CHAPTER 4
THE VALUE OF A LIFE
1
The place Subaru had been confined was removed from the settlement, deep into the woods—a remote place where the Lost Woods of Cremaldi very much felt like they lived up to their name.
The instant they exited the structure, Subaru took deep breaths over and over as he felt his skin bathed in outside air for the first time in three days.
“Really have to say, though, what a stench… What’s actually making that smell, anyway?”
“Who knows? It differs from the stench of flesh or rot, but its ill effect upon the nose is no different. It feels like some sort of oil or aromatic, but…”
“Considering how active a smell it is, maybe ammonia or something like that. Nah, let’s think that one over later…”
As he looked back at the building in which he had been imprisoned, he set aside the issue of the scent that had made such a deep impression.
It was a white weathered stonework building. In terms of materials and apparent age, it felt akin to the tomb, but seemed far better preserved in Subaru’s mind. That was probably a by-product of the environment…smell included.
“I felt this while I was captured, but man, there’s not one bug or mouse here?”
“There is no mistaking it is a strange environment. I meant to use my blessing to search everywhere for you, Mr. Natsuki, but I would have been in dire straits if I had not noticed the ill feeling in this place.”
“Ill feeling?”
“When I am seriously employing my blessing, there are few places in this world untouched by the rhythmic voices of bird and insect. It is human nature to find such rare places suspicious, is it not?”
When Otto winked, Subaru crossed his arms in response. Then, quite earnestly, he said, “Hmm, you’re a pretty useful guy. I seriously don’t understand why you come off like such a flake.”
“Could you decide whether you want to praise me or insult me, and just pick one?!”
“Why are you such a flake? That’s, like, an incredible, unspeakable flaw for someone?”
“Why did you pick insults?!”
When Otto grumbled about the insufficient praise for his exploits, Subaru responded with a wry smile and a sigh of admiration.
According to Otto, his blessing—the blessing of the spoken word—enabled him to achieve mutual understanding with any living creature. Thus, he was able to converse with the land dragon in his service, and contact birds and insects to tell him which routes were safe.
“So that blessing is how you searched for me and gave Garfiel the slip, then. You really are a hell of a convenient guy to have around.”
“It is hardly all a good thing. All it does is bring them to the table. The result of the negotiations is on my shoulders. If I put them in a sour mood, they shall lead me not to a road but to a cliff.”
“Natural wildlife is scary!!”
He who had the blessing spoke, admonishing him who did not. Carving the words upon his breast, Subaru put his interest regarding the white building back on the shelf for the time being. The place tugged at him, but thinking about it wouldn’t get him any answers no matter how long he spent. Right then, there was a more pressing issue in need of an answer.
“What if, for instance, we went back to everyone, and exposed what Garfiel’s done?”
“…Actually, I truly cannot recommend acting upon that thought.”
“And why’s that?”
“Ahh, I did not sufficiently explain during our earlier conversation, but your disappearance has caused even larger effects than are apparent on the surface, Mr. Natsuki…”
Averting his gaze as if he found it difficult to say, Otto brought all five fingertips from both hands together in front of his own chest. The feminine gesture gave Subaru a bad feeling that tore at him. Subaru began with the preamble, “Man, you’re scarin’ me…” and continued, “You’re scarin’ me, but talk. Really, what’s been going on while I’ve been gone?”
“Errr, it was a factual explanation, I assure you! Simply, the situation is a little more difficult, perhaps more extreme, than a dry explanation can convey…”
“Spill it already!”
“Lady Emilia has been backed into a corner, and the concerns from the evacuated villagers are coming to a head, so if they heard, at this point, Mr. Natsuki had been imprisoned, they might…explode!”
Raising both hands in an act of surrender, Otto seemed desperate as he revealed the current state of affairs.
The contents just exposed left Subaru opening and closing his mouth for several moments before he managed to get something out.
“It’s that bad?”
“…Mr. Natsuki, it would be best if you gain a little more self-awareness of how much you are the mental pillar of support for the people around you. Though I do not know the details, Lady Emilia still has not heard from her contracted spirit, and you have saved the people of the village twice over, have you not?”
“That’s, well, it’s true, but…”
“A rather unreliable, halfhearted reply, yes?”
Goodness, seemed to say the slumping of Otto’s shoulders, but Subaru couldn’t just come out and nod his head.
He understood Emilia being worried. With Puck not there for her, Subaru was her only absolute ally. That said, if she could make it through the Trial, it probably wouldn’t have been reason enough to shake her up that far.
For the people of Earlham Village, he’d resolved the demon beast uproar and the Witch Cult issue. He didn’t mind the gratitude, but this was too much. Subaru had let them all die over and over. It was an extreme over-appraisal.
But if either part was true, it meant the situation was exceptionally perilous.
“If finding me means a huge explosion in the Sanctuary… Seriously, why’d you come looking for me? If it’s like this, finding me doesn’t solve a thing.”
“Well, if I hadn’t found you, you would have died! Is that not reason enough?”
“ ? ”
“Ow, ow, ow! What?! Why are you slapping me without a word?! Could you stop?!”
With rock rather than paper, Subaru punched Otto’s shoulder, each blow packed with emotion.
At any rate, he kissed goodbye the plan to expose Garfiel’s scheme. Subaru didn’t want relations in the Sanctuary to worsen, either, naturally. Nor did he intend to cry himself to sleep…
“Exposing the truth here and now is a bad plan, huh? Can’t be helped, then. Let’s go with Plan B.”
“What is this Plan B?”
“Ah? There isn’t one. I was just trying to think one up while I said it.”
In the first place, he’d been thinking of nothing but death until just prior to his escape. Even if he’d dragged his thoughts away from giving in to his fate, his head hadn’t done much for thinking as of yet.
“But unlike me, you look like you have a proper plan. That’s the friend who came to save me for you. It’s not like you just charged in with an empty head, no thought about what comes next?”
“Uwa! Uwaaah! Goodness, you really know how to lay into someone out of the blue! Although it is not the case that I came without any thought, I assure you!”
Wanting to live up to expectations, Otto spoke along the same lines as Subaru had. An impish smile came over him as he lowered his voice to a whisper.
“Mr. Natsuki, your existence is a source of great worry to Garfiel. The fact he has kept you alive without any means of using you is proof enough… Therefore, I wish to use that worry as a bargaining chip.”
“Meaning what exactly?”
“Mr. Natsuki, you shall escape past the barrier. With the barrier still up, the residents of the Sanctuary, Garfiel included, cannot pursue you. When the barrier is lifted, the conditions shall stabilize, dousing the embers, yes?”
As things were, without the Sanctuary being liberated from the barrier, any explosion inside of it would be fatal.
Otto’s proposal was simple. To avoid that explosion, Subaru, the ember in question, would be sent outside it. This done, negotiating the release of the villagers held hostage would not be particularly difficult.
“The problem is whether we can do it. As they say, ‘easier said than done.’”
“You say that as a quote, much like Garfiel. Either way, I shall state you need not be concerned about that matter. I already have a highly reassuring sympathizer.”
“Sympathizer?”
“Yes. Thanks to this, I am able to learn many things even while on the run. Even if I hear things from other living creatures, complex human relations and changes in emotional states are a bit much, you see.”
It was less—even blessings have their limits—than the difference in priorities between different living things.
However, he was a little surprised by the existence of a sympathizer. The Sanctuary apparently wasn’t all on the same page. He could understand the sentiment, though—wanting to spectacularly hurl the ember away before it set off the powder house that the Sanctuary had become.
“Just escape, huh?”
“Yes, that is best, I think. I understand your wanting to tell Lady Emilia you are safe and sound in person, but…”
“I do feel like that, of course…”
He had no objection to Otto’s plan. He could even endure Otto’s worry and consideration for Emilia. However, the reason he hesitated to simply run for it was something else entirely.
“At any rate, I’d like to meet this sympathizer. If I’m gonna make a run for it, it has to be while Emilia challenges the Trial… In other words, it’s now or never. That’s the idea, right?”
“That makes it a short discussion, Mr. Natsuki…truly rare for you. The sympathizer is waiting for us outside of the forest. First, let us proceed that way. Please do not stray.”
Acknowledging Subaru’s judgment, Otto listened attentively as he headed toward the forest. He had no doubt activated the power of the blessing of the spoken word, lending his ears to the words of the living creatures in the area.
“ ? ”
From time to time, Otto’s mouth let slip sounds of a sort that should never have come from a human being. The blessing seemed to function by matching his wavelength with those of the other parties when he spoke. It was like communicating with bats via ultrasonic waves, something that tugged at him a fair bit.
They moved to rendezvous with the sympathizer as he awaited Otto’s negotiations. The thought of traversing a forest in the deep night, relying on the words of insects and small animals with very different points of view, depleted his morale far more than he’d expected.
“Don’t tell me they’re guiding us to burrows people can’t pass through…”
“Certainly they are not people. But this toil has come to an end.”
As the tired Subaru took long breaths, Otto, his hair smeared with leaves, replied thus. When Subaru responded to the optimistic words by lifting his head, he saw a faint bonfire straight ahead of them—and made out the presence of the settlement.
If the bonfire was there, Emilia was conducting the Trial at the tomb. By rights, he wanted to race over there to be at her side, but—
“…Can’t do that, huh. So where’s this sympathizer you spoke of?”
“This is the rendezvous point. She is exceedingly punctual, so she should already be here…”
“—You certainly took your time. I thought I would become an old woman while I waited.”
“—Eh?”
Subaru gasped when a voice suddenly interrupted their conversation.
He felt the grass part as a person approached. When he turned his face that way, a pink-haired girl emerged, pushing her way through a thicket that very moment. She brushed the hem of her short skirt. And then—
“Though even an elderly Ram would be adorable, I am sure.”
These words spoken, Ram turned toward Subaru and Otto, snorting in her usual manner.
2
When they arrived at the rendezvous point with the sympathizer, it was none other than Ram who appeared.
Stunned by that fact, Subaru was frozen in place as Ram’s pink eyes narrowed. The dangerous look in her eyes made him swallow his saliva, whereupon Subaru quickly glanced at Otto, standing beside him.
“…Otto, on three, we split up and run. Your job’s to cry out in a loud voice and draw her off. Mine’s to be quiet, wordless like a snake. Any objections?”
“I have nothing but objections! For that matter, why are you taking such a guarded posture…”
“Idiot, you were followed. Look at Ram’s eyes. She’s planning to kill us, no mistake. Trust me. They’re the same eyes as when I messed up back at the mansion.”
“Trust you, because you’re a man that people regard with bloodlust on a daily basis?!”
In a small voice, Subaru contrived to flee, but Otto’s reaction was far too dulled. Against Ram, his poor intuition was a fatal flaw. Unfortunately, Otto would perish.
“And when you die, I will carve your dying will upon my breast and see that the people of the Sanctuary are freed…”
“May we set the games aside and advance the conversation? Wasted time leads to a wasted life.”
“This useless treatment makes it sound like I am already dead either way!”
Otto persisted against Ram’s bluntness, but her response to his behavior was a frighteningly cold gaze. Torn apart by that gaze, Otto tragically sank in an instant.
Watching the one-sided interaction, Subaru went, “At any rate,” and continued his words with,
“Even with his life in extreme peril, I don’t see Otto nervous…so what, you’re the sympathizer?”
“I object to the ring of the word ‘sympathizer.’ I am the instigator.”
“Man, Otto really comes off like a familiar here…”
The familiar concerned seemed dissatisfied with being treated as such, but Subaru took his lack of objection as assent. Whatever you wanted to call it, Ram apparently really was lending Otto a hand.
In other words, she didn’t want an explosion in the Sanctuary either, and thus intended to let Subaru escape outside—
“I can’t say I ever expected Ram and Otto to team up…”
“I suppose you did not. However, facts are facts. Accept them.”
“I could do that, but it’s more natural for me to see this from a different point of view.”
“ ? ”
“You letting me escape, that’s an instruction from Roswaal, isn’t it?”
When Subaru’s question pressed further, Ram was silent as her expression froze over.
Ram independently cooperating with him would have made his chest heat up quite a bit, but Subaru knew intimately that she wasn’t prone to acting in such a convenient manner. Ram’s actions were fundamentally based on her loyalty toward Roswaal. Accordingly, it was proper to think that Roswaal’s intentions always rested behind her every action.
“ ? ”
“No denial, huh? Not sure if Otto knew that, though.”
“I have made a deal regarding you, Mr. Natsuki. She shall not send your head flying.”
“Meaning it’s Ram who approached you, huh? If that’s Roswaal’s instruction, too, did he tell you to do anything else? What’s his thinking behind sending you?”
“…For Barusu, blood flows through you rather quickly, doesn’t it?”
Accepting Otto’s defense of himself, Subaru’s certainty deepened, which caused Ram to sigh deeply. He thought the sigh contained a whiff of both exasperation and exhaustion.
“This behavior really ain’t like you.”
“That is Ram’s line. It is strange that you can be this calm after being confined somewhere beyond everyone’s knowledge…or rather, quite creepy.”
“Don’t say creepy; that hurts. Besides, I can only look at it calmly ’cause it came after a big, hard laugh.”
He had to grudgingly admit that the exchange with Otto just prior did much to restore his spirits. Between pep and bravado, Subaru was without doubt on the pep side of the coin at present. So while the pep lasted—
“I want an answer to my earlier question. I’ll base what I decide on that.”
“What to do? Here, is not fleeing the only option? Mr. Natsuki, to put it bluntly, if someone spots or finds you, the situation becomes worst case, does it not?”
“I get what you’re saying. I’m incredibly grateful that you came to help me. But I’ll never win anything if I let things end with only the other guy landing a punch.”
Otto’s opinion hadn’t changed since the outset: He should wholeheartedly flee. However, Subaru knew the situation would only deteriorate. He had to gamble in order to break the deadlock.
And, as dealers for wagers went, the Ram standing before him worked just fine.
Faced with the resolve in Subaru’s gaze, Ram’s long-lashed eyelids gently fell. And then—
“…Yes, it is as you say. Assisting Barusu is Master Roswaal’s instruction. Setting eyes upon Otto for that purpose was Ram’s own personal judgment, however.”
“So he fit the bill in your eyes, huh.”
“I merely reasoned that without a competent handler, Otto would die for nothing.”
“Ugh… Can’t deny that!”
“Well, deny it anyway!!”
Otto shouted in anger, but in light of the background circumstances, Ram’s guess was correct. Having blown off Garf’s demand, he saw no path for Otto to survive without Ram’s cooperation.
In that case, prolonged confinement would have probably left Subaru crippled.
“It would seem Ram’s greatness has sunken into you.”
“Accepting it is off in another dimension, though… Besides, I want to ask you something more. If you’re obeying Roswaal’s instructions, were they to get me outside?”
“…His instructions were, Aid him. But, in the present Sanctuary circumstances, you understand that getting you outside is the optimal plan, Barusu?”
“You’re certainly right about that— How did you plan to get me out?”
If the powder house was on the verge of an explosion, just how did you plan to carry the ember out? At Subaru’s question, Ram folded her arms. “It is simple,” she prefaced before saying, “Garf cannot leave the tomb during the time Lady Emilia challenges the Trial. We need to simply mount Barusu on his land dragon and get him beyond the barrier while still outside of Garf’s sight.”
“That really is simple. Sure you want to pull that without a double for me or something?”
“Do not complain. At times like this, simple is best.”
Immediately turning her back on him, Ram meant to lead Subaru in the direction of his escape. Obeying her instructions and breaking away from the Sanctuary as soon as possible was the right call—if the Sanctuary was the only issue, at least.
But it was not so. Therefore, to arrive at other correct solutions—
“—Ram, change of plans. Running comes later.”
“Mr. Natsuki?! What are you saying?!”
“I’m not saying I won’t run. But with Garfiel at the tomb, it’s a chance to do something besides just running, ain’t it? A chance to do something else without anyone butting in.”
When Otto let out a shriek, Subaru strongly thrust a finger toward him. The gesture pressed Otto into silence; in his place, Ram looked back toward Subaru.
“And just what do you intend to do?”
With a calm, collected tone of voice and eyes betraying no emotion, she questioned the intent behind Subaru’s statement.
Subaru exhaled deeply at that gaze, and the corners of his mouth twisted as he replied.
“—I want to pick up where we got interrupted three days ago.”
3
“—Roswaal, this time, let’s talk without you hiding anything.”
Subaru was the first to open his mouth, letting those words fly. Roswaal narrowed his pair of heterochromatic eyes.
His injured body resting on the bed in his bedroom at the Ryuzu residence, Roswaal betrayed no sign of surprise at the sudden arrival of this rare guest. It was almost as if he knew Subaru would come.
Indeed, his deep nod seemed only to support that conclusion as he spoke in greeting.
“A reunion after three days—a miraculous return at that—there is a rather dangerous air about you, is there nooooot?”
“No jokes. Right now I don’t have any time for foolin’ around. I don’t care how badly you’re hurt. I’m ready to use force if I have to.”
“I see. I suppose three days of suffering will do that to someone. No, no, noooo, even if I speak words of praise for this, it shall only disgust you, I am sure. Let us get to the point, shall we?”
The sight of Subaru clenching his teeth with no margin for error made a smile come over Roswaal as he shook his head side to side. After that, his eyes shifted to the closed door behind Subaru as he said,
“Ram let you through, yes? I did give that girl instructions to aid you, but…”
“Yeah. That’s why she brought me here without any fuss. If you ask me if I wanna run, I’d probably tell you yes, but I pushed that choice down the road.”
“—Really.”
Roswaal closed one eye as he replied. Under the gaze of his open yellow eye, Subaru lightly moistened his lips.
—He’d come to speak with Roswaal, putting fleeing the Sanctuary on the back burner.
Naturally, Otto had objected vociferously, asserting that it would only put Subaru in greater danger, but Ram had set the stage at Subaru’s request. Paying due attention to the fine details, she had brought him there, to the stage built for a conversation with Roswaal—beyond the Sanctuary residents’ prying eyes.
“I’ll ask you this, Roswaal. It’s three days late, but are you gonna claim you changed your mind about your promise?”
“Strictly speaking, I had intended for the promise I made to be effective for that night alone…but it is fine. I am not a spirit mage, after all. I have no interest in nitpicking the fine detaaaails.”
Originally, Roswaal had promised to speak no lies in the discussion they were to have had that night. He had sworn that, though he might remain silent about matters inconvenient to him, the words he spoke would be the truth.
He’d make use of that. Ironically, it was just like the Roswaal from the last time around had said.
“I understand the situation in the Sanctuary, and the danger of me being here. That’s why I want to ask you about the mansion as a major precondition of my leaving here.”
“Hmm, about the mansion, you ask? If it is something within my understaaaanding…”
“More like you’re the only guy who can give me an answer— What I wanna ask about is Beatrice. Why is she in the mansi— No.”
There, Subaru cut off his own word, interrupting his question. He couldn’t ask it that way. Roswaal had already given a similar question the slip once before. He hated to follow Roswaal’s words of advice once again, but he needed to pose his questions “well.”
Things were decisively different than the last time around. He needed a question Roswaal couldn’t gloss over—
“…I’ll change how I phrase the question. Is she, is Beatrice…a Witch Cultist?”
Choosing his words, Subaru paused, endured the palpitation of his heart, and posed the question.
The decisive difference from the previous time around was that Subaru knew Beatrice possessed that magic tome. Namely, he harbored a suspicion that she might be connected to the Witch Cult.
“ ? ”
Roswaal, receiving Subaru’s question in silence, sank into thought for a time.
That silence felt detestably long, further accelerating Subaru’s heart.
Finally, before the nervous Subaru, he exhaled and said,
“Why do you think that Beatrice be a Witch Cultist?”
“…Because I’ve seen her room.”
“And by seen, you mean…?”
“Because! She… The book! Because she has a Gospel…!”
Subaru’s voice was tinged with anger. He was angry at having to say aloud even the part he did not wish to speak. The raw bitterness in his shout revealed the real reason Subaru wished to pose that question.
Beatrice, clutching the Gospel to her chest, shouting that she obeyed its notations as she rejected Subaru; if she was truly a mad devotee of the Gospel, instigator of the tragedy at the mansion—
“—If that time comes, she’ll be our…my enemy.”
He’d see Beatrice as an enemy, as an obstacle that had to be removed.
“Strong words. Truly words of resolve.”
Roswaal nodded deeply at Subaru’s declaration. Then, he closed his open eye.
“…Though the pain upon your face makes such words less convincing.”
“—!”
“You having to be pitted against the girl is such a terrible tale. Certainly to me, having seen you two smile and play together so. Therefore, I wish to extend a hand of salvation.”
“A hand of salvation? You, to me? …That’s like, top-level worldwide fishy.”
Feeling something raging inside of him, Subaru’s cheek twitched as he wrung out his voice. Roswaal no doubt saw right through the bluff, yet he said not one disparaging word, merely raising a finger as he said, “Certainly, the book you saw is very similar to the Gospels that Witch Cultists possess. It is no fault of your own that you suspect Beatrice as a result. But I guarantee this—”
“Guarantee…?”
“That girl is not a Witch Cultist. She has nothing to do with those hurling themselves over the Great Waterfalls in search of love that does not exist. Though it is true that the book is of a similar nature.”
“—!! Not the Witch Cult…! You mean it?!”
Gazing with eyes open wide, Subaru leaped at Roswaal’s response.
It was pretty much the first piece of good news for Subaru that time around. Though the fact that it was Roswaal’s guarantee bore its own whiff of concern, his vow to speak the truth made up for that.
“If Beatrice isn’t part of the Witch Cult…then…”
Then, there was no reason it was an irreconcilable conflict. He didn’t have to give up on her—
“W-wait! I don’t wanna get happy over just that. The problem isn’t what flag she’s under. If she’s not part of the Witch Cult, what is that book? Why does she have a Gospel?”
“I suppose saying it is from an archive of forbidden books where numerous magic tomes are gathered…would be too much of a stretch. So I shall reply plainly… That book is not a Gospel.”
“It’s not…? But she definitely called the book a Gospel.”
“Because it does not have a proper name. Hence, she called it via the name used for the inferior product.”
Even then, Beatrice’s rejection lingered in his ears. Subaru refuted Roswaal with that difficult-to-forget shout in mind. With a knowing look, he said to Subaru, “If I may?” and continued his words with,
“I do not know how much of which you are aware, but the Gospels possessed by Witch Cultists are incomplete. The number of notations is limited, their contents vague, varying depending upon the interpretation. To have such an unfriendly tome determine the path of the possessor’s fate…is rather arbitrary, is it not?”
“…You’re crazy detailed about this. All I’d heard was that it was holy writ that prophesized the future.”
“Witch Cultists can gush forth from anywhere, particularly Sanctuaries connected to a Witch such as that which I administer. It is not merely once or twice that I have skirmished with them. I have found traces of their tomes amid the cinders of their corpses. However, I know they are frauds because only the possessor may read their contents.”
“I’ve had that experience once…”
Subaru, too, possessed a single Gospel, but he wasn’t able to understand its contents. It was like staring at cursive handwriting from a foreign land; the character information wasn’t being conveyed to his brain. Even at present, when he tried to remember the single page he had seen, not even a portion floated into his head.
“It feels a lot like the ID-blocking robe’s effect… In other words, it might not be common, but books like that aren’t super-rare either. So, you’re saying it’s not strange that Beatrice has one, too?”
“—No, the tome Beatrice possesses is a complete edition. It is a magical tome that records the true future, of which only two volumes exist in the whole of the world. It is the closest thing to a Tome of Wisdom that currently exists.”
With his eyes closed, Roswaal spoke the name of the book, which Subaru didn’t recognize.
Then, a moment after it became clear exactly what book Beatrice possessed—suddenly, Subaru’s body stiffened, feeling like the air in the room had suddenly gotten colder.
The cause was Roswaal, head hung just before him. The ghastly aura emanating from him made Subaru draw in his breath.
“Ros…waal…?”
“Sorry. It seems I was recalling an amusing memory for a short while.”
“…I-if that just now was a funny memory, slipping up and asking about old stories seems like a really bad idea.”
“There will be other opportunities to speak of unamusing old tales. At present, time is limited, is it not?”
Abruptly, his mood seemed to soften, his smile dispersing the strained air about them.
The relaxation of the atmosphere made strength drain from Subaru’s body as well, but his horror at the abnormal demeanor did not vanish. However, Subaru bit down the persisting horror with his back teeth, forcing his mind to right itself.
Every moment that passed brought the Trial closer to an end, and so, too, Garfiel’s return.
A sense of duty to finish the discussion before that happened burned within Subaru as he turned to face Roswaal once more.
“I’d really like to ask for the details about this Tome of Wisdom, but right now the gist will do. What I need to know is how do I convince the Beatrice with that book to back down?”
“Perhaps if you broke into tears and begged, she might listen to you?”
“I said no joking around! I’m not asking you to be funny. This is a serious question.”
“I did not intend it as a particularly frivolous reply, mind you…”
Bringing the obstinate Beatrice around was an absolutely irreplaceable component of breaking through the calamity arising at the mansion. Even if the option of taking her and fleeing had vanished, he’d be at a marked advantage if he had her cooperation.
They could shelter the noncombatants, Rem and Petra, in the archive of forbidden books and jump them to Earlham Village.
“Beyond that, even if Frederica were to become hostile, that girl would surely fend her off without difficulty.”
“…I don’t particularly suspect Frederica as an enemy.”
“Oh my, you seemed to suspect her due to the crystal incident. Your opinion changed at some point?”
“…Yeah, that’s right, it did.”
“A rather uncertain reply, no? If you are concerned, take Ram. Surely she will not refuse.”
Subaru had only cleared up his suspicions of Frederica based on the memories of the Subaru who had returned to the mansion. From Roswaal’s perspective, Subaru’s two worries for his return to the mansion surely appeared to be Frederica’s rebellious intent and Beatrice’s possession of a certain book.
Accordingly, proposing that Ram accompany him was a natural decision. Aside from the point that Subaru had already tried that and failed—
“—Roswaal said, ‘Ask your questions.’”
“…Huh?”
As Subaru sank into thought, the abrupt statement made his jaw fall open. Roswaal sat up from lying on his side in bed, looked up at Subaru, and repeated himself.
“If you remain concerned about the matter, upon your return to the mansion, tell her, ‘Roswaal said, Ask your questions.’ When Beatrice hears this, she will surely respond.”
“That’s…”
He blinked. Subaru remembered hearing those weighty words before.
The first time around that loop, just before setting out from the Sanctuary to return to the mansion, Ram told him those words, hailing from Roswaal after their relationship had worsened.
The shock of death had caused him to forget them, and he had not remembered the words on the last, and second, time around, but—
“…I see. You do not believe these words are sufficient.”
“W-wait. Insufficient, that’s… Nah, before that, it’s just…”
“Then I shall continue. Or perhaps, this way of speaking it would be surer footing?”
Roswaal ignored Subaru’s confusion; indeed, a smile came over him. Then, in his usual manner, he closed one eye, seeing right through Subaru with his yellow eye and speaking thus:
“—Simply tell her you are That Person.”
“That Person…?”
“Make Beatrice ask this of you, and affirm that it is so. Do this, and she will most certainly be your ally, sure to lending you her power without reservation.”
He firmly declared this, his words infused with powerful conviction. When that conviction caused Subaru to look back into Roswaal’s eye, the tranquil yellow glint therein betrayed none of his thoughts.
Still, if that all turned out to be true, then the words he’d been told to speak were simply that powerful.
“What’s…up with that? How can you say that so confidently?”
“Because to that girl, to Beatrice, it is a pact she is unable to defy.”
“—A pact.”
When the word made his eardrums tremble, Subaru felt his smoldering anger rekindled once more.
Pact, vow, covenant, promise—just how much, how far did these bind one’s heart?
“Her staying in the mansion…in the archive of forbidden books, was all due to a pact, I heard? What kind of pact did you two form…?”
“You misunderstand, Subaru. No pact has been formed between Beatrice and me whatsoever.”
“…What?”
To Subaru’s question, posed as he trembled with anger, Roswaal refuted with a sideways shake of his head. Then, as Subaru stood dumbfounded, Roswaal touched the bandage wrapped around his chest as he said,
“I shall repeat myself. No pact-based relationship exists between Beatrice and me. She is under the same roof because our mutual interests coincide… Her pact to protect the archive of forbidden books was formed between her and a different individual.”
“Someone else…?! Then, who the heck was it!”
“It is best you ask her. That is a question for Beatrice herself. It is not for me to speak of.”
Roswaal’s reply, in contrast to Subaru’s rage, gradually caused the latter to lose its heat. Roswaal’s demeanor and reply made Subaru go “Shit!” as he strongly kicked the floor.
“This again! She tells me to ask you; you tell me to ask her! Stop making me run around in circles! I want to know the answer, damn it!”
“I have handed you the key so that you may arrive at your answer. All that remains is for you to place it into the keyhole and turn it. I shall not permit crudeness such as peeking into the box…rather, the archive, on the sly.”
Unexpectedly, Roswaal asserted his own view in a most straightforward manner.
Clenching his teeth at the obstinate stance, Subaru forced his resentment down to the bottom of his belly.
“…Based on the state of affairs up to yesterday, Lady Emilia should finally be exiting the tomb…regardless of her success or failure. So what shaaaall you do?”
Perhaps he’d consciously put a lid on it up to that point, but now, Roswaal spoke in a blatantly jester-like tone.
It annoyed Subaru, but he had a point. Timewise, he was right on the edge, a half day left until the deadline when the mansion would be attacked. Any longer, and he wouldn’t make it even with Patlash running full-speed.
The forces available for repelling the calamity of the twin raiders consisted of Frederica back at the mansion, Otto and Subaru set to return to it, and if they added Ram—
“…Is it true that Beatrice will go along with what you said just now?”
“I made a vow that I would speak no lie. At the very least, it is what I believe.”
“If it doesn’t work, I don’t care what anyone says, I’m punching you in the side of your face. Remember that.”
For once Subaru’s one-sided promise made Roswaal’s eyes go round. Of course, if Subaru failed, his life was forfeited. It was a promise that would be gone the next time around.
But Subaru would remember. That was what he was declaring, then and there.
“Understood. Do as you like. Should you and Beatrice pair together, it shall likely be of great aid for the issues enveloping the Sanctuary as well.”
“Don’t lay deep stuff like that on me when I’m leaving. Not like you plan on talking anymore either way.”
“Surely you can allooooow me this much— After all, it seems I am not up to the task.”
Averting his gaze, the tone of Roswaal’s voice fell slightly as he whispered. When Subaru, unable to clearly make out the latter half, prompted him with “What was that?” he shrugged his shoulders.
“I was speaking to myself. Ah, please set your reluctance aside. If you fail due to being late, you cannot fulfill your promise to punch me?”
“…Roswaal, let me ask you one last thing.”
“—Please do.”
Subaru refused to go along with the jesting demeanor, straightening his back as he stared right at Roswaal. Receiving that sharp gaze, Roswaal beheld Subaru in his differently colored eyes.
Beholding Roswaal in return, Subaru posed the final question of the evening.
“You’re not…our enemy or anything, are you, Roswaal?”
“ ? ”
After a pause, Roswaal answered…
“Of course not— You are all…my allies.”
4
With the secret talks concluded, Subaru headed for a rendezvous point outside the Sanctuary.
There, the arrangement was for Subaru to meet Otto and Ram, with Patlash in tow, other preparations for his escape already at an end. Sometimes sneakily, sometimes boldly, Subaru hurried along his path.
“ Haaa … Shit, my side hurts…”
However, it was a stretch to say Subaru’s hurried gait was in good form.
His three-day imprisonment was the cause. Both the environment and the food were poor, leaving his debilitated body more weakened than he had thought. But he’d save his sob stories for later. If he returned to the mansion, a far harsher situation awaited him.
“Even if it’s as Roswaal said…”
Even if Beatrice responded to Subaru’s call, it was incalculable whether she could truly oppose Elsa and company. Either way, Subaru’s duty wouldn’t come to an end just by getting back to the mansion. If anything, there he could finally begin to fight.
“ ? ”
When he looked at his right wrist, there was a handkerchief tightly tied to it. Never having been removed during his confinement, the handkerchief had been blackened, and the fraying and bloodstains really stood out. Even so, his promise to return it remained unblemished. Strength surged within him. Once again, the effect of that promise lent him strength.
“…Just from that.”
Even as pacts and vows rubbed his mind the wrong way, Subaru’s own promise was a pillar of strength to him.
According to the talk with Roswaal, Beatrice was bound by her own pact. To her, not a human but a spirit, a pact likely held far stronger, weightier meaning than it did to Subaru—
“What the hell are ‘pacts’ to me anyway…”
The various promises that had reached Subaru’s ears to date rose in the back of his mind: the pact between Emilia and Puck, the pact binding Beatrice to the archive of forbidden books, the vow Roswaal had made that very evening, the Covenant between the Kingdom of Lugunica and the Dragon, the promise between Subaru and Petra—
And what Subaru had said to Rem, and what Rem had cast upon Subaru like a curse—
“—Mr. Natsuki!”
The voice hurled at him from the side brought Subaru, running like a madman, to a halt.
When he looked over, out of breath, Otto was waving him over, and Ram was standing beside him. Apparently, he’d gone past the rendezvous point while astray in his own thoughts.
Wiping off his sweat, he headed over to them, and between them was Patlash, too, with luggage on her back. When Subaru saw that preparations were already in order, he let out a long breath.
“What is wrong? When I thought, he’s finally here , I was concerned when you ran right past us.”
“…S-sorry. A lot on my mind. My bad.”
“Barusu not playing mischief upon Otto? It is worse than I feared.”
“I would like to object to the basis of that judgment!”
When Subaru linked up with them, the pair greeted him in their usual manner. But with no time to spare, Subaru did not play along, which made both knit their brows in suspicion.
“You were speaking with Master Roswaal, were you not? Why, then, is your face so clouded?”
“Can you quit it with the assumption everyone’s happy to talk to Roswaal…?”
“But you are making a rather dissatisfied face. You resolved to meet with the Marquis in spite of the danger. Can you please stop acting as if nothing was gained?”
“There was a lot gained. There was, but…”
Is what I dug up a good thing? he pondered belatedly. But when he thought about it, there had been gains, too.
Of course, one was the possibility of breaking open the stalemate. Now that he had gained a countermeasure plan, Subaru wouldn’t have to face giving up without being able to accomplish anything like the last time around.
He might be able to prevent the calamity at the mansion, rescue Rem and Petra, and even fulfill his goal of improving relations with Beatrice. And yet—
“…Why does my chest feel this queasy?”
If he made an ally out of Beatrice and saved Frederica, they could deal with the Sanctuary’s issues, too. If she exposed the mastermind behind her actions, all they had to do was beat the Trial to take care of the other problems.
“The logic’s sound. So why am I…”
“Sorry to interrupt when you are so troubled, but time is an issue. We cannot wait any longer.”
Mercilessly, Otto sliced Subaru’s indecision apart. His judgment was heartless, but his words were correct. Subaru hesitating at that juncture wouldn’t resolve anything.
Everything else hinged on first slipping out of the Sanctuary and returning to the mansion.
“Bringing the dragon carriage would attract too much attention. This means I shall be riding Patlash with you, Mr. Natsuki. You do not mind?”
“It’ll be real bad for you if you stay, so no obje…ah, wait.”
When Otto was ready to beckon Patlash by hand to adopt a mounting posture, Subaru made him wait. Then, when Subaru looked behind him, Ram, standing right there, asked “What?” as she narrowed her eyes.
“When we get out of the Sanctuary, we’re heading straight for the mansion. We can’t leave Frederica as things are. But Otto and I aren’t really…”
“You’re really lacking in combat capacity— In other words, you want Ram with you?”
“I talked to Roswaal about it. He said you’d come…which is very reassuring.”
If he managed to persuade Beatrice, and Frederica lent him her strength, and he added Ram on top of that, Subaru was fairly confident that would be the maximum possible fighting strength he could prepare.
When Subaru made his request, portraying it as the best option, Ram fell into thought briefly, immediately exhaling.
“It cannot be helped.”
“You’re sure?”
“Master Roswaal did command me to aid Barusu.”
Her acceptance, far easier gained than he had expected, bewildered Subaru all the more for it. But Ram folded her arms. “However,” she said, continuing, “I am fine with going with you, but how? With Ram, that makes three people for one land dragon.”
“…Ah…”
“Even if Barusu and Otto are only half a man in human terms, your physical weight is that of full men. Even for a land dragon, it is difficult to carry three people.”
“You called me half a man?!”
Ignoring Otto’s lament, Subaru clutched his head, seeing that Ram’s view was sound.
He hadn’t thought about the physical means. Given Ram’s light body weight, adding her probably meant Patlash could still run with ease, but in that case, the way they’d be riding was—
“Considering safety, it’d be a Ram Sandwich between me and Otto…then?”
“Incidentally, there is also the option of one of us running rather than riding.”
“In that case, considering fatigue and physical endurance, it’d definitely have to be Otto…”
The choice would make for a particularly tragic scene. Of course, Otto vociferously would protest—Subaru heard no such voice. Finding this quite unnatural, Subaru and Ram gave him a suspicious look.
Receiving the pair’s gazes, Otto’s cheeks were hard as he glared in the direction of the next day’s sun.
At the end of his gaze, there was the bonfire that illuminated the settlement—
“—Ain’t you all havin’ a nice lil’ stroll ’n’ chat. Why don’t ya include me after I’ve come all this way?”
An orange-hued figure walked between them and the flickering red flames.
—A figure audibly clenching his sharp fangs, a smile coming over him, as a ferocious, ghastly aura emanated from him.
“ ? ”
Instantly, Patlash let out a low growl, her anger toward the figure clear. The sight of the proud land dragon preparing for battle deepened the figure’s smile, his delight deepening still.
“Ha! Got whipped that much and not even a flinch. Fine woman, that land dragon. It’s that whole ‘The more she shines, the farther she is from Magrizza’ thing.”
“Garfiel…”
Subaru wrung out the word as the appearance of the figure—of Garfiel—made his body tremble.
Why was he there? Such a basic question clawed at his trembling heart.
The sight of him , the direct cause of his confinement, made him remember the darkness of those three days. The fear came back again, too. He touched his shoulders; he clenched his teeth; and driving back his terror, he lifted his head.
“…Right now, you’re on duty as a representative. Should you really be wasting time in a place like this?”
“Me, I’m the protector o’ these people of the Sanctuary. So if there’s someone threatenin’ ’em, of course I’m doin’ my real job. Ya never shook off the eyes of the Sanctuary.”
“The Sanctuary’s eyes…?”
“I’m sayin’ stuff comes right to me. So where the hell d’ya think yer goin’, huh?”
Crinkling his nose, Garfiel asked Subaru what he was up to. Subaru hesitated to give the question a straight answer. But—
“—From here, we are getting Barusu out of the Sanctuary. Having him here is as much trouble for you as for us, so is this not more convenient for you, Garf?”
“…Ram.”
“I shall say it once: this is your mess, Garf. Enough that I would appreciate hearing thanks for cleaning it up in your place.”
Puffing up her chest, Ram provocatively conveyed the plan to Garfiel. For an instant, Subaru felt that was a very dangerous posture, but he held his tongue, judging that she’d probably chosen correctly.
Ram’s point of view was correct. Surely, Garfiel, too, understood that Subaru’s presence in the Sanctuary could only lead to an explosion. Getting him outside without an explosion was therefore a good plan.
Accordingly, Garfiel plucked at his own head in annoyance and responded.
“So ya see right through me, huh. Not a cute woman. Well, nothin’ wrong with that…”
“…Meaning, you’re considering letting us go?”
The words spat out along with a sigh made Subaru’s eyes widen as he saw a glimmer of hope. The way he took that made Garfiel go “Aa?” with a sullen growl.
“Ya don’t just smell o’ the Witch, ya smell of trouble. Me, I do get why leavin’ ya here ain’t convenient. But put another way, I gotta consider ‘Hoshin was Banan’s setting sun’.”
“Is that so? Another mystery phrase that doesn’t make sense to me, but what you’re getting at is…”
Erasing the fact of his imprisonment aligned with their mutual interests on that single point alone. But when Subaru was relieved, taking Garfiel’s words as a statement that he’d let them go—the other two, stepped to the fore, interrupting his thoughts.
“Wh-what’s with you two…?”
“I suppose your poor education means you do not understand, Barusu.”
“‘Hoshin was Banan’s setting sun’ refers to an anecdote about the legendary trader Hoshin bringing the small nation of Banan to ruin— It refers to giving the opponent two choices: surrender or face all-out attack.”
“Surrender or face all-out attack… You don’t mean!”
Along with the pair’s statements, the vivid guardedness from Ram and Otto brought an abrupt change in Subaru’s expression. Seeing this, Garfiel folded his arms, loudly cracking the bones of his neck.
Then, he bared his sharp fangs, militancy gleaming from his jade eyes.
“Garf! What’s the meaning of this? Are you too stupid to understand the meaning of Ram’s words?”
“Ya better watch how ya say that stuff, Ram. I might be in love with ya, but that don’t mean I won’t twist yer arm. Look, just get ’im back to where he was before, ’kay?”
“M-man, you really want me in a cell. Maybe this sounds like begging for my life, but I really am a coward. Me being here is nothing but bad news, and letting me go is going for the low, low price of free, so shouldn’t we aim for that?”
“‘Confusing price for bargain brings ruin.’ That was one of Hoshin’s sayings, too.”
Saying something similar to there is nothing more expensive than something offered for free , Garfiel refuted and rejected his proposal. He couldn’t understand the obstinate posture. For what reason was Garfiel so obsessed with Subaru?
“Me, I can’t let a shady guy like you outside. Better ya stay inside with me, the strongest guy around.”
“That decision might court Master Roswaal’s displeasure. After all, to Master Roswaal, Subaru is—”
Cutting off her words there, Ram suggestively glanced sidelong at Subaru. Subaru, ignorant of the gaze’s meaning, was perplexed, whereupon Ram looked back at Garfiel and carried on.
“A useless servant… It is best to discard him, yes.”
“I’m pretty amazed you can say that in this situation, Big Sis…”
The way Ram was covering for him before abandoning him midway made Subaru forget his situation as it depleted his morale. However, the target of the statement took it in a completely different way.
“Worsen Roswaal’s mood…?”
“ ? ”
That instant, Subaru’s entire body went tense, feeling goosebumps all over his flesh. When he looked at them, Ram and Otto’s cheeks had hardened as well, eyes looking forward, warily watching as Garfiel stood before them.
“And just how much is that bastard thinkin’ of here and of the old women? He ain’t. That bastard only thinks of himself! Ram! Even you know that!”
“Garf, Master Roswaal…”
“Shaddap, shaddap, shaddap! The hell do you know about the bastard! Last warning! Hand him over! I’m gonna tie him up, and you two are gonna shut up and wait—”
Flying into a rage, Garfiel had no ears with which to hear as he unleashed an angry shout. His ferocious fighting spirit proceeded to surge upward, and along with it, Subaru sensed Garfiel’s very flesh growing all at once.
But that instant, as if on reflex, the situation broke into motion.
“—Miss Ram!”
“Go!!”
“Whaaa?!”
The same time as Subaru heard the hard-pressed voices, an arm wrapped around Subaru’s body. It was Otto’s. Without asking permission, he hoisted Subaru right up.
“Patlash—?!”
Patlash ferociously broke into a run, practically scooping Subaru and Otto up onto her back.
With Subaru’s eyes wide open from the unexpected turn of events, Otto paid no heed to him, gripping the reins—and Patlash, squatting to raise her speed, darted out of the night-shrouded settlement.
“Damn it, ya lil’ minion—!!”
“You have no time to be distracted, Garf!”
“—!! Won’t let ya get in the way of my vow!!”
The voice, bellowing with anger, was snuffed out by the howling gale.
Subaru sensed the two forces powerfully exploding, bouncing off one another, but his mind couldn’t catch up. Right next to him, cheeks hard, Otto kept hold of his torso, nothing more. He raised his voice.
“W-wait, Otto! Why leave Ram in a place like that?!”
“Any longer and you would be in peril! This is my and Miss Ram’s decision!”
Shouting back in an angry voice, Subaru gritted his teeth as he squinted behind him. The bonfire had been bowled over, rendering his vision vague. But he could hear angry voices mixed with the sound of ferociously whipping wind.
Considering fighting strengths, it was the best choice for holding off a Garfiel turned hostile. But the logical issue wasn’t something his emotions were capable of endorsing.
“—!!!”
His brain was tied into knots from doubts and confusion when a sharp, high-pitched sound slammed into his eardrums.
The source of the sound was very close; in tangible terms, from Otto through his own fingers. The high-pitched sound reverberated throughout the night-shrouded Sanctuary, only to echo twice and then a third time.
“Is that finger-whistling some kind of signal?!”
“…It is a means I had rather hoped not to employ. I would rather have done without.”
“Don’t say deeply suggestive stuff like that! Ram’s still there; any more chaos and…”
Colluding with Patlash, Otto had contrived to escape without Subaru’s input. Though he wondered what Otto was still hiding, Subaru, his voice ragged, immediately realized just what it was.
“—Aa”
It was not to the back but the fore that one light after another was lit along the sprinting land dragon’s path.
These were not the red lights of torches but the white lights of crystal lanterns. They were guiding lights, showing the way through the Lost Forest.
And the people carrying those guiding lights amid the darkness were—
“The people of Earlham Village…”
“—I told you. We have reassuring sympathizers!”
The blow from the words spoken by Otto made Subaru’s chest tighten.
Sympathizers , this was what Otto was calling the people lending a hand to help Subaru. Subaru had thought that Ram was that sympathizer, and that it was Ram alone offering her aid.
“—Master Subaru! Please be safe!”
The instant he passed one of the lights, the man holding the crystal lantern raised his voice. Naturally, it was a familiar face. It was one of the villagers at the Cathedral, who was yearning to be reunited with his family and placing his hope in Emilia breaking through the Trial.
He wasn’t the only one cooperating by any means. The settlement, the forest, held as many allies as it held lights.
“You said if they knew, they’d explode…”
“And as a matter of fact, they did! So they had me keep quiet to you about it! With Mr. Natsuki escaping, they did not wish to become shackles!”
“ ? ”
He couldn’t tell what it meant. Otto’s shout, the villagers’ consideration…he couldn’t tell what any of it meant.
Why were they doing such a thing? Shackles, who, on whom? There were countless lights floating amid the darkness.
“ ? !”
Patlash made a short neigh, seemingly to display respect for the devoted villagers that had made the path of light.
Even Patlash, who knew the correct path through the Lost Woods, had no guarantee of not being swallowed by the darkness. The white light wiped away that uncertainty, and as she followed it, the land dragon’s speed gradually outstripped that of the wind.
“This way! Farther in, Master Subaru!”
“Mr. Otto, take good care of Master Subaru!”
“Please stop trying to die before us elderly folks, Master Subaru…!”
Both bodies and hearts were crouched as many, so many, voices were tossed in Subaru’s direction. The voices reverberated as the villagers desperately, earnestly, wholeheartedly called out Subaru’s name.
“Why are you all doing something as stupid as…”
“That is not very convincing coming from you, Master Subaru!”
Unable to put the emotions filling him in order, the near-lament Subaru let out brought pained smiles. When he looked up, straight ahead was a large, distinctive tree—with multiple villagers standing at its roots.
“Go straight from here and you’ll cut straight through the barrier! Then you can get away!”
“And you all?!”
“We’ll slow down the pursuit! Why, giving Master Subaru time to get away is the least we can do…”
The figures numbered five, a group of male youths. The five men were poorly equipped, but even so, they had decided to hold Garfiel off for as many seconds they could with stubbornness and guts.
In staying behind, Ram had probably calculated along the same lines as they—
“ ? !!!!!”
A roar bellowed across the forest, and the next instant, Subaru was swallowed up by a ferocious shockwave.
5
“—. ? . ? aa”
Ting, went the ringing in his ears. Subaru slowly opened his eyes.
The instant they opened, his head heavily swayed. He’d fallen to the ground. And yet, his semicircular canals had lost track of the world, and he kept rocking right and left, as if swaying on top of a wave.
The world was covered in a dense cloud of dirt. With a heave, something flowed backward from his stomach. It was liquefied food, water, and stomach fluid. It tasted bitter and acidic. He wiped it with his sleeve, laid his head down, and…
“—Aa”
In the world inclined at ninety degrees, he saw a hole gouged out of the ground, a great broken tree, and a crouching figure.
—Subaru saw a single giant tiger covered in golden fur.
“ ? ”
The ferocious tiger’s body was crouched low. Its jade eyes were looking down at the fallen Subaru.
Its body length was about twelve feet long, far larger than the tigers Subaru knew.
Its four legs were very thick, and its closed mouth could not contain all the fangs growing therein.
At a glance, the visual broadcast the menace that the tiger’s very presence presented.
“…uu”
The blow, the circumstances, made him think of something very similar he’d recently experienced amid the tragedy at the mansion the last time around—when he’d lost Petra to the attack of a demon beast.
“ ? ”
Desperately pivoting his head, Subaru turned his eyes to the area around him. At the base of the broken tree lay the young men, sent flying from the shockwave. From very close, he heard Otto’s groaning voice; he sensed Patlash, too.
Everyone was alive, if only barely. They hadn’t been allowed to die. After all, their opponent was—
“Gar, fi…el…”
A distinctive loincloth was still tied around the lower half of his enormous frame. He immediately realized that this was one and the same as that Garfiel wore around his hips. The sight of Frederica’s beast form was in the back of his mind. Simultaneously, the truth of the blood connection between her and Garfiel was laid thoroughly bare.
—The ferocious tiger before him was the transfigured Garfiel.
In a matter of seconds, Garfiel had broken past Ram, ferociously chasing Subaru and Otto down. As for how much combat strength his bestialized form possessed, all Subaru knew for certain was that no one could help him.
It was over, he thought. He could escape no further. But he was strongly determined about one thing alone.
“I’ll do as you, say…but just don’t…”
Don’t hurt anyone else. Don’t kill anyone else—he declared, just not that .
Frederica had proven that however ferocious a bestial form appeared, it was still possible to think logically in that state. He knew Garfiel, having exposed that form to them, was serious. However, Subaru was serious, too.
Even if he had to return to that darkness, he didn’t want anyone else to get hurt.
—This, from Subaru Natsuki, who could fairly say he feared that darkness more than death.
“ ? ”
Without a word, he sat up and rose to his feet. The large tiger received his gaze, equally wordless.
The tiger simply stared and narrowed the distance. Subaru swallowed, close enough to feel the breath coming from the beast’s snout. He proceeded to await Garfiel’s decision, for him to release the transfiguration and return to his normal fo—
“—Eh?”
Gently, the world slowed down. In that extreme situation, his brain awakened, moving beyond the limits of comprehension.
In that sluggish world, he saw the ferocious tiger raise a front paw high, unleashing its razor-sharp claws. Even if he tried to immediately move his body, the thoughts of his awakened brain would have no effect upon his body.
The talons sharper than naked blades would lethally mow Subaru’s torso apart—
“—You big idiot!!”
The loud voice slammed into his side, and simultaneously, a blow sent Subaru flying.
Before his eyes, crimson scattered. The world was still in slow motion. Red blood mixed in with the black of night, and a silhouette cried out in agony as it fell. The silhouette that had shielded Subaru, Otto Suwen…fell.
The claw gouged out his chest and abdomen, sending blood gushing out onto Subaru’s cheek.
“Wha…”
Wound. Fresh blood. Shielded. Great tiger, surrender, darkness. Garfiel, Otto, talons, Return by Death, Petra, transfiguration, demands, why, why, whywhywhy—
“Gaaaarfiiiiellll—!!”
Subaru, howling with the emotions exploding in his gut, witnessed the ferocious tiger’s wicked deed with bloodshot eyes.
His brain seethed with ferocious emotion, fury changing the blood in his body to gasoline. Coursing through his entire body, they poured onto the fires of his rage, causing a chain reaction of hot explosions burning his thoughts, his emotions, and his life away.
He shouted, he howled, in an incoherent voice. That moment, there was only anger and hatred within him. He wanted to burn the monster before his eyes to cinders. If anger and hatred became power, he would have ripped the monster asunder.
“ ? !!!!”
But his voice was not imbued with the power to change fate.
Subaru’s scream was blotted out by an even greater roar, and it seemed he would be the one to be killed instead. In fact, the voice accompanied the ferocious tiger raising an arm, slamming down with a blow identical to the one launched at Otto.
It would penetrate his skull, rip out his rib cage, gouge out his inner organs, and with it, his life—he would die a squishy death.
“ ? ”
He closed his eyes. With impending death before his eyes, Subaru swore to make him pay in the next world. He would get revenge. The flames of his anger would not abate. I’ll chew you to pieces.
Carving hatred upon his soul, Subaru awaited the moment. And yet, the surely approaching end failed to arrive. The timing of his death had been thrown off. Why? He opened his eyes, glaring at the great tiger.
The ferocious tiger remained right there, arm still raised. The single point of difference was that the beast’s jade eyes were aimed not at Subaru but off to the side.
Subaru followed that gaze. Something was flying in from the end of that gaze, striking the ferocious tiger’s head. Making a light sound, something fell to the ground and rolled around. It was a completely unremarkable rock.
The thrower of the rock was one of the young men of the village, blood flowing from his forehead as he wobbled to his feet.
“Get away from…Master Subaru, you, filthy monster…”
Wringing out his voice, groaning in pain, the young man strongly demonstrated his own intent.
It was clumsy, weak, ephemeral resistance against a ferocious beast he could not defeat. The other young men stood up, picking up the rocks and branches at their own feet, wielding them as weapons.
“H…ey…”
What do you think you’re doing? he tried to say, to halt their recklessness.
Where do you think you’re looking? he tried to say, slamming his deep resentment into the ferocious tiger.
He didn’t understand— But it was so simple to imagine the result that would follow, even a child could do it.
“ ? ”
The ferocious tiger swung his claw, and fresh blood gushed. This continued a second and a third time.
There was the agonizing sound of death cries, the watery sound of the sharp gouging of flesh, the scream enough to ruin Subaru’s throat—
Why. Why. Whywhywhywhy. Why.
“Whyyyyyy—!!!”
He grabbed hold of the beast before his eyes. He bit into its thick hide. It threw him off. The blow had taken his front teeth with it. His thought process was overheated. He spat out blood and teeth, and leaped again. The tail slammed him from the side, easily blowing him into the air, and he landed on the ground, limbs spread out.
It was no time to sleep on the job. Stand, stand, if anyone’s gonna die here, you die first.
“W—ait, up… If anyone dies, it should be me… Let the others…!”
If he was going to kill anyone, just kill Subaru first.
In the first place, Subaru had to be Garfiel’s target. There was no reason to take the lives of such gallant, kindhearted men. He categorically rejected that. There wasn’t any reason at all, and yet—
“—U, aa?”
As Subaru clenched his teeth and coughed out blood, his body was hoisted upward.
There were blood-ridden black scales right next to him—Patlash. The profuse volume of blood coursing from her was visible proof that she had shielded Subaru from the ferocious tiger’s initial attack. Her wounds were deep; she was half alive, half dead. Just like back at the mansion, Patlash was protecting Subaru even at the verge of death.
“That’s…enough… That’s enough. It’s enough, Patlash…”
He begged her to stop. As Subaru clung to her, the deeply benevolent land dragon rejected his plea.
As she took Subaru in her mouth, there was a powerful will residing in Patlash’s yellow eyes. With reserves of strength unthinkable for one near death, she rose on two legs.
To protect Subaru, to get him off the battlefield, the land dragon left behind those desperately fighting, ferociously breaking into a run once more.
“ ? ”
Don’t leave everyone behind, he tried to shout.
The instant he forced himself to look back, he saw the last person sent flying into pieces in the far distance. With a roar, the twin jade eyes swayed in the darkness, chasing after Subaru and the land dragon as they fled.
He was too fast. The distance was closing. Even if they ran, it was meaningless. Why was Patlash running?
“—Aa”
Putting strength into her jaws, Patlash’s head twisted as she hurled Subaru as hard as she could manage. She hurled him forward, to get him even a little farther away from the menace, putting every inch of devotion into the act.
Then, as Subaru danced in the air, he realized that there was something, a light, twinkling in his pocket.
“ ? ”
The crystal. Frederica’s crystal. The stone in his pocket was shimmering blue.
Instantly, he understood. Patlash hadn’t grabbed Subaru and run without a plan. She was sending Subaru as far as the barrier—to a place the menace of the ferocious tiger’s fangs, the menace of Garfiel, could not reach.
“Patlash!”
As the world spun around him, he sought her, called out her name. Miraculously, they exchanged gazes.
In her yellow, narrow, reptilian irises, he saw a glint of impossible compassion.
“ ? ”
The claw of the pursuing ferocious dragon slammed into the pitch-black land dragon’s side. Patlash was severed in two.
Without even raising a death cry, the loyal dragon perished, doing her utmost for Subaru until the very end.
“ ? ”
That was the same, too. It was completely the same result as at the mansion. His friends had died, his beloved dragon had died, his brain and his blood boiled.
He rolled onto the ground. A light glimmered. Had he gone past the barrier? Like he cared. The ferocious beast, the wild creature, rushed toward his eyes. It leaped, passing through the barrier, killing intent undiminished.
“ ? ”
There was a crash.
Instantly, light welled up, and Subaru Natsuki was bathed in blue.
—He had teleported.
6
When he regained consciousness, the first thing Subaru felt was a fiercely stimulating, repulsive stench.
“ ? ”
The foul stench, one that was impossible to forget, thrust itself into his nostrils.
The scent was like some kind of chemical. It made Subaru grimace as he sat up from the cold floor. He coughed as his body creaked with pain. Coughing more, he slowly put a hand on the wall and stood up.
The handkerchief on his wrist was grimy with dried blood and vomit. With that, he confirmed the passage of time and the fact he had not Returned by Death. He had not died. The world had continued after the tragedy.
—In the back of his mind, images arose of people felled by the claws of a ferocious tiger, one after another, and of his beloved dragon’s final moment.
“…Ugh.”
He had survived. For whatever reason, he had survived.
His chest was choked with remorse that made him want to die that very moment. Subaru resisted the impulse to sever his tongue with his teeth, putting his weight against the wall as he unsteadily walked forward.
The stench made it easy for Subaru to understand just what that place was.
Groping through his memories, dragging his feet, he grudgingly dragged himself forward, heading for the exit.
He was in the building in which he had been imprisoned. He didn’t know why he had made the jump to that place. But he instinctively understood that the crystal was the cause and that it had come in contact with the barrier.
“—!”
He grasped the crystal in his pocket and hurled it away. The stone made a light sound as it tumbled somewhere far away. The stone had no value any longer. Not in that world. Not then.
—It was a finished world. It was a world he had to bring to an end.
“ ? ”
Before granting himself death, he went to gaze at the world he had to bring to an end.
He had to take a good, hard look, drink it down, and smash it into dust.
After all, it was the duty of Subaru Natsuki to die when it was his time.
Straight ahead, the exit of the small building was near. The white wall his fingers were touching was so cold, it made them numb. The light filtering in from the outside made him narrow his eyes. During his time unconscious, night had ended, and morning had come.
It seemed that Garfiel had not realized he was there. Lazy bastard, thought Subaru, exhaling a white breath, walking outside when—
“—Ah?”
—The snow blanketing the world was a blow far beyond his expectations.
7
Comprehension and despair, layered atop one another, canceling each other out over and over.
—Subaru’s soul blazed, for the painting was a portrait of hell.
Subaru had meant to exhaust himself to the brink of death to overwrite such a scene. In point of fact, he had crossed death twice, something that surely put him in reach of the painting’s brush.
Little did he know that the instant he touched the brush, the details of the painting had morphed into a different hell.
“— Ha-ha .”
The wintery world made his breath a white cloud, and as he trod through the snow, Subaru put his hands on his seemingly gasping knees.
It had already been several hours since he had left the structure, walking aimlessly ever since. Subaru safely reaching the settlement the night before had been thanks to Otto leading the way via his blessing.
At present, he was without that, in the heart of the Lost Woods of Cremaldi—the landscape changed abruptly by the falling snow, with not a single thing to aid him present.
“Sh—it…!”
His endurance was depleted, the snowy landscape’s low temperature robbing his body of warmth. To prevent a drop in body temperature, even to a tiny extent, Subaru tied Petra’s handkerchief around his forehead before resuming his walk once more.
“My promise with Petra…”
The sun had risen high. There was no longer any way to prevent the tragedy from befalling the mansion.
He’d been unable to do anything. He hadn’t saved Petra or Frederica. Probably not Rem, either. Beatrice was still clutching that magic tome; Otto was dead; Patlash was dead; what had happened to Ram? Garfiel, Roswaal, what were they thinking? Emilia was—
“But I’ll…”
He’d take it all back. He’d redo everything. It was his duty to walk the path where everything was right.
Only Subaru could do it. It was something Subaru had to do.
For that reason, the memory of everything that had been lost had to continue in Subaru alone.
For that reason, the sacrifices paid for it had to continue on inside of Subaru.
For that reason, Subaru, and Subaru alone, had to pay a commensurate price.
He’d pay the commensurate price. He’d let the casualties pile up. And then, he’d bring everything back.
“ ? ”
The instant his responsibility to do what had to be done burned within him, the forest opened before Subaru’s eyes.
The landscape he thought would continue forever ended, and he rushed into the settlement, which was also buried in snow.
He wasn’t surprised. He was already resigned. There, a giant tiger would suddenly blot out his vision, as he died laughing with nothing but hatred burning within him. His heart had long frozen over.
However, contrary to his resignation, the ferocious tiger did not appear. No, rather than that—
“No one’s here…?”
The fallen bonfire had vanished in the snow. He couldn’t sense that anyone was present in the Sanctuary whatsoever.
He couldn’t pass it off saying it was a low-population settlement to begin with. It felt like an uninhabited wasteland.
Indeed, he couldn’t see even a single footstep on the accumulated white snow. There was no sign of anyone walking around.
“Snow fell… No one’s here…”
Touching a hand to his forehead, he dug his nails into his forehead as he began to doubt his own sanity.
The Sanctuary was filled with tranquility. There was no sign of human presence, nor the sound of any insect. From time to time, he heard only the sound of the leaves swaying in the wind, a change announced by the faint shift in his eardrums. He heard nothing in this world—
“—Aa?”
In that soundless world, that white-marred hell, he was taken back by a change within.
At first, Subaru sensed something like a white ball of wool tumbling in the wind. However, he immediately understood that it was no ball of wool at all. It rolled to Subaru’s feet, and there, made a tiny tremble. Then Subaru, eyes wide, realized it had two long ears protruding from it.
It had long ears, a soft white pelt, short legs, and two red eyes. With a tilt of its head, its mouth moved in unhurried fashion as it made a high-pitched kii .
“Rab…bit…?”
Subaru’s eyes beheld a rabbit and a particularly small one at that.
The rabbit was as small as Subaru’s closed fist, a creature no larger than a mouse. The long ears characteristic of a rabbit were fairly short and, combined with its round tail, all of the parts were in order, if at a very compact size.
In the Sanctuary, where insect, animal, land dragon, man, and all others had vanished in the snow, a rabbit had suddenly appeared.
“Why is a rabbit here…? …Should a rabbit be here?”
An inexhaustible supply of mysteries was born, and the crush of information made Subaru feel like even his brain wanted to retch. Was the rabbit at his feet a clue for learning what had happened in the Sanctuary?
Clinging to that thought, he stretched a hand toward the rabbit—
The next instant, from the wrist down, Subaru’s hand was ripped off.
“…Aeegh?”
Blood gushed out of the raggedly cut wound; his reddish-black arteries drooped downward. Perhaps the thin white threads pulled out were muscle fibers or nerves. Either way, the spectacle of human flesh being destroyed was particularly grotesque.
Such evasion of the reality of his lost hand prevailed for exactly two seconds—whereupon his brain was wrecked by the ferocious pain from another dimension.
“G, aah?! Uoaa! Aaa, gaggaaaa—!!!”
The world blazed white.
His mind, dominated by pain, had lost all pain ability to recognize pain reality. What pain had happened that pain he had to endure such pain ? What was the cause of pain ? What had pain happened? Why this pain ? Pain, painpainpain —
Agonizing further and further, he pressed his blood-spilling left wrist against the ground. Unwittingly, he bit into the snow, a seemingly meaningless mixture of ice and mud. He tasted the soil, crunched down the ice, and his vision whirled in search of what had happened— At his feet, the white ball of wool had red spots scattered over its pelt. It was moving its mouth.
It was chewing. Subaru could see his fingers hanging out of its moving little mouth. He understood. It had been eaten.
His hand had been eaten.
“G— Gaaaaa—!!”
An understanding he didn’t want to be aware of, a pain he didn’t want to feel; the agony dragged his spirit toward madness.
His mind was like stained glass as it cracked, shattering and turning into vestiges of fine sand.
“Gi—iihigiiii!!!”
And yet, pain had roused his shattered mind.
He felt a burning sensation in his calf. His eyes reeled from a stimulus like flesh and bone being mercilessly raked by a file. Reddish-black bubbles poured into the middle of his throat, causing him to convulse like a fish out of water. He didn’t faint. He couldn’t. The pain was too strong for that. The pain was too strong for that. The cruel pain forced his mind to remain awake.
Kii, kii, went the countless cries that his eardrums picked up.
The number of these high-pitched voices was vast, and he was surrounded by presences he couldn’t bother to count. His eyeballs were already derelict in their duty, having giving up on looking at his surroundings. That was a mercy.
He was glad it was only his ears still working. He could not have borne the sight.
“ ? ”
Fangs tore into his entire body. From the feeling of the fangs biting into him, he knew it was a horde.
He screamed. He rolled onto his back, sending his voice toward the heavens. That very moment, he sensed something furry enter his mouth, ripping out his tongue. His throat was violated, opening a path from his windpipe to his stomach, from which his viscera could be voraciously eaten. He was being chewed away.
Fangs invaded from his anus, crashing inside his body against those that had entered from the mouth. As if in a contest, they raced left and right to consume his inner organs, making mincemeat out of Subaru Natsuki.
He was alive. He was being eaten alive. He could feel his flesh being torn into fragments.
He wasn’t afraid. He couldn’t feel pain anymore. He didn’t even know where his mind was.
He was being eaten. He was being consumed. His left eye was eaten. His ears were gone. His inner organs had been torn away, and just then, the skin of his face was ripped off. A hole was opened in his skull, and fangs thrust into his brain—
—.
.
.
aa—.
8
His flesh…had been rebuilt.
The torn, consumed flesh of his cheeks, the ripped-off skin of his face, his bitten-apart skull, his chewed-away nerves, his lapped-up blood, and his fiendishly violated, ravenously consumed soul—were restored to their former state.
“—aa”
Blood passed into his fingertips, and Subaru’s entire body ferociously convulsed.
On the cold, hard floor, Subaru moaned as froth gushed out, his eyes rolling in every direction.
There was no pain. There was no sense of loss. His four limbs were connected to his torso, and his chest had all of the viscera required to sustain life. His flesh and blood had been returned to him. But what of the spirit that had been eaten apart?
Whose mind could return to the world of the sane, when the memory of being “devoured” was still fresh?
“B, b, b…!”
Subaru slammed his head against the ground as if he was having a seizure. His brain bounced back from the hard blow, making his brain shake. For a moment, the vestiges of having been chewed away eased. In search of this, he repeated the act.
—Why.
It was not his spirit or his flesh, but his soul, which refused to acknowledge reality.
With the most critical part of his decision-making systems refusing to reboot, Subaru Natsuki could not return.
But his soul repeated the word why over and over again, searching for an answer.
What had occurred? Just what had happened? Why had such a thing taken place? Why did it have to be that way? What was happening with him now? What to do? What should he do?
—Why, why, why, why, why .
No answer came forth. Before that vague thesis, not even a written problem, his soul simply broke into lament.
—Why! Why! Why!!
Drowning in reality, haunted by a nightmare, having lost sight of the path of life, all he could do was ask himself, “Why?”
For that was—
“—Once more, you have gained the qualifications.”
As Subaru made little trembles, he heard a whisper-like voice in his ear.
“I invite thee— Come to the Witches’ Tea Party.”
The next instant, the soul of Subaru Natsuki returned but moments before, was once again severed from reality.
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