CHAPTER 5
STARTING LIFE IN ANOTHER WORLD
1
“I’m so glad you’re here… I won’t let you get away this time.”
Upon seeing the girl, Not-Satella, walk in through the door, Felt wordlessly stepped back.
Felt looked mortified and her mouth twisted in frustration.
“You really are a persistent woman, aren’t you… Why couldn’t you just give up already?” said Felt, sounding as though she was on the verge of grinding her teeth together.
“Unfortunately, this is not something I can give up on. …If you’ll be a good girl and hand it over I won’t hurt you,” replied Not-Satella, the tone of her voice incredibly cold.
As Subaru felt the tension of the atmosphere in the cellar rise, he couldn’t help but shiver.
Why was Not-Satella here?
The sun had only just begun to set. The first time around he and Not-Satella hadn’t even reached the entrance to the slums yet. By the time they had reached the loot cellar, the sun was completely down.
“…Which must mean that without me, she would have found this place a lot faster…”
Even if Not-Satella hadn’t run into Subaru in the alley and healed him, she would have found this place all on her own.
Subaru couldn’t describe how he felt, with the uselessness of his actions across both space and time so thoroughly proven.
But even as he drowned in his empty feelings, the situation advanced without him.
As Felt continued to step back, she had already crossed from the center of the room to the back, and Not-Satella, while continuing to block the exit, changed her stance and pointed her palm forward.
With the faint sound of shattering air, Satella activated her magic. It seemed that her specialty really was ice magic, and as icicles formed in the air in front of the palm of her hand, the temperature of the room dropped.
“I only have one demand of you: Return my badge. It is very precious to me.”
There were six icicles floating in the air. The tips were rounded, so that their power seemed more in their weight rather than their sharpness. However, it was clear that if one hit, it would do far more damage than if a stone were thrown.
Of course, Subaru himself was counted among the possible targets, and so he tried his best not to incite Not-Satella, just wordlessly looking on.
“…Rom,” called Felt, a little over a whisper.
“I can’t make a move. It’s your fault for bringing in such a troublesome thing along with such a troublesome opponent, Felt,” replied Rom, his giant body tensed as he shook his head.
Rom had at some point grabbed his club and still held it in his hand, but his arm was slack and he didn’t look ready to swing it. He seemed to be gripping and releasing it as though he was still hesitating.
“You’re going to give up before the fight’s even started?” said Felt, challenging Rom.
“If this were an ordinary magic user I wouldn’t be complaining, but…this one’s a problem,” replied Rom, with a hint of admonishment in his voice, narrowing his eyes as he looked at Not-Satella.
In Rom’s stare as he looked down at her was both an extreme sense of caution and an element of awe.
“You’re an elf…aren’t you, miss?” said Rom, his lips shaking.
Subaru looked up reflexively. Rom guessed that she was an elf, but that would make him only half right. Subaru knew from what Not-Satella had told him about herself the first time around.
Upon hearing Rom’s question, Not-Satella closed her eyes for a few moments, and then after a small sigh, she responded.
“Technically, you’re mistaken. Only half of what I am is an elf,” she said in a tone as if she was making a painful confession, and Subaru furrowed his brow.
However, the other two had a much more exaggerated reaction, especially Felt, and with a shudder she continued to step back and said, “A half-elf…and with silver hair?! You…you can’t be…”
“I’m not her! We only look the same! It’s… It’s a problem for me, too.”
Subaru didn’t know what was going on, but he could tell that this was a conversation that Not-Satella didn’t want to be having.
However, Not-Satella’s denial didn’t seem to calm Felt down; rather, it put her even more on edge, and she turned her red eyes full of animosity toward Subaru, who was still standing silently on the sidelines.
“You… You set me up, didn’t you?”
“What?”
“I thought it was fishy when you said you wanted to return this thing to its owner. The fact that you kept me from hiring people to block her way was also part of the plan, wasn’t it? You two are in this together, aren’t you?!”
As Felt said those words, gushing full of hatred, Subaru realized a few things. One, that Felt was having another misunderstanding, but secondly, why Not-Satella was able to find this place in such a short time.
Normally, it really would be impossible for her to reach the loot cellar in this short amount of time.
Normally, Felt would have hired people from the slums to get in Not-Satella’s way, delaying her arrival.
Because Subaru had rushed Felt and stopped her from doing that, Not-Satella had been able to come straight here.
While Felt’s doubts were untrue, they weren’t very far off. It was true that the current situation was moving in Subaru’s favor. Subaru did want to get the badge and return it to Not-Satella himself so he could receive her praise, but as long as she got it back, he wouldn’t complain.
If things kept going at this rate, it would work as a nice backup plan. However…
“Huh…? What do you mean? You two aren’t together?”
Not-Satella seemed puzzled as to why Felt was turning on Subaru, but Felt just laughed.
“Ha! Cut the act! I’m the one who’s backed in a corner here. So go ahead and take this badge from me and laugh at my stupidity, why don’t you?”
“Oh, come on. Just because you’re at a slight disadvantage doesn’t mean you have to cave so easily,” replied Subaru.
“That’s all you have to say after bringing this girl here? Damn it, I’ve been had!” said Felt, roughly scratching at her blond hair and clicking her tongue.
Satella seemed to frown at Felt’s far-from-ladylike attitude, and Subaru gulped at the dangerous state of circumstances and misunderstandings, not knowing where to fix his gaze.
As Subaru looked around he realized that there was a red flower decoration pinned to the left breast of Not-Satella’s cloak.
“Haa…” Subaru sighed, and then smiled. All of his hesitation up to this point just seemed so stupid now.
Seeing Not-Satella’s stern expression and attitude had reminded Subaru of the way she had rejected him in his last loop, and had caused him to be unable to do anything. However, he knew that no matter how many times he looped back, Not-Satella, at her core, wouldn’t change.
The fact that she had saved that little lost girl this time as well was proof of that.
“The more we all talk about this, the more confusing it’s going to get, so, Felt, why don’t you just go ahead and give that badge back. Now, Ste—I mean, you should take it and get out of here, so you don’t get it stolen from you again.”
“Why are you acting like you know me all of a sudden? I really don’t get what’s going on here…” said Not-Satella.
“I don’t get what’s going on either. Just who do you think you are?” asked Felt, looking at Subaru.
Subaru had tried to get things moving again and change the mood, but Subaru only got turned on by both girls, and failed to get anywhere.
Subaru looked to Rom for help, but…
“It’s a magic user we’re dealing with. I can’t really make any moves. Don’t be so hasty,” replied Rom, misunderstanding what Subaru was trying to say.
Ugh, this old man’s useless, thought Subaru, just barely holding himself back from clicking his tongue in irritation, then trying to figure out how he was going to respond to both girls’ stares.
But just then…a black shadow silently seemed to slide in and creep up behind the girl with the silver hair.
“Puck! Block!!”
A sensual smile melted into the shadows and raced forward, and a silver glint seemed to squirm as it lunged toward Not-Satella’s white neck.
In that instant with Subaru’s eyes opened wide, the girl’s head went flying—at least it would have.
There was a loud clash, not the sound of steel cutting through bone but of steel shattering glass. As Not-Satella was thrown slightly forward there was a bluish white magic circle activated behind her head.
The light of the magic circle took the tip of the blade and had just barely kept the silver-haired girl alive.
Not-Satella then leapt forward and turned around, her silver hair waving, and behind that curtain of hair Subaru could see a gray-colored furry animal standing. Puck lifted up its nose, proud of its save before looking toward Subaru.
“That was just in the nick of time there. You saved us.”
“Nice going there, Puck. Really, I’m the one who’s saved. Thanks,” said Subaru, giving the cat a thumbs-up, even as he was still shaken.
It was still before the sun had set—in other words, Not-Satella’s very reliable backup partner was still on its working hours.
Subaru’s quick response was important, but it was due to Puck’s amazing performance that Not-Satella was still safe.
As for the aggressor, her surprise attack blocked…
“A spirit, a spirit, huh? Ah…ha-ha… That’s wonderful. I haven’t ever opened the stomach of a spirit before.”
Lifting her dangerous weapon in front of her face, the woman’s expression was one of ecstasy. It was the murderer Subaru had seen so many times before: Elsa.
Both Subaru and Not-Satella were immediately on guard in response to the sudden new arrival, but the first one to react was neither of them.
“Hey! What’s the meaning of this?!” Felt yelled, stepping forward with her voice raised in anger.
Felt pointed a finger at Elsa and then took the badge out of her pocket with her other hand.
“All you’re supposed to do is buy this badge from me. Turning this place into a bloodbath was not part of our agreement!”
“Buying the stolen badge from you is certainly what I came here to do, but it’s hard to hold any negotiations if its owner had already come and taken it away. So, I decided on a change of plans.”
Felt’s face was red with anger, but upon seeing Elsa’s eyes fixed on her, wet with murderous intent, she gulped. Elsa looked on, with an almost loving gaze, at Felt’s fear.
“I’ll just kill everyone here, and then I’ll pick that badge up from the sea of blood afterward,” said Elsa, all while holding the expression of an affectionate mother on her face. She then tilted her head and continued on cruelly, “You weren’t able to do your job. Do you really expect me not to throw away something that’s useless to me?”
“…”
Felt’s face twisted as if in pain, but the emotion behind it was not of fear, but something else. Elsa’s words must have touched upon something sensitive, deep inside her. Subaru didn’t know what that was, but…
“Don’t give me that, you bitch!!”
…it was enough for Subaru to shout out in anger at Elsa, and forget about how weak he was compared to her.
Elsa turned and looked at Subaru, surprised, and she wasn’t the only one. Felt and Rom turned to Subaru and even Not-Satella was no exception. However, the one most surprised was none of them, it was Subaru.
He couldn’t understand himself, just why he was so angry. In part because he could not understand it as this emotion rose up inside him, he spit all of it out.
“Is it really that fun for you to pick on such a little kid, you intestine-obsessed sadist?! Just because things aren’t going exactly the way you planned, you’re going to wreck everything and throw a tantrum?! What are you, five?! How about you treasure life for once?! Do you know how much it hurts to have your stomach ripped open?! I know!!”
“…What are you trying to say?”
“I’m just taking this moment to let the unforeseen sense of justice inside me rant about the injustice of this damn world, and right now, to me, the injustice of this world is you, and this situation, so right now I’m channeling all of my anger about everything on to you!”
As Subaru’s shouting continued to make no sense to her, Elsa let out a rare exasperated sigh. But while Subaru was kind of hurt by her nonserious reaction, with spit flying, he shouted one more time.
“All right! That’s enough buying for time. Get her, Puck!!”
“That was such an amazingly lame tirade there, I want to write it down and leave it for future generations. …Guess I’ll have to respond to your expectations, huh?”
Compared with Subaru’s shouting and stomping, Puck’s voice was aloof and detached. Elsa immediately looked up, but all around her, from all sides, were sharpened icicles, more than twenty in all.
“It seems I haven’t introduced myself, little lady. My name is Puck. I’d like it if you at least remembered my name, as you say farewell to this world.”
Immediately afterward, the icicles flew at Elsa.
2
“…!”
The crisscrossing icicles whipped up a white mist and Elsa’s black coat was lost in the low-temperature storm. The speed of the icicles was far greater than what Subaru had seen in the alley, and he could just barely follow them with his eyes. Subaru thought the sharp-tipped icicles would easily cut through Elsa’s body, the tips of the clear bullets stained red with blood. There were twenty of them. If any of them hit their mark it should be a lethal. However…
“Did we get her?!” said Rom.
“Now why did you have go and to say that?!” Subaru yelled back.
Even though Rom had been quiet all this time, he had said the worst possible thing at the worst possible moment.
“It pays to be prepared… I don’t like wearing it because it is heavy, but it looks like I was right to wear it this time.”
Cutting through the white smoke, Elsa leapt out, with her black hair dancing behind her.
She had her kukri held high in her hand, and in her light steps it appeared she had no injuries. Other than the fact that she had thrown off her black coat and was now only wearing her black skintight outfit, she looked no different from before.
“You’re not going to tell me that because that coat is so heavy that just by shedding it you’re suddenly a lot faster, are you?!”
“That would be interesting, but the truth is simple. That coat has a formula woven into it that can ward off magic a single time. It looks like it saved my life.” Elsa politely answered Subaru’s question before kneeling down and striking upward with the tip of her knife. The target was Not-Satella, and the strike was aimed to drive the knife into her chest.
Subaru instinctively started to cry out, but…
“I’d like it if you didn’t underestimate spirit mages. We’re pretty frightening if you make enemies of us.”
Not-Satella clapped her hands together in front of her chest, forming a multilayered ice shield that was easily pierced by Elsa’s blade, but it took the knife and stopped her attack. Elsa immediately leapt back to retreat as a few smaller icicles were hurtled her way.
The counterattack was due to Puck, who was standing on Not-Satella’s shoulder by her silver hair, sweeping his arms this way and that like a battle commander.
“One manages defense and the other attack… In reality, it’s two against one,” said Subaru, impressed.
“That’s the tricky thing about spirit mages. One’ll attack, and the other defends. Depending on the situation, one might use simple magic, buying for time, as the other prepares a special attack… That’s why we on the battlefield say, ‘When you meet a spirit mage, lay down your weapons and wallet and run,’” muttered Rom, still gripping his club.
Subaru nodded. It didn’t look as though the pairing between a spirit mage and their spirit could be easily beat.
“By the way, old man, what is it you’re planning on doing?”
“I’m looking for an opening so I can help out that elf girl. Of the two, she seems the one more willing to listen to us.”
“Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait! No! You’ll only get in their way! If you go out there the only thing that’s going to happen is you’re going to lose your right arm and have your throat slit. Stay right where you are!”
“Don’t say that! The way you put it makes it sound like I’ve already been cut down!”
As Subaru had seen Rom get cut down twice already, his words had a sense of truth in their tone. As if Rom was feeling what had happened to him in those different dimensions, he put his hands on his arm and neck.
While Subaru was able to talk Rom out of it, the truth was that the fight between Elsa and Not-Satella was so intense, it didn’t look like there was anywhere anyone could cut in.
Countless ice shards had been created and were flying all over the room. However, in the midst of all of that, the way Elsa was handling it could only be described as superhuman.
She would spin around, duck down so low it looked as though she were crawling on the ground, and at times she would step on the walls to evade attacks as though she were completely ignoring gravity. If even with all of that she didn’t seem able to dodge an attack, she would use her blade to cut through the ice crystals and shatter them. She had paired with what her opponent could do in number with an overwhelming degree of skill.
“She really looks used to fighting, despite her being a woman,” muttered Puck, impressed with Elsa’s godlike skills and fighting sense.
“Well, it’s been a very long time since someone called me a girl.”
“From my perspective, most people I deal with are like babies to me. But even so, you’re so strong I almost feel like I should pity you.”
“To be complimented by a spirit such as yourself, I must say I’m honored.”
As Elsa gladly took Puck’s praise, she fended off another shard of ice with her knife.
Almost a hundred pieces of ice must have been thrown at her, but other than that very first attack, it didn’t seem as though a single one of them had made their mark.
“I think if they keep this up, Elsa will tire out before they do…but I’m still anxious,” said Subaru.
“That woman in black’s movements really are incredible, but I don’t think they can lose if they continue to hold the advantage in numbers…but it’s not like that spirit will be able to keep itself here forever. As soon as that spirit’s out, the balance of power will shift,” replied Rom.
“Damn, you’re right. How soon is it to five o’clock?!”
The first time around, Puck went to sleep just a little after sunset. It wasn’t as though much time had passed since the start of the battle, but with this much magic use, wouldn’t he be using up all of his stored mana or whatever?
“Just when things were starting to get fun… It pains me to see that something else is distracting you from paying attention to me,” muttered Elsa as she twisted her body to dodge an icicle attack, confirming Subaru’s fears.
“As a popular male, it really is tough on me. I can never put the girls to sleep. However, you know if you stay up too late it’s bad for your skin,” replied Puck in a light tone, but he didn’t deny what she was saying.
Just as Subaru was beginning to worry that Puck had reached his limit, Elsa’s movements suddenly stopped. In response, Puck winked his black eyes at her.
“Don’t you think it’s about time we draw the curtain on this performance? When we keep repeating the same act it begins to get boring.”
“My foot…”
As soon as Elsa tried to take a step, she fell forward, catching herself with her hands on the ground. Elsa’s right foot had been frozen to the floor.
The fragments of the ice shards Elsa had broken had piled up on the ground, and some had served as a way to bind Elsa’s feet.
“You didn’t really think I was scattering all of these things around for no reason, did you?”
“…I guess this means you’ve got me.”
“Just blame it on the gap in our ages. You have plenty of reason to congratulate yourself for getting this far. Now, good night.”
Throwing its chest out, Puck’s body, still standing on Not-Satella’s shoulder, started to oscillate at a high frequency. Puck was posed as if he was about to release his ultimate move, with both paws out in front, focusing more magic than ever before, and Subaru watched as that magic was shot off like an arrow. The magic did not take the shape of ice, but was simply a load of destructive energy.
Along the path of the bluish white light everything froze, and in one fell swoop the loot cellar was filled with white. The energy passed through Elsa and broke into the door that formed the entrance to the cellar, blowing it off its hinges, and residual freezing energy from the attack even reached outside.
As the brilliant light from the attack passed, everything was frozen, from the counter to the stolen items, to even the ground they lay on.
Of course, if directly hit, even a human being would quickly turn into an ice statue, but…
“It can’t be…” said Puck.
“Of course it can. Ah, that was wonderful. I really thought I was going to die there.”
…this was all assuming the attack would hit.
“…With you being a girl, I can’t say I approve.”
While Puck’s attack was dodged, Puck didn’t seem any angrier than what his words conveyed. He simply wasn’t happy with what Elsa had done.
Subaru saw blood dripping, and a bit of steam was rising from the frozen ground.
The blood was coming from Elsa’s right foot. She was standing barefoot just out of the line of fire from Puck’s attack, and bleeding profusely from her right foot, and it wasn’t hard to see why. After all, she had sliced off the sole of her foot.
“I was afraid I might lop the whole foot off, seeing as how I hurried. That was a close one.”
“Even if you only cut that much, it must hurt a lot,” said Puck.
“Well yes, you’re right. But it’s wonderful. It makes me feel alive, and in addition to that…”
In response to Puck’s worried sounding words, Elsa nodded with a look of ecstasy in her eyes, and without hesitation pushed her bleeding foot against a piece of ice. A sound that sounded like air shattering came erotically from Elsa’s throat, and then immediately afterward she took her knife to the ice around her foot. With that, she had managed to stop the bleeding with the ice.
“It’s a little hard to move, but this should be enough,” said Elsa with a laugh, clicking her ice shoe against the ground, looking as though she was having fun.
Subaru had no words to say in response to how Elsa’s addiction to fighting left her without any hesitation when it came to maiming herself, but right now it was her opponent, Not-Satella, who was in trouble.
“Puck, do you think you can keep going?” whispered Not-Satella.
“I’m sorry, but I’m really tired. I think I really underestimated her. At this rate I’m going to disappear from having run out of mana,” Puck replied, for the first time without the confidence that had filled his voice before.
As the cat stood on Not-Satella’s shoulder, its figure began to shine, and looked as though it would fade at any moment. They were out of time.
“I’ll find a way to handle the rest on my own, so go ahead and rest. Thank you.”
“If something happens, I’ll obey my contract. If need be, call me out, even if you have to use your od,” said Puck with a warning, as his body disappeared in a wisp of mist.
Subaru bit his lip, but he wasn’t the one most disappointed by Puck’s departure.
“Aw… You’re going away? That’s terribly unfortunate,” said Elsa, the one who had been fighting with Puck with her life on the line. She sounded truly disappointed.
She readied her kukri again and with the high-pitched click of her icy shoe, began to head toward Satella.
A number of icicles materialized around Not-Satella in response, but there were far fewer than when Puck was with her.
Even though Elsa had her movement limited now, the match appeared even.
“It looks like we can’t just sit around and watch this anymore, can we?” said Rom, gripping his club and getting ready to move.
“I don’t know who’s going to win this anymore, so if we just wait around we’re going to miss our chance. You understand, right, Felt?” continued Rom.
“I know, I know. Whether we help or run, we’re going to have to make a move soon,” said Felt, talking for the first time since Elsa threatened her.
Felt moved beside Rom and then turned to Subaru.
“About what you said before… Thanks. It made me feel better.”
“Huh?”
“Only a little bit! Plus, don’t call me a little kid. I’m fifteen years old. You’re not much older than me, right?”
“…Actually, I’ll be eighteen this year. I’ll be able to get a license to drive a car, and I can get married, too.”
“You can’t be that old! Your face looks younger than mine! Age a little, why don’t you? At least on your face!”
Well, Subaru had lived his years lazily in the peaceful country of Japan, aiming to live every day as ordinarily as possible, so it couldn’t be helped.
Subaru felt as though his lack of determination was being mocked, and so he looked down at the ground, feeling useless.
The weakest one here was Subaru, and it was enough that he was completely lacking in the ability to fight, but also…
“My legs just can’t stop shaking… I guess this is what happens when you lack resolve.”
Forget about being qualified to fight, Subaru was physically unable to. Rom had strength in his arms and Felt strength in her legs and Not-Satella had strength in her magic, and so all of them could manage to fight. However, Elsa’s abnormality trumped all of those abilities.
“It looks like she’s starting to get pushed back,” said Rom, and that was enough to completely describe what was happening.
Not-Satella hadn’t stopped shooting projectiles at Elsa, but Elsa just slapped them away with her blade, rendering them useless. In response to Elsa’s dance of slicing attacks, Not-Satella would block the attacks with her ice shield, and freeze the ground in front of her feet to slide away, barely dodging Elsa’s continuing attacks. After Not-Satella gained some distance, she would continue her barrage, but you could not deny that her position was inferior to Elsa’s.
To change the current situation, some kind of support was absolutely necessary.
“All right, I’m going!”
Apparently Rom had thought the same as Subaru, and after letting out a yell, Rom joined the fight.
As Rom swung his club, it brought a gust of air along with it, and as Elsa ducked her hair was caught up a little in the blast.
“Oh, how rude of you to interrupt our dance,” said Elsa.
“If you want to dance that much then I’ll make you dance a fine dance, so give it your best shot!”
As Rom swung his thorny pointed club at Elsa, he changed his line of attack. He thrust the club toward Elsa’s throat, but Rom froze at the result.
“What the hell is this?!”
“I’m only able to do this because you’re so strong,” said Elsa from above as she stood on the tip of Rom’s club.
That kind of technique could only be accomplished with a godlike sense of balance. Before that balance could be broken, Elsa swung her blade horizontally at Rom. The strike was level with Rom’s forehead. If it landed, the top of his head would be sent flying.
“You think I’d let you?!”
Shing! went the sound of Elsa’s sword as it collided with a knife thrown by Felt. The collision had altered the path of Elsa’s sword, but the side of it still collided full force into the side of Rom’s head. A dull sound rang out as Rom toppled over to the side.
“What a naughty little girl,” said Elsa as she landed lightly back on the ground and turned just her eyes toward Felt.
“…”
Felt’s small knife had saved Rom’s life. She probably had aimed for Elsa’s arm, but in the rush of the moment her aim was a little off. However, without that slight miss, Rom might not have been saved.
“You don’t have the determination or power to fight. You should have just cowered in the corner like a good little girl.”
The high-pitched click of Elsa’s step rang out as she instantly closed the distance between herself and Felt. Rom was unconscious, and Not-Satella, who had been trying to keep her distance, was now too far away. Felt herself had frozen like a frog being stared down by a snake, and…
“Aaaaahhhh!!!”
…so the only one who was able to tackle her to safety was the coward who had been shivering beside her moments before.
3
Subaru dove into Felt at about hip level, and while hugging her light body tumbled across the ground. Just before he hit the ground, he felt something metal scrape across the back of his head, which made all his hair stand on end. But, feeling the weight of the person in his arms, he did his absolute best to ignore it and kept rolling to put as much distance as possible from where they were before.
When at last Subaru looked back, standing on his knees, Elsa was staring back at him in surprise. Feeling as though he had pulled one over on Elsa, Subaru couldn’t help but smile back, awkwardly but proudly.
“Are you all right?!” he said to Felt. “I was desperate there, so if I accidentally touched somewhere I shouldn’t have, please forgive me, okay?!”
“If you hadn’t said that I would have thanked you like normal! …But why?”
“I don’t know! My body moved on its own. If I had to give a reason…well, you don’t know about this, but with this now we’re totally even, okay? Remember that! We’re even now!” said Subaru, clenching his fist after he let Felt go.
The second time around, Felt had saved Subaru from Elsa’s blade. That memory didn’t mean anything in the world this time around, but with this he was able to repay his debt.
Subaru thought that even so, his debts should be returned, so nothing about what he needed to do before had changed.
“Listen here, Felt. Right now I’m going to do the same sort of thing as Rom did before he was knocked out to help stall for time. When that happens I’ll be sure to open up a window for you, so I want you to use that opportunity to run out of here as fast as you can. You got it?”
“What?! No! Are you telling me to just turn tail and flee?!” said Felt, glaring up at Subaru with her red eyes. But Subaru just got closer and stared right back at her. As he did so, he was sure not to miss the moment when Felt looked as though she was scared at what Subaru was trying to say.
“Yes. That’s what I’m telling you to do. Turn tail and flee. To be honest, that’s exactly what I want to do right now. I don’t want to stay another second in this violent space,” Subaru said, patting Felt roughly on her head.
As Felt started to say, “But…” Subaru interrupted her and continued.
“You’re fifteen and I’m seventeen. Out of all of us, you’re probably the youngest one here. So it’s the right thing to do to give you the highest possibility of getting out of here alive. It’s what’s only natural.”
“D-don’t give me that… You were just shaking yourself a minute ago!”
“That was then, this is now! I’m not shaking now, so it’s okay! Really, before I remember and start shaking I’ve got to do this now. Okay? So get ready to run!”
Subaru put his hand on Felt’s forehead as she looked as though she was going to object again, and then pulled himself to his feet. Not far away on the ground was Rom’s club. It looked really heavy, but Subaru thought he would still be able to swing it.
As Not-Satella continued to shoot barrages of ice at Elsa, there was not a sign of dullness in her movements as she danced to avoid the shots. In the first place, Subaru wasn’t really sure if he, faced with a superhuman like Elsa with absolutely no real fighting experience himself, could open up a window for Felt to run. All that he could do was wordlessly spring a surprise attack on her when she wasn’t paying attention to him.
So right after Elsa had swung her knife and shattered a large icicle, and Subaru was completely in one of her blind spots, Subaru sprang forward at her, forgetting even to breathe, and swung the club down on her.
Perhaps Subaru’s adrenaline had finally kicked in, because the speed of his swing was far faster than he had imagined it would be. It sliced through the air toward the back of her head, and…
“You picked the right moment and angle to target me, but unfortunately I could have sensed your intent to kill a mile away.”
“Intent to kill?! I have no idea how I’m supposed to hide that!”
In order to block the swing that came directly behind her, Elsa struck the club with the blunt edge of her blade, changing the course of the swing enough for it to miss its mark. However, at that very instant Subaru opened his mouth wide, with his teeth bared, and yelled.
“Now, Felt! Run!!”
“!!”
Like a spring Felt launched her small body onto the wind and raced forward. She was going so fast that Subaru couldn’t keep track of her with his eyes, and the girl, now turned to wind, rushed to the exit.
“Do you really think I’d let you go?”
To stop Felt, Elsa took another knife out of her breast pocket and threw it toward Felt. As if it were a symbol of payback from what Felt did before, the simple undecorated knife flew straight at her back. However…
“Too bad, but I wanna let her go!”
Subaru kicked the round table that was beside him upward, which collided with the knife and sent it off course.
“Man, I’m awesome! That was awesome! Wow, my toe hurts more than I thought it was going to! …Uwah?!”
Maybe it was Subaru’s adrenaline again, or some power that had awakened in him that failed to activate the last three times, but as Elsa’s long leg came up and kicked him in the side of the head and sent him flying, his self-congratulations were cut short.
He was hit so hard the world seemed to spin around, and together with the onset of pain and taste of blood in his mouth, Subaru threw up.
“That’s the first time in a long time someone’s made me actually a little bit angry.”
“Well, that’s something I’m happy to hear! Ha-ha! Serves you right! I let one of us get away!!”
Subaru stood back up and pretended to be in better shape than he was, doing his best to continue drawing Elsa’s attention.
As if Elsa had read Subaru’s mind, she smiled at him, and forgot about Felt for the time being.
“Fine, if that’s what you want, I’ll pay attention to you. Your dancing had better not bore me.”
“I’m going to go ahead and warn you, but if you’re going to dance with me, you’d better be careful. I haven’t learned a thing about dancing so I’ll be sure to step all over your feet,” said Subaru, spitting out the blood that had risen in his mouth. He readjusted his grip on the club that was still in his hands.
It wasn’t as though Subaru was going to have very many chances to land a hit, so he used everything he had to focus on striking Elsa as she rushed toward him.
“You’d better not forget about me!” said Not-Satella, along with a chunk of ice lobbed from behind.
But without even looking back, Elsa swung her blade and broke the ice to pieces. With Elsa’s superhuman senses on full display, even Subaru wasn’t able to keep taunting her.
“I’ve started to get tired of this little game… Are you sure you’ll be able to keep me entertained?” asked Elsa in a low voice, with her smile the color of blood.
As Subaru gazed at her smile, he felt a shiver run down his spine, and looked over at Not-Satella to make eye contact.
“If you’ve got some kind of hidden true power available, I think that now would be a great time to use it.”
“…I do have another trick up my sleeve, but if I use it, I’ll be the only one left alive.”
“I would like it if you held back on that, then. No self-destructs, please. …Okay fine, I get it. Damn. Use it if you have to, but don’t be too hasty, all right?”
Subaru intended that to be a joke, in order to help shake off some of his cowardice, but Not-Satella took Subaru’s statement seriously. After seeing him take a deep breath and solidify his determination, Not-Satella’s lips relaxed into an almost smile.
“I won’t use it. I can’t while you’re still trying your best. You can do this, so keep on struggling. Relying on the power of one’s parents is my absolute final option,” replied Not-Satella.
As she said that she really did look as though she was running out of options, and that lit a fire inside Subaru.
In one way, Not-Satella looked as though she was just about ready to give up; at the same time she looked ready to accept the fact that Subaru was weak and wouldn’t help much.
To Subaru, Not-Satella was someone who, no matter how tough things got, would never look down and give up. Because that was the way she was, Subaru had worked so hard to see her smile.
Subaru had died several times and come this far in order to save her. He hadn’t come this far just to see her give up.
“I didn’t see anything right now.”
“…What?”
“This conversation we just had, it didn’t happen! I just remembered the reason I’m here. Just leave it to me, damn it! I’m going to make sure you never have to use that final option of yours!!”
Subaru pointed at Not-Satella and then at Elsa, and made his declaration. He spit as he did, stomped on the ground, and let all of his emotions howl out from his soul.
“I’m going to blow you away and we’re going to have ourselves a happy ending. You don’t belong here, so scram!”
“…Well, don’t you look overexcited,” replied Elsa.
“I’m just ready to give it my all. This time’s gonna be the climax. I’ve got a lot more energy than before!”
As Elsa leaned forward, Subaru swung the club as if he was declaring he was going to hit a home run. Elsa’s lips then curled into a smile and she melted away into the darkness.
From such a low height that it looked as though she was crawling on the ground, Elsa slid toward Subaru. As he kept his eyes on the dull glint of her blade, Subaru swung the club with all his might.
Subaru’s swing held nothing back; he was prepared to beat Elsa to death. But Elsa just ducked even farther, like it was nothing, and was so low it looked as though she was licking the ground.
“You spider-woman!!”
“Well, I suppose it’s correct to say that you’re tangled in my web.”
As Subaru saw Elsa’s sword rising upward, Subaru quickly threw his body back. However, he still couldn’t pull out of the striking range of her sword. Fear raced up Subaru’s spine, and without thinking he kicked up his knee. Even though he hadn’t meant to aim his knee anywhere, as Elsa was right in front of him, it landed straight in her stomach. The path of the blade shifted a little, and then right in that path came a bluish white light, followed by a high-pitched sound.
“An ice shield! Nice cover!”
“I’m not good at making those at a distance. I could have accidentally frozen someone!”
“Her, right?! You mean her, right?!” replied Subaru, with a mix of jest in his thanks.
Not-Satella continued to draw Elsa back with her barrage of ice.
“I’ve started to grow tired of you little buzzing insect. …I think it’s about time I wrap this up.”
“Hey, don’t underestimate bugs, okay? It’s not my fault if you get stung and break out in hives!”
“Well, don’t you sound all high and mighty when you’re out of my striking range?” replied Elsa as she focused on dodging Not-Satella’s attacks, while Subaru continued to try to draw her attention away.
While Subaru would have loved to try to aim for Elsa’s back as she continued to dodge, he didn’t want to run the risk of becoming victim to friendly fire, so he really couldn’t move. That was probably the reason that Not-Satella’s attacks were muted when Subaru made his move before.
It was the kind of problem you have to face when working on an improvised team.
Subaru continued to watch as Elsa deflected Not-Satella’s attacks, every now and then diving in with an attack of his own, before retreating again, but he could sense the situation getting worse.
If Elsa really wanted to, it was clear that she could quickly take care of Subaru, like she did Rom. The only reason it appeared that they were on equal footing was because Elsa would not divert her full attention to him. Elsa’s caution was instead directed to the possibility that the spirit Puck would appear again. That was enough to keep the current situation holding.
Another reason that Elsa didn’t act was because Subaru’s cowardice was holding him a step back. He was taking care not to put himself in range of lethal danger. If Subaru had been a brave idiot, she would have cut him down and the balance would have shifted. However, it didn’t look as though Subaru’s cowardice would serve him much longer.
As Elsa’s counterattacks grew more severe, Subaru’s retreats weren’t making it in time, and he was getting slight cuts all over himself.
Subaru had cuts on his upper arms, on his calves, his underarms, and even a few slight cuts to his neck, and as those injuries increased, Subaru’s gray tracksuit began to be stained with blood.
“Damn, it hurts! Argh!! How about this?!”
Even though the pain was enough to bring him to tears, Subaru swung a kick, trying to do something new to catch Elsa off guard.
However…
“I’ll just take that,” said Elsa.
“…Damn.”
Elsa had easily avoided Subaru’s kick and to top it all off, she had easily grabbed his leg. Elsa raised her kukri, aiming to lop off the whole leg. With the strength of Elsa’s swing, its speed, and the sharpness of the blade, Subaru knew what would happen next. His leg would be cut off at the thigh and he would die from shock as the loss of blood and pain overwhelmed him. Subaru could just see the words BAD END 4 rising up in front of his eyes.
I shouldn’t have done that! Subaru’s thoughts screamed.
He tried to raise the club to block, but with the handicap he was facing, with one leg held in the air, he wouldn’t make it in time.
Not-Satella screamed. The cut would mercilessly reach his leg in moments. As Subaru thought of the pain and spilling of blood it would bring a scream rose in his throat, the blood he would vomit when…
“That’s enough.”
A flame appeared, burning through the roof from the center of the loot cellar.
The flame was filled with a ghastly malice that swept through the room, and stopped even Elsa in her tracks.
Subaru’s leg released, he hopped back before falling down. Right before his eyes, in the middle of a rising pillar of smoke, he saw a red, burning, shining figure.
“That was close. I’m glad I made it in time. Now…”
“Y-you’re…”
The flame wavered and stepped forward. Its very existence was enough to make Subaru, Not-Satella, and Elsa all freeze.
Taking in the gazes from everyone present, without being shaken one bit, stood an absolute sense of will. With sky-blue eyes shining with a pure sense of justice, the young man smiled faintly.
“I think it’s time to draw the curtain on this performance!” the hero declared, brushing back his red hair.
4
As Felt sped like the wind through the entryway to the loot cellar, she felt as though she had been released from despair.
Behind her, Felt could hear the freezing of the air, and the sound of metal clanging on ice. She also heard the sound of a blunt object swinging through the air, along with “Hii!” and “Wahhh!” and other stupid-sounding utterances from someone dodging attacks.
The battle still raged on behind her.
As Felt’s legs started to shake as she ran, she shook her head to try to deny the mess of thoughts running through it.
It was clear that if she had stayed behind, she would have been killed.
Against an opponent who could knock Rom out with a single blow, Felt didn’t have a chance. The same went for that silver-haired half-elf. Without support from her spirit, there was no way that she could win against that woman, either.
Subaru was even worse off. It was clear that he had little experience fighting, and didn’t seem used to it at all. His clean hands and fingers were proof that he had never even tried to hold a weapon before, and his clean hair and skin was proof that he had never been wounded before.
In other words, Subaru had lived a sheltered life, one in which it was not necessary to consider fighting. Given that he had such an expensive mitia on him, it all made sense.
Felt should just accept that it served him right. Despite not knowing anything about the world, Subaru had let a notion of chivalry get the best of him and try something far beyond his means. Felt should simply laugh at his idiocy. Subaru went and tried to act cool and let her get away, so he would probably be happy to see her keep running. But…still…
“Someone! Anyone!”
Though Felt knew in her mind that she should be winding down alleys, she had run straight toward the main street. Out of breath and with an expression of panic on her face, Felt looked this way and that.
This was strange. Felt reached up and frantically rubbed her teary eyes. Even if she had reason to be sad about Rom, Subaru was someone that she’d just met. Why should she care if he died?
But Subaru had gotten mad at Elsa for Felt’s sake, and he had just about thrown his life away so she could get away alive.
Felt didn’t understand what she was feeling, but because those feelings were there in her heart, she kept running about. She had felt something in response to Subaru’s actions. Because of those feelings, her feverishness did not subside, and while she felt like she wanted to scream, Felt kept running.
Then, finally after running down a few streets…
“Please…help me.”
“Understood. I’ll help you.”
…she found a young man like red fire, and changed the fate of the world.
5
“…Reinhard?”
“That is correct, Subaru. I suppose it hasn’t been too long since we’ve last met. I’m sorry I’m late.”
The red-haired young man Reinhard turned to face Subaru, who was still toppled over on the ground, with a slight apologetic smile.
Even as Reinhard wiped the dust from his sleeve, every motion seemed trained and deliberate. The way Reinhard carried himself was different from when Subaru first encountered him in the alley with Dumb, Dumber, and Dumbest, and as Subaru watched him, he thought he was now seeing a glimpse of Reinhard’s true self.
Without letting his guard down for a moment, Reinhard looked ahead, and turned his eyes toward the black-clothed beauty who was now focusing her animosity toward him. Reinhard’s blue eyes narrowed, as if he were remembering something.
“Black hair and black clothes, and your weapon is the bent blade particular to the northern countries. With all of those characteristics aligned, there’s no mistaking it. You are the ‘Bowel Hunter,’ aren’t you?”
“What’s with that super-violent-sounding alias…?” muttered Subaru.
“It’s an alias given to her based on the way she kills. She’s well-known in the capital to be a dangerous individual. However, from what I hear she appears to be more of a mercenary,” replied Reinhard faithfully in response to Subaru’s rhetorical question as he trained his clear eyes on Elsa.
“Reinhard. Ah, yes. The knight among knights…and of the ‘Master Swordsman’ lineage. Well, that’s amazing. I never thought I’d meet such an enjoyable opponent. I’ll have to thank my employer now for giving this job, now won’t I?”
“There are many things I would like to ask you. I recommend you surrender, however…”
“Would you say to a starving predator as it stands before its wounded prey, a perfect specimen and already dripping blood, to bear its hunger and move on?”
Elsa licked her thin red lips erotically with a look of ecstasy in her case as she stared at Reinhard.
“I see.” Reinhard responded, scratching at the side of his cheek as though he wished there was another way.
“Subaru, I’m going to have to ask you to get farther away, and please take that elderly man with you out of harm’s way. After that, if you could stay beside that other person there, it would help me a lot.”
“Understood. …That woman’s quite the monster, so don’t let your guard down, all right?”
“Fortunately, you could say that fighting monsters is my specialty,” said Reinhard confidently, and walked forward without any sign that he was preparing himself for battle.
Reinhard did not even reach for the sword at his waist, but continued on empty-handed.
After a sharp intake of breath, the kukri in Elsa’s hand flew forward, in a flash, toward Reinhard’s neck.
Unlike when Subaru was her opponent, there was no sign that Elsa was holding back as she made her silver strike, and it seemed to kill the very air as it raced toward Reinhard’s slender neck.
Yet Reinhard was completely defenseless. Not only did he not make any move to defend himself, he didn’t even make a move to dodge the attack.
Subaru could already picture Reinhard’s head flying off his body. However…
“I don’t really want to be violent against a woman, but…” said Reinhard, starting off in a gentlemanly way, but Subaru thought that the tone of his voice had dropped.
“…you’ll have to excuse me.”
Reinhard planted one foot down, the pressure behind it fracturing the ground beneath him, and with the other leg launched a kick so strong it created a shock wave as it collided with Elsa and sent her body flying. The back blast was strong enough for Subaru to feel it where he stood. He was speechless.
All it was, was an ordinary forward kick, but the air pressure it caused was enough to create a wind that shook the entire building.
Elsa, who took the hit head-on, was blown away like a leaf. However, she was able to reduce the damage taken by springing off the walls to kill the force of impact with her legs. Still, when she looked up, you could see the look of shock on her face.
“No, no, no, no, no. There’s no way. You’re kidding me, right? ….Just what the hell was that?”
Subaru had described certain things as being “on a totally different scale” several times before in his life, and it was at this very moment that he realized he had been mistaken. That phrase, “on a totally different scale,” existed solely for the purpose to describe this hero who stood in front of him. Before Reinhard’s existence, all of the extraordinary phenomena of this new world dulled in comparison.
“It’s just as they say…or rather, you’re more than what everyone says you are,” said Elsa.
“Well, I can only hope I’ll live up to your expectations.”
“Will you not use that sword of yours? I would like to have a taste of its legendary sharpness.”
Elsa pointed at Reinhard’s sword. She wanted to face Reinhard at full force, without him holding back. However, Reinhard shook his head.
“This sword is made so that it can only be drawn when it should be drawn. The fact that the blade has not removed itself from its sheath means that now is not the proper time.”
“I suppose I’ve been underestimated.”
“Personally, I would have preferred to take you up on your offer. So…”
Reinhard suddenly turned his eyes away from Elsa, and looked about the inside of the loot cellar. Eyes eventually settled on an old-looking two-handed sword propped up against the wall. Reinhard used his foot to kick up on the hilt, sending the unsheathed sword spinning through the air. He easily grabbed it in his hand, and swung it once lightly as if testing it out.
“…I’ll use this one to face you. Any complaints?”
“No… This is wonderful, wonderful! You had better show me a good time!”
As Reinhard gripped his blade, Elsa made the first move, darting to the side. As she made her slicing attack she leapt to increase its speed. In response, Reinhard readied a stance to swing his sword from below, straight upward.
In that moment of attack and defense, Subaru was able to get a clear view of what was happening.
Reinhard’s strike was sublime, it was magical, it was perfectly trained. In his hands, even a throwaway sword at its end of life, sleeping away in a cellar, shone like some treasured sword passed on by legend across generations. Reinhard’s sword technique captured every ounce of performance that could be extracted by the sword and he used it at will.
Reinhard’s blade hit its mark, just where the blade of Elsa’s kukri met its handle. Despite the fact that it was two pieces of steel striking together, Reinhard’s sword showed an unbelievable amount of cutting power and sliced the blade of Elsa’s blade right off its base.
Elsa had no words for the fate of the kukri she held in her hand. The blade had become just a handle, and as for the remainder…
“Now that you have lost your weapon, I recommend you surrender.”
…as Reinhard turned around, he held the blade of Elsa’s kukri in his free hand. With a flick of his wrist he threw it, and with a sharp sound it stuck, lodged in the wall.
Even Subaru could hear Elsa gasp.
“He really is not normal. I can’t even find the energy to joke about it.” Subaru just barely squeezed out what he thought, and hurried to put distance between himself and the battle taking place.
Along the way, Subaru went over to Rom, and somehow was able to drag his giant body to a spot along the wall.
“Rom. Old Man Rom. Hey. Baldy. You alive?”
“Who…you…callin’ baldy…”
“Who else? My only goals in life are to never go bald or get fat. You are, like, the best example for me of who I don’t want to end up like.”
Even though Rom’s response was weak, after giving him a few more slaps on the cheek, Subaru let out a sigh of relief.
Other than the fact that Rom had hit his head pretty hard, everything else looked all right. There was a chance that Rom’s memory might take a hit, but considering he was alive, it didn’t seem like much of a problem.
“Does it look like that person’s going to be all right?” asked Not-Satella as she came running up beside Subaru, her long silver hair trailing behind her. Checking the state of Rom’s injuries, she muttered, “He needs treatment,” and her hands began to glow with a faint blue light.
“Hey now, I’m just saying, but this old man’s in league with the one who stole your badge. You know that?”
“That’s precisely why I’m doing it. Once I heal him I can use his gratitude to get information out of him. People don’t tend to lie to people who’ve saved their life. I’m only doing this for my own sake.”
It was like she could not justify any of her actions unless she made a case for them being for her own sake.
Subaru gave the ever-roundabout Not-Satella a weak smile, and looked back toward the battlefield.
Elsa was on her knees but Subaru couldn’t see her face. All Subaru could think was that Reinhard had taken away her will to fight. With his old sword down by his side, Reinhard approached Elsa with his defenses down.
Surely Reinhard had confidence in the difference in ability between himself and Elsa, but pride always leads to the worst possible outcome. An alarm rang inside Subaru’s head.
“Reinhard! She’s got another blade!”
As Elsa’s second kukri was drawn from her waist, it took a bit of Reinhard’s bangs as he leaned back. With her surprise attack evaded, she turned her eyes toward Subaru.
“I’m surprised you knew.”
“Well, I’ve already experienced it once before!” said Subaru, giving her the middle finger in a bragging tone—although it really couldn’t be called bragging.
Elsa apparently decided that what Subaru was saying was nonsense and ignored him.
“However, you’d be wrong to think I have only two of these fangs. …Shall we start over?” she said to Reinhard.
“Will you be satisfied if I destroy all of your weapons?”
“If I lose my fangs, I’ll fight with my nails. If I lose my nails, I’ll fight with my bones. If I lose my bones, I’ll fight with my life. That is how I, the Bowel Hunter, do things.”
“In that case, I’ll just have to have you forsake your ideals.”
Elsa drew a third knife from her waist and held both at the ready. Worthy of the “spider-woman” insult that Subaru had lobbed at her before, Elsa seemed to fly about the room as though she were ignoring gravity, using all space on the ground and in the air available to her.
As blade met blade and steel met steel, each violent collision sent sparks flying. Kicking off from the walls and from the ceiling, Elsa continued her fighting style of attack and retreat. Reinhard met her attacks as they came.
As the battle seemed to go back and forth, Subaru gulped as he watched on.
“It can’t be possible that even Reinhard lacks the ability to settle this, can it…?”
Elsa’s abilities had stepped out of the realm of human possibility and it was hard for Subaru to even track her movements. However, Reinhard’s ability was, at its very core, legendary. Their battle was like two gods colliding with each other in the heavens, but Subaru could see that, in terms of pure ability, Reinhard was far ahead of Elsa. But then why was the battle still raging?
“…We’re holding him back,” muttered Not-Satella in response to Subaru’s doubts as she continued to heal Rom.
“Huh?” replied Subaru, and Not-Satella bit her lip, frustrated.
“Because I’m using spirit magic, he can’t fight full force. At least not until I finish my healing.”
“I have no idea what you’re trying to say.”
“If Reinhard decides to fight full force, all of the mana in the atmosphere around us will turn away from me. …I’m almost done. When I give the signal, call out to him.”
“O-okay.”
Subaru still didn’t understand her explanation, but while still a little unsure, he agreed.
The blue light continued to heal the bump protruding from Rom’s head, and another wound that had been bleeding a little. Subaru looked on amazed as the traces of blood and the opening of the wound gradually disappeared, when Not-Satella took a deep breath and let it out.
“I’m done.”
“Leave it to me. Hey, Reinhard! I don’t really understand, but get her!!!”
Subaru delivered the message to Reinhard, who had continually been on the defensive, that Rom’s treatment was complete.
Reinhard glanced back. When his and Subaru’s eyes met, he gave a slight nod.
“…What is it you’re going to show me?”
“The House of Astrea’s sword,” Reinhard replied in short and with dignity as Elsa leaped at him.
Immediately afterward, Subaru felt all of the space in the cellar warp.
6
“What?”
Subaru saw the air in his line of sight twist, and he couldn’t be sure, but he thought that the room had lost some of its light. Apart from that, the room’s temperature, which had already been falling because of all of the ice magic, dropped even further. Subaru found himself shivering and hugging his shoulders.
“Wait? Huh? Why are you…”
“I’m sorry, it’s just… Could you lend me your shoulder?”
As Not-Satella started to lean on him, Subaru, while flustering about, rushed to support her. Her slender body was incredibly hot and Subaru could feel his heart racing from a completely different reason from before. But one look at Not-Satella’s face and any ideas Subaru may have gotten were blown away.
Not-Satella was short of breath and looked as though she were in pain. It was as though she was running a high fever.
“What happened? Did you suddenly start to feel…?” asked Subaru.
“No, it’s the mana… You know, right?” replied Not-Satella.
Subaru didn’t have a clue. He would have liked to fold his arms and declare so, in his usual humorous way, but now didn’t seem to be the time for that. It was not the weight on Subaru’s shoulders that made him decide to stay silent; it was how the entire room had changed its atmosphere, and what was happening at the source of that change.
In the center of the room, Reinhard held his sword ready with both hands in a low stance. But that wasn’t it. That stance itself had been something that Reinhard had been holding since the battle had begun. However, as Subaru looked on, it felt to him that only now, for the very first time, Reinhard was holding his sword at the ready.
“Elsa ‘The Bowel Hunter’ Gramhilde,” said Elsa, licking her lips.
“Reinhard van Astrea from the line of master swordsmen,” Reinhard replied majestically with a nod.
The presence of Reinhard’s sword overwhelmed the room, and the animosity between Reinhard and Elsa shook the air.
In this place, turned mostly to ruins, a black-clothed murderer and a lightly armored hero faced each other, and what would clash would be the blood-soaked blade of a knife against a rusted old two-handed sword. But despite the faults of one side’s weapon, Subaru held his breath. After declaring their names, both were going to try to end the battle at once. Subaru felt that he was witness to a verse from an epic tale of heroism.
Someone screamed out. Subaru couldn’t tell if it was Elsa, or Reinhard, or even himself, but a brilliant light blew off the roof of the loot cellar and ripped right through it, cutting the entire space into two halves.
Subaru couldn’t help but feel that the entire world had shifted as an immense light filled the room and whited everything out in an instant. As the light cleared, the world was subjected to another sudden shift, as the displaced space tried to return to where it had been before.
Air was distorted as residual waves from the attack swept over the room and caused strong gusts to rush, spiraling back into the center of the room. Along with those gusts, stolen items, furniture, and even materials from the building’s structure itself were pulled in.
Subaru desperately tried to protect both Not-Satella and Rom from this storm of collateral damage.
“Just what is… H-hey! Hey!!”
Subaru couldn’t really explain how all of this was happening, but he knew who caused it.
The “Master Swordsman” had, at full power, swung his sword. Once. Only once, and this was the result.
Subaru kept yelling, trying to get through the pain and the wind, as finally, the storm lost its strength and the various items tumbling to the ground signaled its end, along with the chorus of dull creaking sounds from the building.
Subaru tossed away the remains of a scroll-like object that had landed on his head and checked that both Rom and Not-Satella were still okay. It looked as though Subaru’s cover wasn’t completely enough, as Rom looked as though he was covered in milk and other things, but Subaru thought he deserved to be cut a little slack.
“What do you mean, ‘Fighting monsters is my specialty’? You’re enough of a monster yourself!” shouted Subaru.
“Even I get hurt when you say things like that, Subaru,” replied Reinhard, the root cause of all of this destruction, with a weak smile as the gusts of wind blew his fiery red hair.
After all of this, even Reinhard had beads of sweat formed on his cool-looking face, and in his hands…
“I’m sorry for pushing you so hard. Rest well.”
…his two-handed sword disintegrated. Something of such a poor making could not last even one of Reinhard’s true swings. The strike was enough to make the steel of the sword’s blade rot away, so as for Elsa…
“Forget a corpse, I don’t even see any trace of her left… This is all just from one swing of your sword?”
In the path of Reinhard’s attack, which had seemed to rip through the very fabric of the world, there was absolutely nothing left. In the destruction, the counter next to the cellar’s entrance was blown completely away with all of its chairs, and the residual waves of damage extended even into the open space in front of the building. The resulting gusts of wind had wrecked the supports of the building, and it seemed ready to collapse at any moment.
The space where Elsa had been standing was of course within range of Reinhard’s attack, and her tall, black-clothed figure was nowhere to be seen.
“But then, that means…” Subaru said, stretching his stiff body and breathing a big sigh of relief.
Still unable to quite believe had happened, Subaru turned to look at the silver-haired girl still leaning against him. Not-Satella’s breathing was still shallow, but when she saw Subaru looking at her she turned her violet eyes toward him.
“Is it over…?” she asked weakly.
“Yeah… In the true sense of the word, it looks like it is,” Subaru said, helping her stand.
Not-Satella ran her fingers through her own hair, and with still uncertain steps, let go of Subaru, while Subaru stared.
“Why are you staring at me like that? That’s very rude of you,” she said.
“Your limbs and head are all still attached to your body, right?”
“…Why wouldn’t they be? Could you please not say something so ominous?” replied Not-Satella, not understanding what Subaru was trying to say.
As Not-Satella stared back at Subaru with an annoyed look in her eyes, Subaru gave her a thumbs-up and smiled.
“That’s right. I mean, that makes perfect sense. I, myself, have all my limbs; I don’t have a knife stuck in my back or a huge hole in my stomach!”
“The way you say that, it sounds like you had experienced all of that at one time.”
Well…he had.
Because of Subaru’s uselessness, Not-Satella had had her life taken, Rom lost his arm and his head, and Felt was cut down, too.
“Now that I think of it, Reinhard, I haven’t thanked you yet. You really saved us there. There’s also what happened in the alley… Did you hear the screams of my heart or something, my friend?”
“Well, I certainly would be proud of myself if I could do that, friend,” replied Reinhard, relaxing his shoulders, looking sorry. With his chin, he motioned toward the entrance of the loot cellar. As Subaru followed with his eyes…
“Oh hey,” said Subaru as he saw the person there, feeling his mouth form an unexpected smile.
At the entrance to the loot cellar, which had been at this point pretty much destroyed, was a small blond-haired girl with a canine tooth poking out from her mouth, hiding in the shadow of one of the few pillars left standing.
“That girl over there was running frantically down the street, where she asked me for help. The only reason I was able to come here is because of her. After that, I was just doing my job as a knight.”
“Is flattening old buildings part of your job description?”
“Don’t you think that’s a bit harsh, Subaru?” said Reinhard, wincing and putting his hand over his chest.
Despite having dealt this much destruction, the fact that he was acting just as friendly with Subaru as he had before was frightening in and of itself.
“That’s…”
Not-Satella, still trying to regain her footing, had noticed Felt.
Subaru stepped between them, running to Felt’s defense.
“Wait a minute. If she hadn’t called Reinhard for help, we both probably wouldn’t be here right now. So for my sake, overlook her crimes and please don’t turn her into an ice statue.”
“I wasn’t going to do that! And what do you mean, ‘for your sake’?” Not-Satella rubbed her fingers up against her brow, looking tired.
Even in that action of hers, Subaru was able to feel happiness in some way.
Since everyone was alive, they could all be joking around.
“I guess now it’s all up to my negotiation skills…which are something I’d never want to put my trust in!”
“What is with you, all of a sudden? The way you’re flailing about like that is really lame.”
In response to Not-Satella’s words, Subaru put his hand on his chest and reenacted Reinhard’s previous reaction. Of course, it didn’t look remotely as cool and dignified as when he did it.
As Reinhard watched Subaru’s antics, he smiled. He raised a hand toward Felt, who was looking in on everyone, and started walking toward her.
Subaru watched from behind at Reinhard’s gallant figure as he walked over to Felt, and he couldn’t even feel envious of him. Subaru could only shrug his shoulders and think that this was the difference between someone who had it and someone who didn’t.
Even while Felt was cautious of him, perhaps because she was feeling gratitude that he had come to save everyone, Felt didn’t try to run away as Reinhard approached.
Watching the two, Subaru felt like smiling, when…
“Subaru!!”
…Reinhard suddenly turned toward him and yelled, and Subaru realized that they hadn’t escaped danger yet.
Scraps of the building had been thrown up, and underneath them was a black shadow. The black shadow, with black hair trailing behind it and blood dripping from it, kicked firmly off against the ground and accelerated. Holding a blade that was bent out of shape, a bloody Elsa wordlessly raced toward Subaru.
“Enough already…!”
After having somehow survived Reinhard’s incredible strike, Elsa’s murderous eyes were filled with a pitch blackness. The murderous intent that she released was greater than any she had before, and it sent chills racing down Subaru’s back.
It would only be a few seconds before she was close enough to strike, and in that short amount of time, Subaru sent his thoughts racing.
One instant and it would all be over. Elsa was counting everything on this one strike. Reinhard wouldn’t make it in time. If Subaru could stop Elsa this one time, Reinhard could handle the rest. Not-Satella didn’t even have time to turn around.
Where was the target this time? Subaru had experienced this twice before: two deaths, the fear and the pain. He would protect her the third time.
Protect the girl!!
“She’s aiming for your stomach!!”
Subaru pushed Not-Satella out of the way, and using the club from before still in his hands, he guarded his own stomach as Elsa’s strike collided with him.
The horizontal slice felt less like a cut and more like being struck by a heavy blunt object. The force of the collision swept Subaru off his feet and he felt the world spin 180 degrees as he vomited blood. It wasn’t just his vision but his entire body that was spinning.
Unsure of how far he had been thrown, Subaru struck the wall, unable to catch himself.
“There you go, getting in my way aga—” spat Elsa, clicking her tongue as she watched Subaru fly.
“That’s enough, Elsa!”
As Reinhard came running up, Elsa understood that there was no longer any meaning in continuing the fight. She threw at Reinhard her knife, which had been completely bent in that last attack that Subaru took. Her aim was off, but the throw succeeded in drawing Reinhard’s attention away from her, and that was enough.
“One day, I will open the stomachs of everyone here, so take care of your bowels for me until then!” she cried, using a part of the collapsing building as a foothold to leap up onto the roof.
It didn’t look possible to chase her down as she leapt lightly from roof to roof as she made her getaway.
Reinhard, who was not interested in pursuing this fight any further, didn’t run after her.
After Reinhard watched Elsa go, he ran over to the silver-haired girl.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m perfectly fine! Can’t you see?! Rather than me, you should be worried about…” shouted Not-Satella, before racing over to the wall with her unsteady feet where Subaru was collapsed upside down.
“Are you all right?! What were you thinking?!”
“Ugghh… Oh… It’s no big deal… If there was ever a time to act before thinking that was it, don’t you think? I’m the only one who could move, and I was able to quickly guess where she was going to attack,” said Subaru, raising one hand to Not-Satella as she walked over to him and using the other to carefully touch his tender stomach. He was immensely bruised, and everything under his clothes as he lifted them up was purple.
“Ugh…” said Subaru, disgusted by the way it looked, before turning over and getting back on his feet.
“She’s completely gone now, right?”
“I’m sorry, Subaru. This is all my fault for letting my guard down. If you weren’t there we would have been in trouble. If that person there had gotten wounded, then…”
“Stop stop stop stop! Don’t say it! Don’t say it! I forbid you to speak any more than that! You’re going to steal my thunder,” said Subaru to Reinhard as he tried to apologize, and smiled at him as he went quiet.
After that, Subaru slowly turned around to face the silver-haired girl looking up at him. She fidgeted and then stood up beside him. They were about two steps away from each other. If Subaru reached out with his hand, he could touch her. It had been a long time coming, and Subaru paused to think about everything that had happened for him to get here.
As Subaru closed his eyes in silence, the girl looked as though she wanted to say something, but before she could open her mouth, Subaru pointed a finger up to the heavens.
With his left hand on his hip and his right hand pointed in the air, Subaru disregarded the surprised stares coming from all around him, and declared in a loud voice, “My name is Subaru Natsuki! I know there’s a ton of things you want to say and a ton of things you want to ask, but before all of that let me confirm just one thing!”
“W-what…?”
“I totally just saved your life right now from that terrible weapon, didn’t I? We okay so far?”
“O…kay?”
“It means everything’s fine. So, are we okay?!”
Subaru used his upper body to form an O and a K, and while the silver-haired girl in front of him seemed to twitch a little, she replied.
“O-okay…”
“I’m the person who saved your life! Your rescuer! Now you are the heroine I rescued. Don’t you think that I should get some kind of reward? Don’t you think so?!”
“…I understand. Only if it’s something I’m able to do, though.”
“As long as you understand! Now I only have one, just one request of you!” Subaru put his finger out in front of him to emphasize this point.
While the girl looked a bit worried in response, she seemed to find her determination and nodded firmly.
“So my wish is…”
“Go on.”
Subaru smiled, showing his teeth, then snapped his fingers and then gave a thumbs-up, striking a pose.
“…I want you to tell me your name.”
The girl’s eyes opened wide in shock, and a moment of silence fell upon the two. Subaru’s gaze would not waver, and he looked the silver-haired girl in front of him straight in the eye.
The girl then put her hand to her mouth and started to giggle, her white cheeks blushing, and her silver hair swaying behind her as she smiled.
That smile of hers was not one of resignation, or a faint fleeting smile. It was not a tragic smile, either. She was simply smiling because she was happy. That was all there was to it.
“…Emilia,” she said, laughing.
“…”
Hearing that single response Subaru took in a short breath, and then breathed out.
In response the girl straightened herself, put a finger to her lips, and smiled in a teasing sort of way.
“My name is Emilia. Just Emilia. Thank you, Subaru. Thank you for saving me,” Emilia said, holding out her hand.
Looking down at that hand, Subaru hesitantly took it in his. Her fingers and wrist were slender and her palm was small, and her hand was very warm. It was a living hand, with blood running through it.
—Thank you for saving me.
Subaru wanted to say the same to her. She was the one who had saved him first. With this, he had finally repaid her, after dying three times from blade wounds to get here.
After all of that pain and suffering, after all that fighting with everything he had, his reward was her name and a smile.
Ahh…
“Man, that wasn’t worth it at all,” said Subaru, smiling as he gripped Emilia’s hand.
7
That would have been a good place to end the story. However…
“Though really, I have to say I’m surprised to see you’re all right,” said Reinhard, as though he had been waiting for the right moment to jump in after Subaru and Emilia had finished, breaking the silence he had been forced into before.
Even from the perspective of a man with Reinhard’s skill, Elsa’s final attack must have seemed overwhelming.
Subaru gently put pressure on his hurt abdomen and pointed to the club lying on the ground. The spiked club was thick and sturdy and had worked well as a shield, even though that was not its true purpose.
“I quickly guarded myself with that thing. If it weren’t for that, right now I’d be cut in two,” said Subaru.
“You’re right. If it weren’t for this—” Reinhard started to say, reaching for the fallen club to pick it up.
“—I wouldn’t have been able to avoid ‘BAD END 4,’” Subaru laughed, finishing his sentence.
“Huh?”
As Reinhard picked up the club, part of it slid across a smooth cut going through it, and fell to the ground with a thud. Cut completely in two, its service was done.
Reinhard slowly looked up at Subaru with an uncomfortable look on his face. Subaru followed Reinhard’s gaze nervously and pulled up his tracksuit. Just as before, everything was purple and bruised, but there was a slight change. A red line suddenly ran straight across his abdomen.
“This doesn’t look good. Even I can see what’s coming next.”
Just as Subaru finished his statement a searing pain shot through him, and then his stomach opened along the cut, spilling bright red blood everywhere.
“S-Subaru?!”
Right beside him, Subaru could hear Emilia’s panicked voice.
Subaru had finally been able to hear her name and now it looked as though this was going to be the end, again.
But even if that was the case, Subaru was sure he would return to this place again.
Subaru’s vision shifted sideways, and he thought that he must have fallen over. He could see that Reinhard was panicked as well, and as Emilia looked straight at him, close to his face, he could see that she was very distressed.
She looks cute even when she’s panicking… What a place this fantasy world is, Subaru thought, feeling he had thought something similar before, before the pain and shock swept his consciousness away like a storm at sea.
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