the way! Out of the way! I’m talking to you! Move!” yelled someone in a flustered-sounding voice as they dashed into the alley. 

Like the men, who suddenly looked up, Subaru managed to glance up in the direction of the voice, though he couldn’t move his body. 

What he saw was a small girl with longish blond hair dashing by. From her red eyes, you could sense a strong will, and her one canine tooth sticking out made her look like quite a prankster. She seemed more cheeky than anything else, but Subaru felt that if she smiled she would look pretty cute. 

As if it had been staged for a comeback, the fading light of hope Subaru had been holding lit anew. 

He was waiting for this kind of development. 

The girl, in her well-worn clothes and unclean appearance, had stumbled upon this attempted murder and robbery in the act! What would surely happen next, was that with an overflowing sense of justice this girl would save Subaru’s life, right from the clutches of death… 

“Whoa! You look like you’re in quite a pinch there, but sorry! I’ve got my hands full right now! Good luck! Live life to the fullest!” 

“Wait, what?! Are you serious?!” 

Unfortunately, that hope was shattered in an instant. 

The girl raised her hand in an apologetic sort of gesture and didn’t slow down as she continued racing down the alley. She went right past the men and kept going toward what should have been a dead end, kicked off against a wooden plank set up against the end wall, grabbed the top of the wall, and lightly flung herself up onto the roof of one of the surrounding buildings, where she disappeared. 

After the girl was gone, a silence fell upon the alley. It was as if a hurricane had just passed. Both Subaru and the men were dumbstruck. 

However, this didn’t mean that Subaru’s situation had improved at all. 

“Doesn’t what just happened make your anger just sort of melt away and make you want to change your minds about all of this?!” 

“More like it killed the mood and now I’m even angrier. Don’t think you’ll get to die a pleasant death!” 

The men kept their feet planted on Subaru so he couldn’t move. As Subaru looked at the glint of the knife in the man’s hand, the death that loomed before him seemed ever more real. 

—No, I mean, you’ve got to be kidding. I can’t die this easily, can I? 

A twitching smile formed on Subaru’s face as he looked around desperately for someone to deny the death that was coming his way. However, no such convenient development came. The tip of the knife drew ever closer. 

A feeling of resignation came over Subaru and he felt tears welling up in his eyes. It wasn’t fear that overwhelmed him; it was more the feeling of emptiness that this would all end without him accomplishing anything. 

In the midst of this overwhelming despair, feeling as if he had been abandoned by everyone and everything… 

“Hold it right there, you evildoers!” 

That voice overcame the noise of the crowd, the vulgar insults of the men, Subaru’s own heavy breathing, as well as everything else, and shook the very foundations of the world. 

4 

When people say, “Time stood still,” they must surely be talking about times like this. 

There was a girl standing at the entrance to the alley. 

She was beautiful. She had long silver hair, with braids in it that reached down to her hips. She was looking straight at Subaru with violet eyes that shone with intelligence. In her soft features were both elements of youth but also mature beauty. There was also a noble air about her that gave her a dangerous and bewitching charm. 

The girl was about one head shorter than Subaru, which made her around five feet, three inches tall. The clothes she wore used white as a base color, and there was nothing terribly ornate about them, but on the other hand, the simplicity emphasized her presence. 

The one thing that stood out was the white cloak the girl was wearing. It was emblazoned with embroidery that depicted a bird of prey, adding to her impression of majesty. 

However, it wasn’t the clothes she wore that made her shine so. 

“I will not stand by and watch any more of your wrongdoing. That is enough.” 

Her voice, like silver bells, rang beautifully in Subaru’s ears, and for a moment he forgot the situation he was in. He was completely undone by the silver-haired girl’s presence. 

The other men seemed to be just as shaken up as Subaru was. 

“Wha… Who do you think you are…?” 

“If you stop right now, I’ll let you go. In a way, this is my fault for not being cautious. So do the right thing and give back what you stole.” 

“Hey, what she’s wearing looks expensive. You think she’s nobility? Wait, huh…? What we stole?” 

“Please. It is very precious to me. I’d be willing to give it up if it were anything else, but I absolutely can’t in this case. Please. I won’t do anything to you, so please just give it back.” 

The girl looked as if she was pleading with all her heart. 

However, there was an inexplicable feeling of pressure that rose within the group. Something was happening that was hard to explain. 

“W-wait a minute! We don’t know what you’re talking about!” 

“…What do you mean?” 

The men pointed to Subaru, still underfoot. 

“You didn’t come here to rescue this guy…did you?” 

“…Those are some weird clothes that boy is wearing. Did you all have a fight among yourselves? I don’t think three against one is really fair, but…if you’re asking me if I know this person, I haven’t ever seen him before in my life.” Perhaps it was because she thought the men were trying to change the subject, but you could hear an amount of irritation in her voice. Because of that, each of the men rushed to explain themselves. 

“Wait a second! If you’re not after this guy, then we’re not involved! I bet it was that girl from before!” 

“You said you had something stolen from you, right?! That wall! You see that wall? She jumped off that wall and ran away on the rooftops!” 

“She’s farther back! Back past that wall! At the rate she was going, she’s probably another three streets down!” 

As the men continued to plead their innocence, the girl turned her eyes to Subaru, as if asking whether these men were telling the truth. Without thinking, Subaru nodded. 

“Hmm… It doesn’t look like you’re lying. So the one who stole from me is down farther ahead? I’ve got to hurry…” 

The girl turned away from Subaru and the men and toward the main road. The men clearly looked relieved. Subaru, faced with the reality of his abandonment, started to enter a state of shock, when… 

“Still, this situation is one I can’t just ignore.” 

As she turned back around the girl put her hand up, palm facing outward, and a series of shining lights began to dance in front of it. 

A dull thud rang out, like that of a hard object striking flesh, followed by the cries of the men as they were thrown backward. Then, there was a high-pitched sound as a fist-size clump of ice fell to the ground right beside Subaru. 

The clump of ice, which seemed to have formed heedless of both the season and the laws of physics, quickly evaporated as if it were being eaten by the surrounding air. 

“…Magic.” 

The best word to describe what just happened immediately tumbled out of Subaru’s mouth. 

There wasn’t any incantation or anything, but that chunk of ice had definitely shot out of that girl’s palm. 

Magic—having seen it with his very own eyes for the first time, Subaru realized something. 

“It isn’t quite as fantasy-like as I imagined… To be honest, this is kind of a letdown.” 

Subaru had imagined there would be more light and energy being bounced around. In reality, all that happened was an unrefined-looking clump of ice suddenly materialized, was used as a blunt object for physical damage, and then suddenly disappeared. There was no feeling or anything put into it at all. 

“Now…you’ve done it.” 

Subaru’s feelings on magic aside, the other men, who had taken a real hit from those clumps of ice, got back to their feet. To be fair, it was only two of them who managed to get back up. The remaining man must have gotten hit in a bad spot, because he was still knocked out. But rather than this fact taking the fight out of them, it seemed to just make the other two men even angrier. Standing next to the man with the knife, the other drew out a blunt, club-like object, and both were ready to fight. 

“I don’t care if you’re a magic user or nobility or whatever! I’ve had enough. We’re gonna kill you! Do you really think you can win a two-on-one fight?!” yelled the man with the knife, holding his face, blood still dripping from his nose. 

In response to his threats, the girl closed one of her eyes. “You’re right, one against two sounds like it could be a little tough.” 

“…In that case, would two on two be bit more fair?” As if it were finishing the girl’s sentence, a new, higher-pitched, genderless voice entered the fray. 

Startled, Subaru looked around. The other men also followed suit, but there wasn’t anyone inside or at the entrance to the alley who looked as though they were the owner of that voice. 

Then, as if to show both Subaru and the other men the answer to their question, the girl extended her left hand. 

Sitting on top of her palm and white fingers, there it was. 

“When you all stare at me like that, full of expectation, it’s uh…kind of embarrassing.” 

Using its paw to clean its face was a small, palm-size cat that stood upright on its two hind legs. 

It had gray hair and floppy ears. To the best of Subaru’s knowledge it was nearest to an American shorthair. That is, if you ignored the fact that its nose was pink and it had a tail about the length of its body. 

Seeing the small, palm-size cat, the man with the knife seemed overcome with fear and yelled, “Y-you’re a spirit mage?!” 

“That’s right. If you want to leave right now, I won’t chase after you, but make up your minds quick. I’m in a hurry.” 

With that, the men rushed to pick up their fallen companion and leave the alley, but as they passed the girl on their way out, one of the men clicked his tongue and said, “I’m going to remember your face, you bitch. The next time we see you it won’t go this well for you.” 

“If you do anything to her I’ll curse you and all of your offspring, you know? Though, in that case you won’t be having any.” 

For the thug, that must have been his best attempt at intimidation, but in contrast, the cat’s response was light in tone but much more severe. 

The cat didn’t seem to be completely serious, but the men paled more than they ever had before, and ran out into the main road without another word. 

Once the thugs were gone, Subaru was left alone in the alley with the girl and her cat. Thinking that he at least needed to say thanks, Subaru forgot his pain and started to get to his feet, but… 

“Don’t move,” said the girl in a cold emotionless voice. You could see in her eyes that she was being cautious. Even though she realized that Subaru was not with the other thugs, she wasn’t about to let her guard down, that much was clear. 

It was actually Subaru’s reaction that was more out of place. Even though the girl was looking at him like that, he was fixed on her beautiful and bewitching violet eyes. Not used to seeing such beauty, Subaru unthinkingly blushed and looked away. 

“See? I knew I was on to something. If he had nothing to hide, he wouldn’t look away like that,” said the girl. 

“I’m not so sure about that. That seems like a very natural reaction for a boy like him. I’m sensing zero evil intentions,” responded the cat. 

“Be quiet, Puck. …You know the girl who stole my badge, don’t you?” Shushing her cat, the girl turned to Subaru. Her expression, full of confidence, was lovely. However… 

“I’m sorry to let you down like this, but I totally don’t know her, like, completely not at all.” 

“Wai—What? Seriously!?” 

As her confidence was stripped from her face, Subaru was able to get a glimpse of how she naturally expressed herself, as opposed to her ongoing act. With that dignified air of hers out the window, the girl, flustered, turned quickly to the cat still resting on her palm. 

“Wh-wh-what are we going to do? Was this really all just a waste of my time…?” 

“A waste that’s still in progress… I really think you should hurry. She was really fast when she ran away, so there’s a good chance the culprit has some kind of strange protection on her side.” 

“Ugh… How can you be so unconcerned about all of this, Puck?” 

“You’re the one who told me not to get too involved, you know? Anyway, what are we going to do about him?” the cat said, as if just remembering about Subaru. 

As the topic of conversation centered back on him, Subaru put on a weak smile. 

“Oh,” said the girl as she finally realized the cat was talking about Subaru. 

In response, Subaru put on an empty display of confidence and replied, “Don’t worry about me. Thanks to your help, I’ll be fine. You’re in a hurry, right? You should go…” 

Subaru had hoped to finish this off with, If you’d like, I don’t even mind helping you out. How about it, m’lady? while brushing his hair back and flashing a smile, but… 

“…Huh?” 

Suddenly dizzy, Subaru reached for the wall but missed, and fell face-first back onto the ground. 

“Wait. You shouldn’t try to stand up just ye—Well…okay,” came the cat’s warning, just a step too late. 

After falling with zero capacity to catch himself, Subaru felt a sharp pain as his consciousness went winging away. 

“…So, what should we do?” 

“He has…nothing to do with us. That’s not enough to kill him. We’re going to leave him.” 

In the far reaches of his consciousness as it left him, Subaru could hear just a little of the pair’s conversation. 

That’s an otherworldly fantasy for you. Everyone has quite the severe view on the concept of empathy. 

Am I just going to be abandoned here in this alley? was the negative take. 

Well, I suppose I was going to die, and now I’m not, so I should be super grateful, was a more positive thought. 

With those two views in mind, Subaru’s consciousness drifted further and further…further and further away… 

“Are you sure?” 

“I’m sure!” 

Right before the thread of Subaru’s consciousness was cut for good, he was able to see that silver-haired girl, red in the face, turn around and shout. 

“There’s no way! No way that I’m going to save him, okay?! Okay?!” 

—Man, even when she’s angry she’s really cute. Go otherworldly fantasies. 

With that last thought, really this time, once and for all, Subaru’s consciousness fell into darkness. 

5 

It occurred to Subaru that the feeling of waking up was similar to having your face rise up from out of a body of water. When he opened his eyes, the sun’s light was at an angle and shone into them, causing him to squint at the brightness and rub his eyes. He woke up in a rather pleasant way, and Subaru was the type of person to be fully awake once he opened his eyes. 

“Oh, you awake?” said a voice from right above Subaru’s head, with him still lying down. 

As Subaru turned to look in the direction of the voice, he realized that he was still lying on the ground, but had his head on something soft that was being used as a pillow. 

“You shouldn’t move. You hit your head, so I can’t say whether it’s safe to just yet.” 

This concerned voice also sounded very kind, as Subaru remembered what happened just before he lost consciousness, he thought. Given the circumstances, he might just be in one of those blessed situations one hopes to be in as a boy. 

To have one’s head in a girl’s lap… Responding to this divine revelation, Subaru pretended to turn to readjust so he could enjoy himself to the fullest. With a circular motion he rubbed his cheek against it and reached a feeling of absolute bliss, and far more than he expected he felt a fluffiness from the softness of the hair. 

“Wow… Beautiful girls are a lot hairier than I imagin—Hey, wait a minute!” sputtered Subaru as he faced up, this time with his vision fully recovered, and took in what was happening. 

Right in front of Subaru, in his upside-down vision, was the face of a giant cat. “I thought that at least until you woke up, I’d make you feel comfortable. You can thank me later.” 

“First of all, I’d like you to stop with that terrible falsetto voice. There’s no way I’d mistake a cat for the heroine.” 

Subaru had certainly never been in a situation before where he got to use a human-size cat’s lap for a pillow and, well, it wasn’t like you get to experience this every day, so he decided to make the best of it. 

“Wow, this is actually really comfortable. Like, this is amazing. Now I understand why people want to love their cats ’til they go bald.” 

“Well, if you’re going to be this happy about it, I guess it was really worth super-sizing… Don’t you think so, too?” 

The cat scratched at his face as if it were embarrassed and winked as if seeking a confirmation. At the end of that glance was a silver-haired girl, standing at the entrance to the alley looking unfazed. 

It was the same girl from before, if Subaru was to believe his memories, eyes, and heart, which were all deeply branded by her image right before he lost consciousness. 

“Umm…I’m sorry about all of this. It looks like you ended up staying here with me until I woke up, and—” 

“Don’t get any ideas about this. The only reason I stayed is because I still have some questions to ask you. If it weren’t for that, I would have left you behind. I mean it. So don’t get any ideas.” 

Pressing the point, the girl put strong emphasis on her words. This was a level of girl power that Subaru, who had no resistance against such beautiful girls, simply could not stand against. It was so strong that Subaru could do nothing but nod, ignoring the content of whatever she was saying. 

“The reason I healed your wounds, and the reason I had Puck serve as a pillow until you woke up—all of that was for me. So I’m going to have you make it up to me, okay?” 

“I know you’re trying to build this up and everything, but if you just have something to ask, go right ahead,” said Subaru. 

It looked like she was one of those people who took the saying “helping others isn’t just for their sake” to heart. 

The girl looked sternly at Subaru and shook her head. 

“I’m not asking, I’m commanding. You know something about my stolen badge, don’t you?” asked the girl, dropping the tone of her voice. However, as this wasn’t any different from what she had asked before, Subaru had to tilt his head in confusion. 

They had gone through this once already, right before Subaru had passed out. 

She keeps calling the thing a “badge,” Subaru thought. So is it something like what police and detectives keep on themselves to prove what they are? I haven’t seen anything like that. 

“You didn’t hit your head real hard or anything while I was passed out, did you?” Subaru asked. 

“You were only out for about ten minutes, and no, nothing like that happened. Answer the question.” 

“Well…if that’s the case, I’ve got to say I really don’t know. Ha-ha…” 

You can’t do anything about what you don’t know. Subaru’s answer was no different from before. However, the girl didn’t look particularly crestfallen, but instead nodded. 

“Well, if you don’t know, you don’t know. But, the fact that you know absolutely nothing itself is information you have provided to me, and enough for me to justify healing you,” the girl replied, using twisted enough logic to baffle any swindler to describe her complete loss. 

As Subaru looked on, dumbfounded, the girl clapped her hands together as if to finish things. 

“Well, I’m in a hurry, so I’m going to get going now. Your wounds should all be healed, and I threatened those other guys so much I doubt they’ll go near you again, but it’s still dangerous to enter an alley like this all alone. Oh, and I’m not saying this because I’m worried about you; this is a warning: If I see you in a similar situation again, there won’t be any merit to me saving you, so you can’t expect me to do so again,” said the girl with machine-gun rapidity. She took Subaru’s silence as affirmation, nodded to herself, and turned around to leave. 

The girl’s long silver hair swayed as she moved, and sparkled fantastically in the dim light of the alley. 

“I’m sorry about that. She’s not really honest with herself. Don’t think too strangely of her, okay?” said the cat with a laugh as, having returned to its original size, it jumped up onto the girl’s shoulder. 

The girl patted its back as if to affirm its touch, and the cat disappeared, slipping behind the curtain of her hair. 

Without once looking back, the girl continued to walk on. As he watched her go, Subaru thought about what the cat had said, about her not being honest with herself, and her intentions. 

She had something stolen from her, and even though she was in a hurry to get it back, she saved Subaru. Then, after Subaru had passed out, she healed him, and when he woke up, she used terrible reasoning to try to show him that she wasn’t worse off for doing so. “She’s not really honest with herself” was not going far enough. Her efforts were coming up negative in everything, and it was hard to watch. 

The girl had every right to blame Subaru for getting in her way, but she hadn’t complained even once, and she didn’t even look for an apology. 

That’s because to her, the only reason she saved Subaru was for her own ends. 

“If you live like that, you’re just going to keep losing until there’s nothing left,” said Subaru as he got up, patted his dust-and dirt-covered tracksuit and started running. 

Sure, his beloved tracksuit was in pretty bad shape, but on the inside, almost all of his pain was gone. That’s after being kicked and punched as much as he was. Again Subaru was reminded of the otherworldliness of magic, as well as the generosity of that girl who, despite going on and on about having Subaru pay her back, took nothing from him in return. 

“Hey, wait!” Subaru called out to the girl just as she had reached the entrance to the alley and was in front of the main road, looking unsure of where to go next. 

The girl touched her silver hair and looked a bit troubled as she turned around. “What is it? I’m going to tell you right now, I only have a bit more time to spend dealing with you.” 

“So a little’s fine, then?! Anyway, what you lost is really important, right? Let me help you look for it.” 

The girl blinked a few times, surprised. “But you said you don’t know anything…” 

“It’s true that I don’t know the name of the girl who stole that badge from you, or where she’s from, but at least I know what she looks like! She’s got blond hair, is sort of like a kitten, and has this canine tooth that sticks out that’s hard to miss. She’s shorter than you and her chest is pretty flat so she’s maybe two or three years younger than you! How about that?!” 

When he got flustered, Subaru had a bad habit of speaking fast and not really even knowing what he was saying. 

Right now that bad habit was running at full blast, and even Subaru wanted to distance himself from his own words. 

The ensuing silence was painful. A cold sweat drenched Subaru’s back, not to mention his hands and armpits, which was followed by heart palpitations, shortness of breath, as well as dizziness, and in addition to feeling faint, his nose stuffed up in an allergic reaction accompanied by a migraine, such that there were problems on every front. However… 

“…You’re strange,” the girl said with a hand up to her mouth, tilting her head to the side as if she were looking at some rare animal. 

With a finger still at her lips she stared at Subaru, sizing him up. 

“I should say up front that I can’t offer you anything in return for your help. I might not look it, but I don’t have a copper piece on me.” 

“Don’t worry, that makes two of us,” replied Subaru. 

“Three of us, if you count me… Pretty terrible for us as a group,” added a voice jokingly from the girl’s silver hair, but Subaru ignored it and pounded his chest. 

“I don’t need anything in thanks. I’m the one who should thank you. That’s why I want to help.” 

“I haven’t done anything deserving of your thanks. I’ve already gotten something in return from healing you.” 

She just won’t give it up, will she? Subaru looked at the girl and her stubborn attitude with a weak smile. 

“If that’s the case, then I’ll help you for my own sake. The reason is…yeah, that’s it. I’ll use you for my ‘one good deed a day’ project!” said Subaru. 

“One good deed a day?” 

“That’s right. Once a day you do one good thing. If you do that, after you die you’ve got a one-way ticket to heaven! If I can do it, then a wonderful life of just eating and sleeping is waiting for me—so I hear! So that’s why I’m going to help you for my own sake.” 

Subaru felt like turning to himself and asking what the hell he was going on about, but at least he’d managed to make his point. 

The girl stood in thought, considering Subaru’s words, when her cat poked at her cheek with its paws. 

“I don’t sense any evil intentions from him, and I don’t really think it’s a bad idea, you know? With how large the capital is, it’s way better than going on no clues at all.” 

“But if I get him involved…” 

“You’re cute when you’re stubborn, but it’s foolish to let your stubbornness get the best of you and make you lose sight of your goals. I’d really rather not think of my own master as a fool.” 

The cat added its support in favor of Subaru, but the girl was still hesitant. In response, the cat dropped its expression and continued in a serious voice. 

“Plus, the sun is starting to set. If night falls, I won’t be able to help you. I’m not worried about you handling a thug or two, but…it’s better to be safe than sorry.” 

“Well, it sounds like you’re the one to call if there’s danger! But, wait—according to what you said, you can’t come out at night? Is that one of the deals of your contract or something?” Subaru asked, taking a step closer. 

The cat flicked its whiskers with its front paw and said, “It’s more like, I may look cute, but I’m a spirit, you know? I use a lot of mana just by materializing. When night falls, I return to the crystal that is my vessel and prepare for when the sun is out again. I suppose you could say it’s the perfect nine-to-five job.” 

“Nine to five? That sounds like a government job… The conditions to hire a spirit sound more severe than I expected…!” 

Subaru was able to talk naturally about spirits, but that was only because of the analytical power he had as a modern otaku, poisoned by anime and games. Even traits looked down on by the public come in handy sometimes. 

While Subaru and the cat continued their conversation, the girl continued to anguish over her decision. However, that last point seemed to have tipped the scales, so after much moaning with a number of buts and stills and ifs she finally conceded. 

“I’m telling you, I really can’t give you anything in return, okay?” 

6 

After Subaru’s first friendly interaction in this different world—a pleasant, heartwarming episode—one hour had passed. 

“What is the meaning of this?” 

Their investigation had stalled. 

As Subaru faced the girl’s cold stare, he scratched at his face, trying to find a way out. 

“Even with all of my experience, I never thought that it would be this difficult…” 

“You seem to have a really high opinion of yourself, but I haven’t seen anything from you to prove it. No matter how you slice it, things aren’t going well!” 

“Nobody says, ‘no matter how you slice it,’ anymore…” 

Pointing that out only made things worse, and the girl’s stare grew sharper, at which Subaru shrank away. 

Even though they had been searching for a little under an hour, for some reason, Subaru and the girl were back in an alley. Of course, there was a really good reason for this. There were several factors Subaru had discovered that made their search difficult. 

First, Subaru didn’t know his way around town. Given that he had just been summoned from another world, it was hard to blame him for wanting a pass on this one. Additionally, it seemed that the girl was unfamiliar with the area as well, and at least ten minutes were wasted with both having full confidence that the other knew their way around. It was pretty funny, actually, or so Subaru thought. But the way the girl was staring at Subaru, she didn’t seem to find it funny at all. 

Second, the characters and symbols written here and there…were completely illegible to Subaru. Given that Subaru didn’t have any trouble communicating by speech, he hadn’t thought all that much about it, but after a second look he saw that all around, here and there were handwritten symbols. Unless they were all some kind of “mystic charms to protect against evil magic” that tended to be popular, those symbols were probably letters for the common language. And because he couldn’t understand them, he couldn’t even read the road signs. 

In other words, while a miracle common in most otherworldly summoning works of fiction is “for some reason our words and writing are mutually understood!”, in Subaru’s case, only half of that came true. But given that if Subaru hadn’t been able to communicate through words he would have been as good as dead, it was hard to call his situation unlucky. 

“Still, why do you have to raise the difficulty like that on me…? The world’s not kind at all.” 

Rather than exhausting all options, it was more of a case of finding a series of critical problems before you even get started. 

While despairing at making absolutely no progress over the past hour, Subaru noticed that his companion, that girl, was standing up by the wall of the alley with her eyes closed, paying absolutely no mind to him. Seeing her lips move as she muttered something a few times, he tilted his head in confusion. 

“Wonder what she’s doing…” 

“Oh that? She’s communicating with lesser spirits.” 

Subaru raised his eyebrows in surprise as the girl’s gray cat suddenly reappeared right in front of his eyes. 

“I thought that I hadn’t seen you in a while, but you hadn’t gone home or anything; you were here the whole time?” 

“There’s still a bit of time left before I have to go. Unlike those minor spirits she’s talking to, I take my job seriously.” 

“Well that’s quite honorable of you. …But, what are these uh…lesser spirits again?” 

Going by the name, I suppose they’re a rank down from regular spirits? Subaru thought. 

As if agreeing with Subaru’s musing, the cat, floating in midair, waved its long tail back and forth. “Lesser spirits are beings that, in a state prior to becoming real spirits, start to develop some knowledge. If, over time, they gain power and self-awareness, they’ll become spirits like me.” 

As he nodded, listening to the cat’s explanation, Subaru noticed that the area around the girl began to glow. The silver-haired girl was surrounded by faint lights that looked as though they were fireflies. 

It was the kind of scene that most people would subconsciously hesitate to interfere with. It was like holy ground, whereby the influence of the supernatural, only what was sanctified was allowed to be. 

In response to the scene, Subaru… 

“Wow! That’s so cool! Are all of these glowing things spirits?” 

“Ah!” 

…intruded on it without a second thought, breaking the fantasy of it all as he started talking to the girl. 

As the girl cried out in surprise, you could see droplets of tears that formed in reaction, sparkling in her eyes. Then the girl’s flustered state spread to the lights around her and… 

“Oh, look at that. They’re panicking.” 

The many lights started to flee this way and that before finally scattering and disappearing into the air. 

“…Umm…” 

Both Subaru and the girl opened their mouths, dumbstruck, searching for where the lesser spirits had gone. Quickly the girl tried to continue what she had been doing, but it didn’t appear the lesser spirits were heeding her call anymore. 

“Just look at what you did! They’re gone! What are you going to do about this?!” 

“Ah… Um… I’m sorry! It was my first time seeing spirits like that and I got a little excited. I mean, it didn’t look like they were dangerous or anything.” 

“It was only safe because I had them under control. If you had done that to an inexperienced spirit mage, it would have been awful. In the worst case, the spirits could have gone berserk and…BAM.” 

“‘Bam?’” 

The girl was trying to admonish Subaru for not taking his actions seriously, but using the word “bam” wasn’t exactly helpful. 

“Oh, come on. There’s no way those little sparkly things could be dangerous. Do you really expect me to believe that?” 

“Well, to put it one way,” Puck said, “I may look pretty cute…but it would only take two seconds for me to turn you into a pile of dust.” 

“Damn, spirits are scary!” A shiver went down Subaru’s spine in response to the cat’s peaceful-sounding death threat, and he looked back at the girl. “I definitely hope you don’t happen to be so upset you set that cat on me or anything…” 

“I would never use Puck for something like that. If I were going to be violent with you, I’d handle you myself… Ugh, it really looks like they aren’t going to answer me anymore.” Failing to establish a second contact with the lesser spirits, the girl, depressed, shook her head powerlessly. 

“I suppose it’s not helpful to ask this after the spirits have already gone, but what is it exactly that you were trying to do?” 

“I was trying to see if I could get any information from them about what I’m looking for. They disappeared before I was able to ask, though.” 

“What, really?!” Subaru was struck speechless by the gravity of his mistake. Seeing that, the girl jumped in. 

“Um, b-but… It did take some time and lesser spirits don’t have the kind of clear awareness that regular spirits have, so I wasn’t really expecting much, but… Okay, I’m sorry, that’s a lie.” 

The girl’s hesitancy to lie was in conflict with her desire for a positive outlook, so while she tried, she was unable to soften the blow. In fact, her struggle with herself only highlighted to Subaru his own stupidity. At this rate, he wasn’t going to be able to do anything but slow her down. 

This is bad, both considering the debt I owe and the fact that she’s my one precious connection in this world… I’m gonna do my best to cling to this relationship and not let go…! 

“From the look on your face, it looks like you’re up to no good, but…did you think of something? Um…” In front of Subaru, who had found a questionable new sense of determination, the girl hesitated. Subaru tilted his head and stared at her for a while as she furrowed her brow, but it was the cat that came to her rescue. 

“Ah, now that I think of it, we haven’t told each other our names yet, have we? Should we introduce ourselves?” 

“Oh, you’re right. Well then, I guess I’ll go ahead and go first!” 

In an overly energetic fashion, in part to help cover up for his previous mistake, Subaru struck a pose and pointed to the heavens. 

“My name is Subaru Natsuki! The ignorant and unintelligent, forever and everlastingly penniless! Nice to meet you!” 

“Well, that doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence, does it? Anyway, I’m Puck. Nice to meet you, too.” 

As Subaru put out his hand, Puck leapt into it with his whole body for a handshake. An onlooker would probably think Subaru was trying to squeeze the cat to death. 

The girl blinked in surprise at Subaru’s bold interaction. “It’s rare to see someone who’s willing to approach a spirit so easily…and your name is just as unusual. With black hair and dark eyes like that—just where did you come from?” 

“Ha, I was waiting for you to ask that question. Given this trope, I’ll have to say I come from a small country to the east!” 

This is a pattern that has often come up in otherworldly fiction since times long past. A character will state that they come from a hidden country to the east, called something like “Zipang.” There tends to not be that much interaction between countries, so if you say you’ve traveled to where you are from that country, it will make sense to most people. It’s a magically convenient cliché. 

“If you look at a map of the continent, Lugunika is the country farthest to the east, so…there’s no country to the east of here.” 

“What, are you serious? We’re at the ends of the east?! So…does this make this country my long-yearned-for Zipang?!” 

“So you don’t know where you are, you don’t have any money, you can’t read, and you have no one you can count on. I’m starting to think you’re worse off than I am…” 

While Subaru was shocked at this new development, the girl was also starting to look anxious. With every action she took you could see the element of her personality that made her want to help others. She probably couldn’t help but be concerned about Subaru, who to her was looking more and more to be not only defenseless, but absolutely helpless. 

The girl looked at Subaru again carefully, from the top down. 

“Taking another look at you, you actually look like you’re in pretty good shape. Um… Uh… Subaru.” 

“Huh? Oh. Yep, Subaru. That’s my name.” Having his name called in such a hesitant way for some reason felt like a fresh new experience to Subaru, and he couldn’t help but stumble in his response. After clearing his throat to hide the fact that he was shaken up, he showed his biceps. “I do strength training every day. Since I’m almost always cooped up in my room, I’ve got to do at least that much to stay in shape.” 

“I don’t really get what you mean by ‘cooped up in your room,’ but you’re from a high-ranking family, aren’t you? Weren’t you taught some sort of martial art?” 

“I’m actually from an extremely ordinary middle-class family, but…what makes you think I’m from a high-class family? Do I exude some refined air of nobility?” 

“Well, you do have a bit of a curious air to you, at least.” 

Subaru jokingly raised his hands as if to acknowledge the flattery. 

But then the girl suddenly grabbed those hands, and Subaru, taken aback by the suddenness of her touch, had to hold back a squeak from rising out of his throat. 

“It’s also these fingers of yours, but your skin and hair are part of it as well. These aren’t the hands of a commoner, and your muscles don’t look like the product of hard labor.” 

Subaru blushed as the girl continued to poke at his hands, but understood. He was also impressed by her ability to see that he was not just simply a foreigner in a foreign land. As Subaru stood in wonderment, the girl continued. 

“Black hair and dark eyes. I hear that is a common trait of the refugees from the south, but the fact that you are here in Lugunika with those traits means that you are able to live a life of luxury. Also, the craftsmanship of these strange clothes of yours is magnificent… So, have I got it right?” 

As Subaru grew quiet, the girl put on a proud smile. Feeling admittedly drawn by the bewitching atmosphere she had made fitting of her beautiful smile, Subaru processed the contents of what she just said and made a reluctant face. 

“If you’re asking me whether you’re wrong or you are right…you’re absolutely wrong, but is there any way I can say it so you won’t get hurt?” 

“If I’m wrong, just tell me I’m wrong. If you don’t, it’s just going to be more embarrassing for me.” The girl blushed as her earlier confidence transformed into embarrassment. As Subaru watched her go silent, he thought about how he was going to explain where he came from. 

He could just say, “I’m a loser who was summoned from another world!” but given the precedent set by fantasy fiction about other worlds, that would open the gates for him to be labeled as someone who was wrong in the head. Looking back on the results of what he had said so far, he felt there was a significant risk in telling the truth. 

“You don’t have to think that hard about it, you know? If it’s something you can’t talk about, I won’t question you any further.” 

Seeing Subaru struggling with what to say, the girl came to her own conclusions and didn’t press him. Given that she had come to his rescue yet again in a way, Subaru grimaced, feeling all the more useless. 

“But…really, this isn’t looking very good,” the girl muttered, in a now-weaker tone, a clouded expression on her face. 

“…” Seeing that the girl could no longer hide how hopeless she felt, Subaru felt a faint flame light up inside himself. “What am I, an idiot? Well, yeah, I am an idiot. Just what have I been doing all this time…” 

Right in front of Subaru stood the girl who saved his life. Hadn’t he offered to help her out so that he could repay her? If that was the case, then how was he supposed to explain his total lack of support? 

“Subaru?” 

Seeing Subaru fall silent and looking troubled all of a sudden, the girl tilted her head and looked at him puzzled. Watching as with that motion her silver hair tumbled down off her shoulder, Subaru thought as hard as he could. 

Subaru tried to remember what had happened when the thief ran through that alley as those thugs were stomping on him. Focusing on that instant in time, he needed to find something, anything that he could use… 

“I have a few things that I want to check with you, is that okay?” 

“Um…okay, yeah. Go right ahead.” 

“Thanks. I’m pretty sure I heard you mention it a few times, but this is the capital of whatever country we’re in…right? So, basically it’s the town that has the king’s castle in it, and it’s a really big place, is that correct?” Subaru asked, remembering bits of the conversation that he had had with the girl before. 

While Subaru realized that his question must have sounded strange, the girl didn’t interrupt and simply nodded a yes. 

“So in this big city, there’s a girl who appears to be making her living stealing things. By the look of her clothes, she definitely doesn’t seem to be that well off… Now this may be obvious, but there’s got to be a place where people like that live.” 

“…” 

“Is there a place where crime is rampant, or something like a slum in the area…? I’m sure it’s hard to exchange stolen goods for money without some connections, so I think there’s a good chance she would have to go back to a place like that.” 

With the image of the thief burned in his memory, Subaru analyzed her from head to toe, and used all of the knowledge he had about fantasy settings to help form his hypothesis. 

“So, I think rather than searching around aimlessly, we have a better chance if we aim for that, but… What’s wrong?” 

“I was just surprised. You really do have a good head on your shoulders.” 

“Well, rather than a logical conclusion, it’s more that it’s a common theme in medieval fantasy, but…if this is all it takes for you to start thinking better of me I have a feeling that I’ve got a long way to go…” 

Despite Subaru’s response, he seemed to be taking the girl’s praise rather well. 

While Subaru scratched at the side of his head to try to keep from showing how embarrassed he was, the girl nodded several times. “We’ll go with your plan. Let’s go back out to the main road and ask some people if they know of a place that’s like what you described.” 

“We’re already really behind as it is, after all. Let’s hurry up and get going.” 

After Subaru and the girl looked at each other and nodded, they headed out of the alley and toward the main road. However, right before they could start their search for a spot where a lot of people who they could question were passing by, Subaru remembered something. 

“I was just thinking… I know your cat’s name now, but I don’t think you ever told me your name, ha-ha.” 

While Subaru thought that bringing this up now might have not been the best time, the girl’s eyes widened a bit in surprise. She then closed them, and after a few seconds of silence, said… 

“…Satella.” 

“Oh?” 

Subaru, who because of her silence had begun to think that he had made a mistake, was a bit late in reacting to her whispered reply. 

In response, the girl turned away from Subaru and continued. 

“I don’t have a last name, so you can just call me Satella.” 

Her voice had no emotion in it. Because of her attitude, it was as if, though she was giving her name, she was refusing to be called by it. Through her actions, this girl, who gave her name as “Satella,” was putting a distance between herself and Subaru more than she had ever done before. 

Subaru, who already thought that he would feel more comfortable having a surname to call her by rather than having to use her personal name, felt that he really couldn’t use that name at all. For the time being, looking for a way out, Subaru decided to avoid using her name entirely, and instead just use pronouns. 

As he observed Subaru and the girl’s exchange from the sidelines, Puck had one thing to say before slipping back under the girl’s silver hair. 

“…That’s in really bad taste, you know,” it muttered, though its voice did not even reach the girl’s ears, let alone Subaru’s. 

7 

Using the sounds of the bustling crowd as a guide, Subaru and Satella walked back through the alley they were in and reached the main road about ten minutes later. 

Shifting his gaze this way and that, Subaru looked for who they should question first, when Satella, who stood beside him, pulled on his sleeve. 

“Hey, Subaru…” 

When Subaru looked back at Satella he saw that she had her gaze fixed on something on the other side of the street. Subaru looked in the same direction and realized what Satella was looking at. 

I have a bad feeling about this, he thought. 

Adding further weight to his fears, Satella continued, with a serious look on her face. 

“…Do you think that kid is lost?” 

Out of all the possible things that could go wrong with this plan, the final one had reared its head. 

“…Well, uh…” 

One of the several things that Subaru had discovered throughout the day was that the silver-haired girl standing next to him was an incorrigibly kind person. But, whether it was due to a curse or some other reason, she would not ever admit it herself. 

Subaru sighed a deep sigh. “Let’s just calm down a minute.” 

“What are we going to do if she gets up and goes somewhere while we’re dillydallying?! We’ve got to go talk to her right away…” 

“You know, that kindness of yours is a great virtue, and given the fact that I myself was saved by that kindness I really don’t want to say this, but do you have any idea what situation you’re in right now?” 

Where Satella was looking, near the buildings across the street, there stood a young girl. She looked as though she was around ten years old, with shoulder-length brown hair that was very cute. If she smiled, the people around her probably would not be able to resist smiling back, but unfortunately, at the moment her eyes were filled with anxiety, and she looked moments away from tears. 

There was probably an 80 or 90 percent chance that Satella’s observation was correct. Subaru was sure it was, but… 

“There’s also that my screw-ups are partially at fault, but the thief who stole from you is just getting farther and farther away from us. If we waste any more time here, by the time we catch her, she might already have sold it and then we’ll have no way to get it back.” 

“You’re probably right…but…” 

“Then…” 

Certainly it would feel bad to just leave the girl like that, but with all of the other people around, the chance that someone else would help her was high. On the other hand, Subaru and Satella were pressed for time, and needed to gather information to continue their search. 

No matter how he thought about it, their current plan should have priority over helping that little girl, but… 

“But don’t you see, Subaru? Look at her, she’s crying.” 

“…” 

“If you don’t want to stick around with me, that’s just fine. Thanks for everything you’ve done, Subaru. I’ll figure this out on my own…after I help that little girl.” While Subaru stood at a loss for words, Satella looked like she had already made her decision. The way she said it, it wasn’t as though she was saying that Subaru just didn’t understand and she was tired of him, but that she felt guilty for forcing Subaru to play along with her unreasonableness. 

Her silver hair dancing behind her, Satella trotted off across the street to where the little girl was standing. The girl, who had been looking down with her teary eyes, noticed that someone had suddenly come to her side. There was a glimmer of hope in her eyes as she looked up, probably because she thought the person she was looking for had found her. 

“I’m sorry I’m not the one you’re looking for,” said Satella as she knelt down to talk to the girl, whose eyes opened wide in surprise. 

But in those eyes was not a feeling of relief, but a feeling of fear. You could tell, even from far away, that being spoken to by a stranger had caused her heart to shrink away, afraid. 

“I’m sorry if I’m bothering you, but where are your father and mother? Aren’t they with you?” 

It looked as though Satella had noticed the girl was afraid, and her voice was in a tone that was kinder than Subaru had ever heard it before. However, it wasn’t enough to convey her concern to the girl, who had lost sight of her parents and was now shivering because she did not know what to do. 

“Umm… Uh… Please don’t cry. I won’t do anything to hurt you, okay?” 

Satella tried to keep open the girl’s heart before it shut completely on her, but it didn’t seem to work, and the little girl only shook her head back and forth. The tears that had welled up in her eyes looked as though they were about to overflow, when… 

“Now feast your eyes on this magnificent notched ten-yen coin!” 

“Huh?” said Satella, surprised by the sudden voice that had leapt in, and when she looked up, there was Subaru in his gray tracksuit. 

Subaru first smiled weakly at Satella’s reaction, and then turned his smile from her to the little girl. The sudden intruder had also surprised her. Subaru then put out his right hand in front of her. 

“Now, can you see this coin here in my right hand? I bet you can! All right, now I’m going to squeeze it tight. Like this…squeeze squeeze squeeze…” 

“Wait, Subaru…what are you…?” 

“And would you look at that!” 

Ignoring Satella’s interruption, Subaru took his fist where he had been holding the notched ten-yen coin and opened it wide for the two to see. When he did, the coin that should have been in his hand was gone. 

“Wow! The coin I was squeezing is gone! Now where could it have run off to…?” 

The little girl blinked a few times and then stared hard at Subaru’s right hand, but whether she looked at the back of his hand or his palm, she couldn’t find it. Subaru, emboldened by the girl’s reaction, nodded, and then reached out with his left hand and gently brushed his fingers through her hair. 

“Would you look at that! So this is where the coin was hiding.” 

When the little girl saw the coin resting between the fingers of Subaru’s left hand, she was stunned. 

Satella, who couldn’t figure out the trick, was just as confused. 

Subaru took a magnificent bow before the two and then dropped the notched ten-yen coin in the little girl’s hand. 

“I’ll let you keep it as a present. It’s special, so take good care of it, okay?” 

Subaru looked on with a smile as the little girl held the coin close and nodded vigorously. 

As he was doing so, Satella poked him in the side. “Hey, Subaru…” 

“Don’t look at me like that. I mean, I’ll admit what I said before was a bit harsh but…” 

“How did you do that?” 

“Oh, you mean that? You’re not questioning my motives, but how I did the trick?” 

Subaru promised to explain the trick later to Satella, who looked very interested, before turning back to the little girl, who was looking very curiously at the ten-yen coin. It seemed like Subaru’s amazing magic had helped calm down her anxiety. When Subaru knelt down and asked her a few questions, she answered them quickly and clearly. 

“I see. So you got separated from your mother, huh. Don’t worry, don’t worry. Just leave it to your big brother and sister. We’ll find her right away!” 

After giving the girl another pat on the head, Subaru held out his hand to her, and with a little hesitation, she grabbed it. Satella, who was watching, opened her eyes wide. 

“You really look like you’re used to this… Subaru, is your profession taming children?” 

“When you take it out of context like that, that sounds really, really bad! And no. I’m unemployed.” 

Technically, Subaru had the incredibly convenient status of being a student. However, given that he hadn’t been going to school lately, and particularly now that he had been summoned to a different world, he didn’t really feel that he was qualified to call himself that anymore. 

But, regardless… 

“So, big sister, how about you hold this lonely little girl’s hand? She looks like she could use another friend,” said Subaru with a wink. The little girl had reached her other hand, the one that was not holding on to Subaru’s, out to Satella. 

Satella looked surprised for a moment and held her breath, but then let it out and took the little girl’s hand in her own. “Right. Don’t you worry. Just let your big sister handle this. We’ll definitely find your mom, okay?” Satella said, smiling at the little girl as she nodded silently. 

Subaru and Satella led the girl along, with her between them, and the three continued down the main road through the waves of people together. 

“The way we are now, don’t you think there are some people out there who look at us and think that we’re a young couple with our child? How embarrassing!” 

“…Huh? Even with the benefit of the doubt I don’t see how anyone would think that you and that girl are anything other than brother and sister…” 

“I can’t tell if that’s just a really dry joke, or that’s really what you thought I meant!” 

As Satella and Subaru went on talking, the little girl between them let a small smile spread across her face. 

8 

Fortunately, perhaps because they really stood out as a group, it didn’t take long before they found the little girl’s mother. In this case, it wasn’t only Subaru who stood out, but also Satella, with her silver hair and extraordinary beauty. 

“Thank you so much!” 

Once the girl’s mother was reunited with her child, she thanked Subaru and Satella several times, though they smiled and played it off as if it were nothing. 

As the little girl and her mother were leaving, the girl looked back and waved good-bye several times, and Subaru and Satella waved back. Subaru turned to look at Satella, as she stood beside him waving to the girl, and saw that she had a bright and cheerful expression on her face. 

“Now, I get the feeling that we’ve wasted a lot of time doing this, but what does our big sister have to say? I’m sure she’ll find some kind of way to describe this as a means to an end!” Subaru said in an orchestrated manner, snapping his fingers and making fun of Satella’s all-too-kind nature. 

Of course, he wasn’t really criticizing her; it was more that he was just poking fun. After all, Satella had given such a roundabout excuse for why her encounter with Subaru was useful, so he was curious to hear what she would say. 

“…It’s simple.” In response to Subaru’s teasing, Satella smiled. “Now we can be in a good mood as we continue to search.” 

“…” 

“Even if we got my badge back, I’m sure I would have regretted not helping that girl. Don’t you think it is better to both help the girl and get my badge back?” 

It didn’t look like Satella was just saying that to keep her own hopes up. She looked so refreshed she probably believed it. 

With that kind of response, Subaru really didn’t know what to say. He would have to rethink his opinion of this girl. 

Not only was she the type of person who was so kind she always ended up losing everything, she also was the type of person who wanted to have it all. 

“I see. You’re right. Thanks to your quick decision, we won’t have to say, ‘Sure, we abandoned that little anxious crying girl all lost and by herself, but we were able to get the badge back, safe and sound, hooray!’” 

“Well that’s a really negative way to put it,” said Satella, frowning, then glaring at him as though she seemed to have remembered something. “But besides that… Why did you help me? I thought you were against helping the girl, Subaru.” 

“I just wanted to show off my ability to do magic tricks! …Which is, of course, a lie. Didn’t I say so before? I’m going to help you find your badge so I can do my good deed for the day and go to heaven.” 

“But since you helped the girl, doesn’t that count for your good deed for the day already?” 

“That’s a very good argument! But I mean, it’s not like I’m limited to one a day or anything. I can do more. So anyway, I’m going to do enough for tomorrow today! I’m actually planning to get this whole week out of the way!” 

Subaru had the feeling that he was getting away from the true meaning of this whole “do one good deed a day” concept, but he still tried to make an argument. Satella stood by, shocked. 

“Subaru…with a personality like that, you’re going to end up losing everything one day.” 

“You’re the last person I want to hear that from!” Subaru shouted, flipping her words back toward her, but Satella just tilted her head in confusion. 

Apparently she really just didn’t get it. “You really are a nice boy, aren’t you?” 

“You know, it kind of bothers me that you’re treating me like I’m younger than you. I know that a lot of people think East Asians are younger than they are, but we really can’t be that different in age, can we?” 

Subaru thought that by a rough estimate Satella looked to be about seventeen or eighteen years old. Given that Subaru had a rather early birthday compared to others in his age group, he was seventeen and thought that it was possible she could even be younger than him. 

But in response, Satella narrowed her violet eyes slightly and said, “However old you think I am, I don’t think that you’re very close… After all, I’m a half-elf.” 

“…” 

Subaru was at a loss for words. Seeing his response, a number of complicated emotions flashed across Satella’s eyes. Finally, the emotion that settled was an ineffable mixture of resignation and hopelessness. 

“I see. No wonder you’re so cute. After all, it’s like a given in fantasy worlds that elves are always beautiful.” 

“…Huh?” 

Subaru finally nodded, having come to his own conclusions about Satella being a half-elf. Satella blinked her eyes several times. Her expectations had completely missed their mark. 

“Hmm? What’s wrong?” 

“It’s not that anything is wrong, it’s just…I mean…I’m a half-elf, and…” 

“Yeah…I heard you the first time.” 

Unsure of what Satella had a problem with, that’s the only way Subaru could think to answer, but Satella’s reaction was dramatic. 

“….ah.” 

Satella made a strange sound in her throat, before suddenly turning away from Subaru, finding the nearest wall, kneeling beside it, and holding her silver-haired head in her hands. 

In the face of such an inexplicable reaction, Subaru just didn’t know what to say. 

“Take that!” 

“Ow! What the hell was that for?!” 

The gray cat, which as always seemed to come and go as it pleased, had punched him in the face with its paw like it was reenacting a fancy fighting move. 

Puck purred, flicking at his whiskers with the same paw he had punched Subaru with. “I don’t know, I just felt this overwhelming frustration and couldn’t keep it bottled up inside of me.” 

“If that’s the only reason, it’s going to be hard to get rid of the feeling that a great injustice has been done to me, but it was a soft and squishy punch, so I forgive you.” 

“I mean, I’m not really mad at you or anything. If I had to say one way or the other, I’d say it’s the opposite.” 

“The opposite?” said Subaru, confused. 

“Yes, the opposite,” Puck said with a nod. 

But before Subaru could ask what Puck really meant by that, Satella had returned. 

Twisting the ends of her silver hair in her fingers, Satella glared at Subaru. 

“Subaru, you…nincompoop.” 

“Nobody uses the word ‘nincompoop’ anymore, and what have I done to be insulted by you?” 

“Hmph. If you don’t understand, that’s not my problem. More importantly, we’ve got to continue our search.” 

With the subject of Satella’s unreasonableness cut off without another word, Subaru looked irritated, but that irritation evaporated as Satella began to act more friendly and familiar. Subaru still didn’t know why she’d had such a sudden change in attitude, but there were more important things to think about. 

“Anyway, that episode with the little lost girl made it painfully clear—isn’t this town just too big to be searching around for something in?” 

“Well, it’s the capital of Lugunika. It’s the largest city in the nation. If I remember correctly, there are about…three hundred thousand people who live here, and a lot of others come and go.” Satella answered Subaru’s question in detail and with a hint of pride in her voice. 

“I see, I see. Three hundred thousand people, huh. That’s quite a lot… Thanks for the regurgitated information.” 

“Urr…” Satella muttered. It appeared Subaru’s guess had been on the mark. 

Subaru tried to use that new information to picture Lugunika’s capital city in his mind. If it had a population of 300,000 people, then for a city in a medieval fantasy setting, it was quite large. Of course, that number only reflected the people who lived in the city, so after adding in traveling merchants and adventurers, the number of people at any given time would probably be greater than that. 

As Subaru watched all of the people passing by from the side of the street, he was again astonished by the concentration of such variety in a group of people. There were half-humans, half-beasts, and regular humans all mixed together, and it really was like a melting pot of different races. 

The fact that they had gotten lost in the alleyways for almost an hour wasn’t just something to laugh about, either. 

The area was so large and the roads so complicated that they really had gotten lost. 

“In other words, we don’t have any more room for error. We have already given up a big advantage to the thief, and if we get stuck again it really will be too late. So let’s choose our next move carefully.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“If we run around without some sort of plan, we won’t get any results. For instance, if we go back to the place where your badge was stolen, we might be able to get more information out of people. Was there anyone who saw what happened?” 

“Actually…I think there may have been.” Satella put her hand to her mouth as if she had remembered something and then explained herself to Subaru. 

According to Satella, her badge had been stolen in broad daylight, right in the middle of a crowd of people. If so, the theft was a bold move, but looking at the commotion on the street in front of him, Subaru thought that it wasn’t necessarily a bad decision on the part of the thief. The more people there are, the easier it is to get lost in the crowd. 

“Do you remember where it was stolen from you?” 

“Yes, I think…it was this way.” 

Subaru followed Satella down the street. As they made their way through the confusion of the bustling crowd with its many different kinds of people, Subaru felt his sense of distance and direction taken from him just as quickly as when they had made their way through the maze of alleyways before. He felt as if he no longer had any idea of where he was walking. While the place they were in should have been one he had never seen before, Subaru felt a strange feeling that he had seen it before, and that feeling just wouldn’t go away. 

“Wait. No, I have definitely seen this place before.” 

Seeing the place that Satella had led him to, he scratched the side of his face and smiled a half smile. 

The place where Satella had had her badge stolen from her was the same street corner to which Subaru had been summoned. 

“This is where I was so confused I decided to go cool my head down in an empty alley, and then had my encounter with thugs A, B, and C…” 

Remembering what had happened about two hours earlier, Subaru now mused to himself that amazing coincidences like this really did happen sometimes. 

If so, he was in in luck. He had someone in mind that they could talk to. 

“So that’s the situation. I told her, ‘Leave it to me!’ and came over here to see you, Mr. Fruit Salesman.” 

Subaru spun around and pointed at the owner of a fruit shop on the side of the main road. The fruit that lined his shop was fresh, and just looking at it made his mouth water. 

“…What, it’s you again? I was hoping for a customer, Mr. Broke,” said the shop owner with a cold glare that didn’t seem fitting for one who dealt with customers on a daily basis. 

The man wore a bandanna and was very muscular. He had a stern looking face and a deep, threatening voice. 

To top it all off, he also had a white scar that ran down the left side of his face, probably left by some kind of blade. No matter how you looked at it, there was no way he was a respectable, law-abiding citizen. 

That’s why it was so surprising for him to be behind the counter of a fruit shop. 

“Oh, don’t be so cold, Pops. You were acting pretty nice to me not all that long ago.” 

“That’s because I thought you were a customer. If I had known you had no money on you, I would have chased you out earlier, like I’m about to do now.” 

Subaru was trying to act like they were best friends, but the shop owner was having none of it. He waved his hand as if he was shooing away a bug. 

“Oh, come on,” Subaru sighed, relaxing his shoulders. “Are you sure you want to treat me like this? Haven’t you noticed that I’m different from the last time I came here?” 

“What’s that?” said the shop owner, unsure of how to react as Subaru made a triumphant expression, nostrils flaring. 

Subaru stepped aside and held both his hands out to show Satella standing behind him. 

“Look at that! I brought someone with me! You may have chased me off once you learned I was penniless, but what do you think, now that I’ve brought in someone who just very well may become a new frequent customer of yours?!” 

“Um, Subaru…? I hate to say this when you’ve got your hopes up, but I don’t have any money on me.” 

“Huh, what, really? You’re telling me that we were walking around the capital without so much as a single coin between us?!” 

The shop owner gave a sigh as he looked at the two paupers in his shop. 

“So? What was it that you wanted to say, now that one beggar’s become two?” 

“Well, actually, we’re looking for something, and I wanted to ask if you could at least hear us out?” 

“That was just my way of saying I don’t have the time to deal with you people! Take a hint!” the shop owner yelled. 

Subaru felt himself take some intense eardrum damage. 

“Th-this wasn’t a good idea after all, was it?” said Satella, shrinking away as she tugged on Subaru’s sleeve. 

It might be true that asking for help without buying anything was pretty selfish, but that didn’t change the fact that they had no money to buy anything with. 

Just when Subaru was about to give up on trying to get any information out of the man, he heard a voice. 

“Hmm? Are you…the two from before?” 

Subaru and Satella turned around. Standing right in front of them was a woman with long brown hair. It was someone they had both seen before; after all, the woman was not alone. Holding her hand was a little girl who looked very happy to see them. 

“We are, but…why are you here in a place like this? The only other person here is this heartless, scary-faced man.” 

“Ha-ha… This is my husband’s shop, so I thought I’d stop by and say hello.” 

“Your husband’s shop?” 

Subaru and Satella looked at each other, and then turned back to look inside the shop, their gazes finally settling on the scar-faced man, who had folded his arms. 

“Pops…you didn’t kill this woman’s husband and take their shop, did you?” 

“What are you going on about? This is my shop, and that is my wife!” 

Subaru looked back in shock at the woman, who smiled, looking a bit unsure of how to react. She was a beautiful woman, with fine features and a gentle demeanor. This woman and that stern-faced man? There had to be some mistake. 

He couldn’t possibly be threatening her, could he? Subaru thought with a worried look. But despite Subaru’s rude conjecture, the little girl who was holding her mother’s hand darted past Subaru to the shop owner, who hugged her and picked her up. 

“Oh, look at you! Aren’t you all excited. Now tell me, do you know these two destitute beggars?” 

“Beggars? Dear, don’t call them that!” 

After hearing her husband’s sharp words, the girl’s mother raised her eyebrows and began berating her husband. She then explained how she, her daughter, Subaru, and Satella had come to meet. 

After hearing what happened, the shop owner set his daughter down. 

“I’m sorry about that. That was not the way to talk to the people who saved my daughter. Please forgive me.” 

“Oh, don’t worry about it. I mean, it is true that we don’t have any money on us, and…” 

“That’s right, old man! I hope you think long and hard about your action…s… Um…your cute face looks pretty scary right now.” A look from Satella shut Subaru up. 

Right after that, the little girl reached out her hand to Satella. In her hand was a small ornament in the shape of a red flower. Satella held her breath, and looked from the ornament to the little girl and back several times, with a slightly troubled expression. 

“Please, take it,” said the mother, placing her hand on Satella’s back, urging her on. “My daughter wants to thank you in her own way.” 

Satella nodded slightly and then took the flower ornament from the little girl’s hand, and pinned it on the left breast of her white cloak, before kneeling down so that the little girl could see it. 

“Thank you. I like it very much.” 

As Subaru watched Satella’s brilliant smile from the side, he found himself unable to look away. Seeing that smile, the little girl blushed and looked away, and the shop owner, watching all of this, cleared his throat. 

“You saved my daughter. I want to thank you. Ask me whatever you want.” 

With a strong nod, the stern-faced shop owner put on his best smile. 

Satella was surprised, but then looked to Subaru and smiled, but it wasn’t the same smile as before. This one was a triumphant one. 

“See, I told you. It really did come around and help us in the end!” she said, as if this odd twist of fate was entirely her own doing. 

9 

—Even though the street was just one off the main road, the atmosphere was full of gloom. 

It was still and silent, and there was no sign of any kind of life, let alone traces of people around. 

The street Subaru and Satella were on wasn’t far from the main road, but the hustle and bustle from before now seemed like a far-off dream. 

“We heard from that guy that if we were looking for stolen goods, they would be handled and sold in the slums, but…” whispered Subaru as he peered down the street that supposedly would lead them to the slums, “…the air down there and the mood, not to mention the general character of the people down there, are all probably going to be pretty terrible. Are you sure you really want to go?” 

“You’re the one who suggested that my badge might be there in the first place, and the owner of that shop said it would probably be there, too…” 

“You shouldn’t forget that right after he said that, he added that we should probably give up,” said Subaru, reflecting back with a sour face on what was said at the fruit shop. 

Thirty minutes after unexpectedly reuniting with the little girl and her mother at the fruit shop, and using that coincidence to turn the situation around and gain some valuable information, Subaru and Satella were now at the entrance to the rumored slums, where most stolen goods were said to be brought. 

After realizing that Subaru and Satella had helped his daughter, the stern-faced shop owner had warmed up to them, and listened to their plight. Because of that, they were able to get information about the slums, but now they were hesitating. 

“I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but wouldn’t it be better to ask for help? Like, if we asked the police, or…I guess they would be guards in this case…I’m sure if we asked those kind of people to help us search and they sent a team out to find it, this would get resolved a lot more quickly.” 

“We can’t.” 

Satella immediately rejected Subaru’s suggestion. In fact, she so flatly rejected it that it took Subaru by surprise. 

“I’m sorry, but…we can’t. I also don’t think we can get the guards to act over such a small theft, and…I have other reasons that I can’t ask the guards for help,” said Satella, pausing for a moment with her lips shut tightly, before looking at Subaru with a look of pleading in her eyes. “I’m sorry, but I can’t say why.” 

Realizing that she quite clearly didn’t want to be asked, Subaru raised his hands slightly, conceding. “So, what should we do, then? I suppose we can still employ team tactics with just the two of us,” said Subaru in a light and joking tone, trying to keep the mood up. 

“Don’t forget me!” replied Puck, who had reappeared on Satella’s shoulder, looking at Subaru and Satella as it wiped its face with its paw. “But we don’t really have the time to just sit around and talk anymore. Even if you want to try those team tactics with two humans and a cat, I’ve only got about an hour before it’s time’s-up for me.” 

As Puck looked up at the sky, Subaru followed its gaze and saw that most of the sky that was peaking through the buildings on either side of the street had already shifted from blue to orange. The reason the slums seemed so dark and dreary wasn’t only because of the damp and sour smell coming from it. It was getting closer and closer to sunset—which of course meant that Puck would soon reach his limit. 

“So whether you decide to go or turn back, it’s best to make that decision soon,” finished Puck. 

“I don’t know what you mean by ‘team tactics,’ but we’ve got to keep going. There’s no way that we can let this chance go and risk having my badge be out of our reach forever,” Satella said, answering Puck. She then turned to Subaru. “All right, so I’ve decided I’m going, but…the people who live here are probably used to getting into fights, so I want you to be careful, even more than before. If you’re scared, you can just wait here for me to come back.” 

“Wait here?! Just how much of a chicken do you think I am?! I’m going! I’m going to stick to you like I’m a spirit who’s come back to haunt you!” 

“So in other words you don’t want to be in front. That would really, really make it easier on me, though.” Satella sighed yet again in the face of Subaru’s energetic readiness to flee. 

Subaru thought about how, ever since he and Satella had met, he had only made her look troubled. The few times she did smile, the reason had nothing to do with Subaru. It was unfortunate. Given how cute she looked even when she was displaying negative emotions, Subaru thought it would be wonderful if she ever did smile at him. 

“All right! Let’s do this! It’s about time I do something to show you what I’m made of!” 

“What are you so excited about all of a sudden? I can see up your nostrils.” 

“Well, that was a great way to ruin my display-of-determination scene! Thanks!” 

Even though he had his energy tripped up a notch from the start, Subaru hurried his pace so he wouldn’t fall behind Satella, his arms flailing back and forth as he rushed to not be left behind by this girl who kept continuing on toward her goal. 

10 

Now, Subaru and Satella entered the next stage on the way to completing their task—the slums. And it looked like they were going to have a lot of trouble… That is, until it became clear that an unlikely character would prove themself very useful; very useful indeed. 

“Who, you ask? Me! Yes, me! For some unknown reason, the people here in the slums are really nice to me! Just what unknown variable is responsible for this?! Has my charm stat finally been adjusted?! I haven’t felt so loved since I was in preschool!” 

Back in preschool, Subaru was quite the cute one. His hair was long and he was often mistaken for a girl. Given the change to his current state only took ten plus a few years. The passage of time really is cruel and unforgiving. 

“Has something about me changed from before? Do I, like, have something on my face?” 

“Well, you do have your evil-looking eyes, short ears, and flat nose on your face…” 

“I could have gone without the evil eyes and flat nose description!” retorted Subaru before hanging his head. 

Satella put her finger to her lips and thought. “Hmm… It probably has to do with the way you look and are dressed right now. You’re covered in dust and dirt and there are even traces of blood. The people who live here also have it hard, so they must look at you in pity and can’t help but be kind to you…” 

“Right now you’re doing a good job of making me feel as bad as I look! But you’re right! It makes perfect sense! Damn it all!” 

As they say, people with the same sickness pity each other. While it was great that Subaru seemed to be more likable in the slums in an unexpected way, Satella’s likability was at an all-time low. The reason again probably had to do with the way that she was dressed. 

“The thugs from before made similar comments, but you really are dressed pretty well, aren’t you?” 

“I guess I do stand out, don’t I…?” replied Satella, looking at Subaru nervously, as she rolled down the sleeves of her white cloak. 

However, while she acknowledged the problem with her fine clothes, she seemed to be oblivious to the fact that it wasn’t just the clothes, but the person wearing them as well. 

“Um, I have something I’d like to ask you, but—” 

“What’s that? This is no place for you and your fancy clothes to be walking around in, young lady, so go on now, get outta here!” 

Again, Satella was brusquely turned away as she tried to ask someone for help. Given that her low rate of success had to do with both her good looks and her fine clothes, rather than twice worse off, it was better to say she was “worse off squared.” However, it wasn’t as though Subaru could suggest that she get all dirty like he was. 

“At least you might be a little better off if you take off your cloak…” Subaru suggested. 

“…I know, but…” Satella gripped both shoulders of her cloak with her hands, but would not take it off. Subaru thought that her response was a little bit strange, but he didn’t bring it up. 

As Satella looked down, she lightly brushed her hand against the red flower decoration pinned on her left breast. Subaru, seeing how Satella found comfort in that decoration, couldn’t help but feel like smiling, and it made him want to try even harder for her sake. 

If Satella couldn’t do this on her own, he was glad to make use of his dirty appearance to make progress. I guess this means that good things can come even from getting beat up by a bunch of thugs in an alley, Subaru thought. “Well, don’t worry too much. You can leave this to me. Anyway, with the fruits of my labor, we’ll soon have her cornered, so let’s keep chasing after that criminal. So yeah, with the fruits of my labor, we’ll soon have her cornered! So! Let’s…keep…searching!” 

“I understand that you’re happy to be useful for once, but it’s really lame when you put so much emphasis on yourself like that.” 

Subaru had struck a pose with every pause of his sentence, which he thought was cool, but when Satella put it like that, it just made Subaru seem like he was hopping up and down as if to say, Look what I can do! 

Satella stared at Subaru with a face that looked like she regretted raising her opinion of him earlier, and Subaru just responded with a weak smile. 

It had been little more than two hours since they had met, but with things like this, Subaru already felt as though he had known Satella for a long time. However, this little episode had a different ending than the last few. 

“I’m sorry, but I’m already at my limit,” said Puck weakly as he leaned up against Satella’s neck. His gray coat glowed with a weak light, and his figure blurred as if he were going to disappear at any moment. 

“The way you disappear kind of looks like you’re dying.” 

“I tried to stick around longer than usual because I wanted to protect my precious daughter from this evil-eyed guy hanging around her. But when I work myself to the bone, I end up fading away when it’s time for me to disappear.” 

“That’s terrible! But leave it to me! I won’t let any dangerous guys near her after you disappear!” 

“Wait, does that mean it’s okay for me to wipe you off the face of the Earth before I disappear?” 

“No! Not okay!” shouted Subaru, stepping away and hugging himself. 

“I’m joking,” said Puck with a small burst of laughter. 

After that, Puck looked to Satella, who took from her breast pocket a crystal that was glowing with a green light. 

“I’m sorry for pushing you so hard, Puck. I’ll do my best from here on out, so you just get some rest.” 

The green crystal continued to glow with a faint light in Satella’s hand as she held it. It looked different from what you might call a jewel. So far as Subaru could tell, “crystal” was the word that fit best. 

Puck crawled down Satella’s arm and approached the crystal, then reached out and hugged it to its small body. Finally he turned back toward Satella. 

“I’m sure you know this already, but be careful, and don’t push yourself too hard. If something happens don’t hesitate to use your od to call me back out.” 

“I know, I know. I’m not a child. I can take care of myself.” 

“I wonder about that… My precious daughter here always makes me worry when it comes to things like this. I’m counting on you, Subaru.” 

Puck looked at Satella with affection, the way a parent looks at their child. Satella blushed, but also looked annoyed. 

With the conversation thrown his way, Subaru beat on his chest. “All right! Just you leave it to me. You can trust my sixth sense. When it sounds the danger alarm, I’ll get us out of there in no time!” 

“I really don’t understand half of what you’re saying, but all right. Now with that out of the way, good night. …Be careful.” 

With a last glance directed at Satella, Puck finally vanished. His small body became a small ball of light, which gradually melted away into the world around it as he disappeared. 

Other than the fact that it was a talking cat, this was the first time Subaru had seen Puck do anything spirit-like. Now, having seen this fantastical display, he felt mixed feelings of excitement and awe welling up inside him. 

As Subaru was getting excited all by himself, Satella ran her hands lightly over the crystal and put it carefully back in her breast pocket. 

From the conversations that they had before, Subaru thought that crystal must be holding Puck’s core right now. 

“Now it’ll be just the two of us…but don’t get any ideas. I can still use magic, you know.” 

Apparently Satella had taken Puck’s last words seriously, and was on her guard. 

“Hey, the last time I was alone with a girl was in elementary school. I’m not really capable of doing anything. Haven’t you been paying attention to my lack of human skills thus far?” 

“You’re totally hopeless, but then again, I’m convinced. …All right. Let’s keep going. But remember, with Puck gone we need to be even more careful than before.” 

Perhaps shocked by Subaru’s proud proclamation of his cowardice, Satella couldn’t seem to keep up her apprehensions of him, and so tied back up the front of her robe and went on ahead. 

“I’ll be the vanguard, so you just keep your eyes on what’s behind us. If anything happens, call me right away. You mustn’t think that you can handle everything on your own. I don’t want be mean…but you’re really weak.” 

“Well, when you put it that way, it’s hard to get angry about it…” 

If Satella just wanted to push Subaru away, “You’re really weak” would have been enough. 

Given that she couldn’t hide what she truly felt, Satella was soft at the core…too soft, even. 

Subaru nudged Satella along, even though it looked like she wanted to say something, and the two continued their search. 

Despite all the talk, their search continued in the same way as before. Their methods were basic. Whenever they found someone, they would describe who they were looking for and asked if the person had any ideas about who it might be. 

Subaru, who was now doing all of the asking, had gotten better at it after having talked to so many different people. He was starting to hit his stride. 

“You know? It might be that Felt girl. She was blond and really fast, right?” 

A little under an hour after they had entered the slums and started asking around, they had finally run into some valuable information. 

The guy who gave the information was someone that Subaru had gone straight up to and said, “Hey, my brother, how’s life?” like they were already friends. 

“If it’s Felt you’re looking for, whatever she stole is probably sitting in the loot cellar. She usually takes things there, gets them tagged, and then the old man who’s the master there’ll get them sold at a market somewhere else.” 

“That sounds like a pretty strange system… Doesn’t anyone worry about the master of the cellar taking off with all of the goods?” 

“The reason he’s the master is because people trust him not to do that. But, well, even if you go up and tell him it’s stolen, he’ll probably just say ‘So what?’ right back at you, so you’d better be prepared to negotiate a price to buy it back. After all, it’s the original owner’s fault for being stupid and getting it stolen in the first place!” the man finished with a laugh. 

Subaru was able to get the guy to tell him the location of the loot cellar, so they would probably be able to find it soon, but there was a new problem. Subaru and Satella were both penniless. 

“That guy said we should buy it back, but without any leverage, I get the feeling this master guy would wipe the floor with us.” 

“Why do I have to pay to get back something I already own…?” 

As the problem veered back toward their combined lack of funds, Satella looked worried. She had a point, of course, but it wasn’t like they could expect the loot cellar’s master to agree. 

In order to solve the matter peacefully, and with certainty, it would be best to follow that man’s advice and try to negotiate. However… 

“It seems a little late to be asking this question, but that badge you say was stolen from you…does it happen to look expensive? Even if we walk in expecting to be overcharged, it would be impossible to negotiate without having any idea of what it’s worth.” 

“…It’s small, but there is a jewel embedded in its center. I don’t know how much money that someone might buy it for, but I am fairly certain it wouldn’t be a small amount.” 

“A jewel, huh… That seems like it’s going to be a problem.” 

Even for people unfamiliar with how much things are worth, a jewel is one of those convenient items that you can tell is expensive at a glance. Subaru doubted that there was the technology to produce imitations in this world, so most things that resembled jewels were probably jewels. In other words, they would all fetch a high price. 

While none of this new information sounded like good news, Subaru thought there was something strange about what Satella was saying. Even though the badge was supposedly hers, she said that she did not know its value. While it was possible it was something she might have received from someone else, it stuck in his mind. 

“Anyway, let’s first just find this loot-cellar place. It is possible that we can negotiate a way to buy it back at a reasonable price…” 

In the worst-case scenario, Subaru had one way to secure funds, although he was reluctant to use it. And he didn’t want to tell Satella until right before he had to. 

As they walked, Subaru and Satella spent the next ten minutes talking about various ways they might be able to take back her badge, but nothing seemed to come together. 

Now that they were in front of the place called the “loot cellar,” Subaru and Satella looked at each other. 

“This place is a lot bigger than I imagined. Just how well can the market for theft be going these days?” Subaru said. 

“I understand them calling it a cellar rather than a shed…if this place is filled only with stolen goods… Either way I’m not sure the people here have any hope of salvation,” added Satella. 

Of course, as the loot cellar existed as a place to hold items until they were sold, it was unlikely it would be filled to the brim. It wasn’t a high-storied building, but it was wide enough to the point where it looked as though it could function as living quarters for a large number of people. The building was right up against a tall defensive wall, and was in the deepest part of the slums. 

“That tall wall behind the building…is that…?” 

“I think it’s one of the walls of the city. Which means that we must have come all the way from the city’s center to its edge,” replied Satella. 

Subaru tried to imagine a map of the city in his mind, given what Satella had said. It was likely that the city was built as a square and had walls like this on all four sides. Additionally, either in the center or on the northernmost side there should be a castle, from which these slums would be positioned far away. 

Considering that it had been three to four hours since Subaru and Satella had begun their search, the scope of the city seemed to be a little larger than Subaru had originally imagined. 

“All right, according to what we’ve heard, there should be a master in charge of this cellar who handles all of the stolen goods, but…just how exactly do you want to approach this?” 

“We’re going to be direct and honest. We’ll just say, ‘We’ve had something stolen from us, so if you can find it, please return it to us.’” 

Subaru tried to explain that that wasn’t going to work, but Satella wouldn’t listen to him. 

At her core, Satella was too direct and honest herself. If something was twisted or bent, she couldn’t help but try to set it right. Of course, that was one of the reasons Satella saved Subaru in the first place. 

“All right, I got it. But leave this to me.” 

Because of Satella’s personality, Subaru was all too sure things would get complicated if she was the one doing the talking, so Subaru volunteered himself. 

His backup plan… Well, it was hard to call it a “backup plan” if he was already considering using it, but if things got complicated before he had the chance to put it into action, that would also be a problem. Subaru had made his decision; he wasn’t one to hesitate at times like this. 

Satella looked surprised that Subaru wanted to do the talking, and while Subaru was musing on how cute her surprised expression was, he hurried to try to think of a comeback for whatever argument against it Satella would have, but… 

“All right. I’ll leave it to you.” 

“Look, I understand that it’s hard for you to let me handle something this important, and I’m not stupid enough to think that I’ve gained your trust, but I’ve got a plan, so if you’d just trust me this once—Wait. Huh?!” 

“W-why are you so surprised?” 

“Going by everything that’s happened so far, you’d think that this would signal the start of an argument, right? I imagined you’d say something like, ‘Do you really expect me to just let a good-for-nothing like you, whose only ability is to convert oxygen into carbon dioxide, handle something this important? Don’t make me laugh! I’d expect a dog to do a better job than you!’ Then I, while hurt, would use the opportunity to renew my determination!” 

“I would never say something that mean!” 

As Subaru exposed his exaggerated persecution complex, Satella didn’t look all that happy. However, clearing her throat, she fixed her amethyst eyes on Subaru and said, “Of course I would be lying if I said I didn’t think that you were holding me back in any way, and just when I think you’re finally being serious, to my chagrin you say something completely stupid…” 

“‘To my chagrin,’ huh? I haven’t heard that in a while,” joked Subaru. He sighed and relaxed his shoulders, unable to argue back. 

“Still, even though you act like a jerk sometimes, it was because of you that we were able to keep that little girl from crying, and I don’t think you’re the kind of person to lie or do anything without thinking about it first,” said Satella, looking back over their much-sidetracked journey thus far. “So…I’ll trust you. …If this all works out I might even think that meeting you was all worth it.” 

“You know, if instead of that last part you had just looked up at me and said, ‘Please, do your best for my sake,’ I would have been totally pumped up to do this, you know?” 

“I can’t force myself to say something like that, but… Good luck.” 

This was a girl who could not bring herself to lie for any reason. 

“…All right, I’ll give it my best shot,” said Subaru, breaking into a smile before heading toward the entrance of the cellar. 

The trump card Subaru had, which he wasn’t able to tell Satella about, was the one thing out of what he had brought from the previous world that he could really consider worth anything. Because that thing probably didn’t otherwise exist in this world, there was a possibility he could use it to barter. Subaru would have liked to avoid doing that, but at the same time he was fairly certain that in this world, Satella’s badge couldn’t possibly fetch a higher price than his cell phone, and he didn’t think he would have another chance in this world to use his cell phone this way. 

“Um… Is anybody home? …Er, wait…the door’s open.” 

A sour, spoiled sort of smell drifted out of the entrance to the loot cellar. Subaru went to knock on the door, but from a gap in it, he saw that it wasn’t locked. As he peeked inside, he could only see that it was incredibly dark. 

“It’s hard when there’s not any kind of light… Well, considering the purpose of the place, I suppose it makes sense, and it even serves as a metaphor for the dark feeling of guilt in doing dirty business.” 

Subaru stuck his head inside and tried to look around, but not even the light from the moon reached this place in the deepest part of the slums. He couldn’t see an inch in front of his face. 

As Subaru prepared to go inside, he turned around to Satella. “I didn’t hear anyone answer me, but I’m going to go ahead and go inside, so can you please keep watch?” 

“Are you sure? Wouldn’t it be better for me to go instead…?” 

“If on the off chance someone ambushes us and you’re the one taken out, then it’s all over. If I’m the one attacked, you’ll be able both to help me, and to strike back. This is the most reasonable way to do this, so please let’s just go with my plan, okay?” 

Satella considered Subaru’s plan. After a few moments of silence, she took out of her breast pocket a white crystal, which suddenly shone with a white light. 

“At least take a light. And call me in whether someone’s there or not.” 

“I know, I know. Puck told us to be careful, so I’ll be careful. This is really useful, by the way.” 

“You can find lagmite ore just about anywhere. You really are ignorant, aren’t you, Subaru,” said Satella, unable to contain her shock, as she handed Subaru the lagmite ore. The crystal gave off a faint warmth along with its light, which was about as much illumination as you could expect from a candle. 

“Okay, well then, I’ll go take a look. I don’t think I’ll be gone too long, but you can go ahead and eat without me.” 

“Oh, stop being so stupid. Be careful, okay?” 

“Gotcha. Also, Satella? Don’t come in until I call for you—got it?” 

The courage that Subaru had been building up to prepare himself to enter the cellar had pushed him just enough to say her name. Up until now, he had felt too embarrassed to say it, and had hesitated. After clenching his fist together, excited he was able to finally say it, he looked back at Satella. 

“…What’s wrong?” 

Satella was looking at Subaru frozen, with her eyes open wide. This reaction was far different from any that Subaru expected, and so he tilted his head in confusion. 

“I’m sorry… It’s nothing. Once we get my badge back, I’ll apologize properly.” 

“I don’t know what you’re planning on apologizing for, but I’d rather hear a ‘thank you’ instead. It would be even better if that thank-you came along with a smile.” 

“You dummy.” 

As those two words came out of her mouth, Satella made a little bit of a smile, which Subaru made sure to burn into his memory. Even with his stupid jokes, Subaru was at last able to make her smile. 

If all of this turned out well, he would like to see that smile again, in a brighter place. 

“All right. Will it be a snake or a demon that pops out this time? Given the fantasy setting, neither option is one I can just laugh off…” Subaru joked to himself, and with lagmite in hand, he carefully made his way into the cellar. 

In the dim light, Subaru could make out a counter in front of him, across from the entrance. The building must have originally been something like an inn. It looked as though they were using the first-floor bar area without any major changes. On top of as well as behind the counter—which was probably serving as something like a reception desk—Subaru could see a lot of different items cluttered close together. There were small boxes and pots, swords and cheap metallic objects, and many other varied items. It was clear that all of these were stolen items, based on the wooden tags that were attached to all of them. 

“The way the system works, if you rounded up all of these wooden tags and handed them to the guards, it looks like they could arrest everyone at once…” 

However, as was usual with this line of business, there were probably some connections between this place and the not-so-upstanding citizens who offered support. Subaru was suspicious of where most of these stolen items ended up. 

Subaru ventured farther into the cellar, looking for Satella’s badge. But just then… 

“Hmm?” 

Subaru suddenly stopped, feeling something strange under the soles of his shoes. It didn’t feel like he had stepped on something hard; it was actually the opposite. Like the ground he had stepped on was clinging to him; like there was something sticky on his shoes. 

He raised his foot, and touched the bottom of his sneakers. He felt some sort of fluid, something strangely sticky that clung to his fingers, stretching as he pulled them away. It was something that instinctually made him feel uneasy. 

“What is this…?” 

Subaru brought his fingers close to his nose and tried to smell it, but because of the stagnant air inside the building mixing with it, he couldn’t quite pin it down. Unsurprisingly, he didn’t have the courage to try tasting it. 

After wiping the rest of the substance on the nearest wall, Subaru, urged on by a feeling of unpleasant dread, put the lagmite out in front of him and started forward. Then, he found the source of the slime. 

“…Wha?” 

Subaru unconsciously let out a foolish sound as he looked on. In the small visible range of his light, what he first saw lying limp on the ground was an arm. Its hand’s fingers were reaching out as if to grab something, but the other end of the arm, at the elbow, was missing the body it should have been connected to. 

Moving his light and following along the axis of the arm, Subaru saw a leg farther on ahead—a leg attached to a body. With the exception of one arm, that body had all of its other parts, though the throat area was cut wide open. It was the corpse of a large old man. 

“Eek!” Subaru squealed pointlessly as he realized what he was looking at. 

At that moment, Subaru’s mind had blanked out. His thought processes had completely left him, and his hands and feet had frozen in place. 

There was a pause, and then… 

“…Well, you found it. That’s just too bad. Now I have no choice, yes, no choice at all.” 

Subaru thought that it was the voice of a woman. The voice was low and cold, the voice of a woman who seemed somewhat to be having fun. 

“Gwah!” 

Subaru didn’t have the opportunity to turn around. As soon as he turned to face the voice, his body was blown away by an incredible force. He hit his back against the wall, and on impact let go of his lagmite, and darkness closed in as it tumbled into the distance. 

But Subaru wasn’t thinking about that. What now ruled over his consciousness was… 

“Gu…it’s…h-hot.” 

A heat assaulted Subaru Natsuki and completely overwhelmed him. 

—This is really, really not good. 

Feeling the hard texture of the ground against his face, he realized that he had fallen facedown on the ground. He couldn’t move, even when he tried, and he already couldn’t feel his fingers. What he did feel was heat, and it overwhelmed his entire body. 

He coughed and vomited the blood he felt rising in his throat—the source of his waning life. So much came out that it frothed at the edges of his mouth. With his hazy vision, he could see the ground in front of him stained red. 

—You’ve…got to be kidding me… All of this is mine? 

Feeling as though all of the blood in his body had spilled out of him, he reached a shaking hand to try to find the source of the heat that was burning through his body. As his fingertips reached the large cut in his stomach, he understood. 

No wonder it felt so hot. His brain must have been mistaking pain for heat. The clean cut that ran through his torso was so deep it had almost cut him in half. Only bits of skin were still holding him together. 

In other words, he had run right into a checkmate in the chess game of his life. As soon as he realized that, his consciousness immediately began to fall away from him. 

Now, even the heat that had been ravaging him disappeared, and the unpleasant feeling of touching his own blood and organs vanished as his consciousness continued to fade. The only thing left behind was his body, which refused to follow his soul. 

Right before his eyes, he saw a black boot step down and make ripples in the red carpet of his fresh blood. 

Someone was there, and that someone…was probably the one who killed him. 

But he didn’t even think to look that person in the face. It didn’t matter anymore. 

—The only thing he did wish for was that she, at least, she would be safe. 

“—baru?” 

He felt as if he heard a voice that rang like bells. That he heard that voice, that he could hear that voice, felt like salvation to him more than anything else, so— 

“!” 

With a short scream, someone else fell upon the carpet of blood. 

She fell right beside him. There he was, weakly attempting to reach her. 

Her white hand fell, powerless. He lightly grasped it in his own bloodstained grip. 

He felt the fingers of her hand move slightly to grasp his own. 

“Just you wait…” 

He seized his fading consciousness, pulling it desperately back around to buy a bit more time. 

“I’m going to…” 

—find a way to save you. 

In the next instant, he—Subaru Natsuki—lost his life.