CHAPTER 5
OTTO SUWEN
1
—To the young Otto Suwen, the world was a cradle straight out of hell.
“xxxxxxx” “ ? ” “***! ****—!!”
Unceasingly, twenty-four hours a day, Otto continued to hear incomprehensible voices.
Sometimes, they were weeping aloud; sometimes, they were crazed with anger; sometimes, they sounded like songs; sometimes, they sounded like death cries. Little by little, the voices forced Otto to be their audience.
No matter where he was in the world, the voices would not release the young Otto from their grip.
—How did everyone else live while taking such a noisy world for granted?
Such was the question Otto lived with in that hell, where he could not even hear the voices of the people next to him as he pleased.
When his parents picked him up, he could not hear whatever it is they said along with their smiles. No matter how deep the affection in their words, their voices were swallowed up by background noise, never reaching Otto’s comprehension.
The reason Otto had grown up without a smile, without anger, without tears, and with virtually nothing worthy of calling an emotion was because to Otto, everything happening on the outside sounded like the exact same thing.
His parents struggled to understand their son’s abnormality. They had him assessed by various healers, who strove mightily to ascertain the cause. But Otto’s abnormality was a listening deficiency because he was hearing too much—something utterly incomprehensible to those who did not possess his blessing.
Hence, it was only natural that his parents’ love shifted away from Otto and onto his older and younger brothers. Unlike Otto, his two siblings grew up without difficulty, thriving as they were raised with love for three.
He did not resent his parents or his siblings for this. One might say that he did not have enough concern for others to resent them, but even he was able to understand that his family had tried their best.
Even if he could not understand it in words, he was grateful—particularly to his older brother.
—If voices could not reach, perhaps he could express his thoughts through writing?
Realizing this, it was his older brother who began trying to read aloud to Otto. Taught by his brother, Otto began to learn the written word. However, learning proved exceptionally difficult.
After all, he could not use sound to comprehend the meaning of words. Even though Otto came to understand what individual words meant, it took ten times longer for him to learn than for a normal child as he spent day after day facing a desk.
Fortunately, this did not seem like suffering to him. Ironically, it was not because Otto was desensitized to hard work; to the young Otto, unable to live a normal life, study was a way to kill time.
“—Thank you for everything.”
Otto remembered the day when his parents broke down in tears at the page upon which he’d written his clumsy words of gratitude.
He couldn’t claim to have understood the emotion of gratitude . It was just that he was aware he was being treated in a way he ought to be grateful for, so it was his youthful judgment to put together an obligatory display of gratitude. And yet, his parents were brought to tears, their hearts shaken.
What was this? Why were these two people crying? What was it they were feeling?
—When he raised his voice and cried, it might well have been the first time he had cried since birth.
If so, to Otto, it was the cry of his second birth.
“Berukubikinodomesaesere” “NRTMKMEEIAA” “mi—mi—mu—me—mi—”
It was soon after that he discovered that the hellish, incomprehensible chorus did have a rhyme and rhythm.
By the time Otto became able to separate the countless noises he heard unceasingly and could completely able to isolate human words from the rest at will, Otto had greeted his eighth year of age.
Otto’s life was still behind that of others of his age group, but his growth after conquering his blessing dazzled the eyes; he greedily absorbed all kinds of things like how parched sand absorbed water. He soon caught up to the rest of his age group—nay, the youthful Otto displayed talent beyond that.
—And he became isolated from that age group, grandly failing at human relations.
“Why does everyone take living in a difficult world like this for granted?”
He’d already made up for his supposedly lagging education. However, his problem was now human relations—Otto, who lagged behind his age group in terms of growth as a person, made a string of blunders that should have played out in early childhood.
And the biggest problem of all was indeed the blessing that had shadowed Otto since birth.
“There was a big light.” “I came, I saw, I won.” “Hey, a monster’s coming.”
When he reached ten years of age, Otto realized there was a change in the voices he was consciously filtering. Noises that had once been meaningless had changed into something that did hold meaning. And as he verified the change in the voices more and more, Otto learned he bore a blessing, and so, too, he learned the true nature of the hell of his youth.
Having discovered the existence of his blessing, Otto immediately spoke to his older brother about this power. When anything happened, his older brother, who had taught words to the young Otto, had become the one he could most rely on for guidance.
“Mm, I see. Mm…well, you see. Otto, this power, mm, it’s amazing. Because I think it’s amazing…you, ah, see. You really need to stop speaking to Zodda bugs where people can see.”
When Otto revealed his blessing, his older brother’s face went pale as he earnestly spoke those words of advice.
I see went Otto, greatly appreciative. A blessing was a boon from the world, but there were people in this world that might use such a power for evil purposes. As expected of his older brother, his words of advice, spoken to protect him from such malice in the world, were right on target.
—It was three days later when Otto’s blessing was exposed to those around him, making him hated by all others his age.
The trigger was his little brother seeing him secretly conversing with the family land dragon. Seeing no other option, Otto spoke to his younger brother about the blessing, whereupon his brother carelessly let word slip to a friend of his.
Boys and girls gathered around. To prove that his younger brother was not a liar, Otto had no option but to prove that the blessing’s power was real. To illustrate this, he called over every Zodda bug in the city.
—In a single instant, the name of the Zodda bug bastard who could not read the mood spread far and wide.
Thereafter, Otto concealed his blessing, determined never to make use of it again. Over the course of several years, he covered up his foul reputation, succeeding at erasing the abominable darkness in his past by the time he reached the tender age of fourteen.
—And during the wet season of his fifteenth year, Otto made an enemy of the daughter of a powerful figure in his city and was exiled from his homeland.
The extremely short version of the circumstances was this: He had become entangled in a love-hate drama between a man and a woman.
On the night of a birthday party for the girl in question, her lover hurled angry shouts into Otto’s house over her being with another man—along with insults of You Zodda bug bastard!!
Accused of a crime he did not remember committing, with his dark past dredged up at that, Otto lost his presence of mind.
Accordingly, Otto released the seal, seeking the cooperation of the living creatures in the city so that he might clear himself of suspicion. And having established that on the night in question, the aforementioned girl had actually fooled around with seven other men, he stated loud and clear to the poor man, It seems you were the eighth!
On top of being punched by the man, he was targeted by an assassin hired by the girl for his exposing her relations with the opposite sex. Otto finally abandoned his homeland, and his father used his connections to get a merchant who was a friend of his to hire Otto.
After training under that man, he was sixteen when he set off as a traveling merchant—this marked the start of Otto Suwen standing as his own man.
His subsequent journey as a traveling merchant was truly a chronicle of one hardship after another.
It seemed Otto was born under a star with a great love of calamity and misfortune. If he hauled fruit, foul weather would come calling; if he took a shortcut through the mountains, bandits would attack him; if he camped with other traveling merchants, he and he alone would suffer insect stings all over his body.
Even as such days of misfortune befell him, Otto had managed to live on without going bankrupt because he was blessed with mercantile talent as great as his luck was poor. Even when making great gambles, he rarely lost, and while maintaining that noxious balance, four years as a merchant passed in the blink of an eye.
“Lad, go get some sleep already.”
Such were the nighttime exchanges Otto had with his Fulfew, his beloved dragon and only traveling companion.
It had been five years since he had been exiled from home. Fulfew’s presence loomed large in keeping Otto from returning home with a broken heart. Since it was the land dragon, Fulfew, who had been the trigger for his blessing being exposed to his little brother, they had, in truth, been a pair for the last ten years.
“If you don’t, it’ll hold you back. You have a large deal to make tomorrow, yes?”
Fulfew’s considerate words made Otto nod with a smile. Otto was certain the big job waiting for him the next day would turn his fortunes as a merchant around.
And so, the momentous day came. —He’d been completely had and laden with a vast debt to boot.
The oil he’d hoarded became unsellable; in contrast, the metal wares he’d relinquished had precipitously climbed in value. Having misread the market trends, Otto knew his life as a merchant had fallen into grave peril.
If he did not turn things around in a single blow, he would inevitably have to let Fulfew go. Not only that—it was even possible he would be forced to return to his birth family in tears.
To Otto, that was something that had to be averted at all costs.
Otto loved his birth family. He was aware of their love for him. And so, too, was he aware that his younger self had brought his birth family trouble over and over.
In that span of a decade and a half, Otto had already caused his family an entire lifetime’s worth of trouble. He needed to use the remainder of his life to make up for those fifteen years.
He would properly pay his debts in full. After all, Otto Suwen was a merchant’s son.
—When an acquaintance told him of a lucrative offer, Otto immediately raced toward it.
The contract was not to secure merchandise, but to use his dragon carriage as transport. Otto hastened to arrive before anyone else. “ Lad, stop this already ,” said Fulfew, but he would not listen, employing his blessing to make a beeline to his destination. And then—
“My, my, my…where are you going in ssssuch a hurry?”
—And then, he landed in quite a mess.
Captured by a group with strange looks in their eyes, Otto firmly believed that his misfortune had reached its zenith. Separated from Fulfew, Otto was rolled up in a mat in a cold cave, despairing amid its tranquility.
Despair. Yes, he despaired. For the first time in his life, Otto despaired.
After all, at the time, the power of Otto’s blessing had completely abandoned him. He rested his hopes on his blessing, seeking the aid of living creatures in the forest and the cave so that he might search for a way to escape, intending to use that nostalgic hell to find a way out.
—But in that place, he could not hear a single word of the hellish chorus he had found so irritating.
It was an overwhelming quiet of a sort he had never before tasted. In that silence, Otto, resigned to hell, found out what hell truly was. It was then that he understood that true silence was the sound made by the footsteps of impending death.
This is the end , he thought. Strength drained from his limbs, and light vanished from his eyes. Without having accomplished a single thing, he would pathetically meet his end in a cold cave. —And then, that despair suddenly came to an end.
“The hell? Thought them Witch Cultists were indiscriminate! They playin’ around or somethin’?!”
A great voice echoed through the cave, bringing Otto, on the edge of oblivion, back to reality.
Lifting his face, he called out for aid with a raspy voice. The one who heard this and emerged was a large-framed dog-man who spoke in the Kararagi dialect.
“Bro, ya got some good luck! If we hadn’t come ’ere, those guys would’ve killed ya for sure! Ya better give our boy general a big ol’ thanks!”
“B-boy general…?”
“Our commandin’ officer’s still a kid, so boy general! And your savior, bro!”
“R-right…u-understood. Thank you very much. Then, I must also offer my…”
Thanks to that person , Otto was about to say, but when he lifted his face, he realized.
The dog-man before his eyes had a look of surprise trained toward Otto. Without Otto understanding what the reaction meant, the dog-man pulled a white hand towel from his pocket and tossed it over.
“Hey, if ya gonna cry, cry where people can’t see. A man can’t be cryin’ in front of people.”
“Er, erm…c-cry?”
“Tears are what ya use to clean yer heart! They say that in Kararagi a lot. Gah-ha-ha-ha-hah!”
That was all the dog-man said before turning his back to Otto out of consideration. Clueless, Otto touched the towel he had received to his own face—it was then that he finally became aware of his tears.
His tears were trickling, falling out. The instant he became aware of that, their force began to increase all at once.
“Ah, da…wh-what—why is…why is…!”
Otto pressed the hand towel to his face, desperately resisting the ceaseless torrent of tears.
He did not know why they poured out. —No, this was untrue. He actually knew.
“I-I’m glad to…b-be alive…!”
He still hadn’t accomplished anything. Otto had nearly met his end without even having found meaning to his birth.
Surviving like that had made him able to appreciate that.
—Otto felt that, as his tears flowed, his life was being reborn.
He had cried for the first time on the day he was born into the world.
He had cried for the second time on the day he learned the love his family had for him, discovering his own heart.
And on that day, he cried for the third time, for his brush with despair and death had taught him the meaning of the goal called living .
—On that day, Otto Suwen cried for the first time all over again.
2
“—Not that he really asked me to buy time for him like this.”
Otto made a pained smile as he kicked the surface of the ground, exerting himself in physical labor for which he was not suited.
He would have liked to forget the unsightly memories of him bawling his eyes out, but unfortunately, his memories of crying were all precious to him, so he could not forget them if he tried.
At the time, the beast man named Ricardo, who had saved him, had kept Otto’s bawling secret, not telling a soul. That debt was one he had to repay someday in full.
And—
“A debt must always be repaid. —I am a merchant, after all.”
—So, too, the debt to the boy general who had saved his life.
Otto Suwen had a debt he had to repay to Subaru Natsuki as well.
He would make up for that obligation by wagering the life that Subaru had saved.
As a merchant, seeking to repay all his debts was only natural. And more importantly—
“—It’s for my friend, after all!!”
As a merchant, and as a single human being, Otto wanted to step forward then and there—and add himself to the ranks of men .
Accordingly, Otto Suwen, on his own initiative, had challenged a battlefield upon which his chances of victory seemed slim.
He’d made the gamble by ignoring the odds and piled up every chip he had, including his own life, to bring about Subaru Natsuki’s victory.
With his mercantile spirit, Otto would prove his friendship true.
“—!!!”
—In the distance, from the direction of the trap he had left behind, he heard an angry, bestial roar reverberate through the sky.
With that as the prompt, Otto continued to run as he unleashed his own blessing—devoting himself to that familiar hell to wring out the entirety of his power.
3
“Something incredible is coming.”
— I understand. Yes, I do understand.
“Behind, incredible, coming, right now.”
— I told you, I understand! This is exactly as I predicted and expected.
“You’ll die. You’ll die, mm. Poor thing.”
—I’m begging you, would you please stop with the pessimism already?!
With his blessing of language unleashed, countless voices flew into Otto’s ears as he raced through the forest.
To take the voices of the various sentient creatures within the forest—birds, insects, small animals—and separate them from the voices directed toward him, while carefully discriminating between each one, was a punishing act that whittled away at the soul.
The time Otto spent with his blessing perfectly lined up with the twenty years of his own life. But even in those twenty years, never once had he attempted something so reckless.
The quantity of voices Otto’s eardrums picked up from within the forest’s expanses was…vast.
Countless living creatures existed in the sky, in the trees, in the soil, in the rocks. He heard all their voices.
The problem was that he could not simply listen to the great throng of voices and nothing more. The blessing of language compelled Otto to understand them. In other words, Otto’s brain was working to process and interpret all the voices of living creatures coursing through it. This, too, was beyond its limit—
“Bhh…!”
A sharp pain ran through Otto’s head. He immediately leaned against a tree that was standing right beside him. When he wiped the sweat off his brow, he found there was blood upon his sleeve. A nosebleed. The oozing nosebleed might have been from pushing his brain beyond its capacity. Come to think of it, the ringing in his ears was continuing at a vociferous rate.
“Ahh, I didn’t know. So this is what happens when I keep on using my blessing like this. So this is what they mean by being difficult to use…not being convenient really places the user in a bind, doesn’t it.”
In the brief span of time since the preceding night, he’d continued using his blessing virtually without cease. He’d conversed with the creatures of the forest, implored them for aid, set traps, and formed plans with all his strength, enough to make him heave blood.
Gruffly wiping his nosebleed, Otto let his grumbles trickle out as he set off running once more.
His gait was unreliable. But he could not stop using his blessing. Without his blessing to create not sea of people, but a sea of creatures, his chase scene would not continue for long.
Relying on the eyes and the voices of creatures within the forest, he could do nothing except buy time.
“Mr. Natsuki…this will let you speak with Lady Emilia, won’t it…?”
He was buying time so that Subaru could exchange words with Emilia, whose whereabouts were unknown.
Everything that Otto desperately endured, from his splitting headache to the alarming nosebleed, was for this sake. This action of his was linked to victory—no, victory did not loom large among his motives.
In the end, he wanted to give Subaru time to meet Emilia face-to-face. That motive was strong in him.
He was not worried that Subaru would not find Emilia. He probably would find her. Whatever he would do after finding her was up to him. All Otto could do was help.
—Why was he taking Subaru’s side to this extent, he pondered?
Perhaps it was due to the distraction of the headache and the ringing in his ears that this question wedged itself into Otto’s thoughts.
It was indeed fact that he wanted to cooperate with Subaru so that he might repay his debt to the savior of his life.
Nor was it a lie that he was doing this for the sake of his friend Subaru, lending his own power as a friend.
However, he wondered: Was he such an earnest human being to ignore profit and loss, seeking nothing more as he labored out of care for others alone?
“…Ahh, I see.”
Otto suddenly smiled, feeling like a path had opened amid his worries.
He realized it. He realized just why he was desperately taking Subaru’s side like that.
“Incomprehensible suffering…that’s something I understand better than anyone, isn’t it?”
The blessing of language, which made him hear voices others could not, had forced Otto on a lonely path.
The blessing had made Otto temporarily distance himself from his family’s love, created a chasm between him and many friends, and had landed him in predicaments others could not comprehend. He bore the suffering of not being able to convey to others words known only to him. He had become resigned to this, which eventually coalesced into despair he felt toward himself.
—This was the same anguish Subaru had harbored before revealing his troubles to Otto.
That was why Otto trusted in Subaru, and why it was both the sight of him and his past self that had sent him running.
That moment, he understood. He finally understood.
It wasn’t complicated. Otto did not want to save just Subaru Natsuki. Otto wanted to save his past self. He wanted to save Otto Suwen .
“Found ya…!!”
“—?!”
The instant he realized the other true intention inside himself, an impact sent Otto flying. He’d sustained the blunt attack while his headache had set his ability to concentrate awry. He fell down face-first onto soft soil.
“Bah, ptoo ! Is this as far as I…nghh!”
“Won’t let ya! Won’t let ya do anythin’ ever again!!”
He was spitting out a fallen leaf and trying to get up when claws dug into his flank. His breath caught, and he let out an anguished cry as the contents of his lungs were wrung out of him. Otto tumbled onto the surface of the ground, faceup.
His limbs were sprawled as he gazed up at the sky. He felt the rays of the sun through the gaps in the forest canopy—whereupon Garfiel’s sour, upside-down face thrust into Otto’s field of vision.
Garfiel pushed up his soil-stained forelocks, scratching his nose with his finger.
“…Man, ya really laid into me with all those lil’ tricks. Nose wouldn’t work, bugs made my eyes not work, hid yer sound with all the bugs yappin’…was rough. But it’s all over now.”
“I—I wonder about that…the match is not yet deci—mnff!”
“I told ya, I ain’t lettin’ ya do anythin’. —Takin’ ya too lightly is how I got into this mess.”
Not even letting him air sour grapes, Garfiel put his foot on the fallen Otto’s stomach. He proceeded to put strength into that foot; this strength, which was completely at odds with his small frame, made Otto’s entire body cry out.
The creaking of his bones made Otto himself cry out in agony as his limbs flailed against the ground.
“Gu, ugh, gahh…!”
“I don’t wanna be rough with ya. I ain’t got no time. Gimme my stone back now. This is enough, ain’t it?”
Increasing the strain bit by bit, Garfiel was trying to seize the stone back from him. Otto was in agony, froth bubbling from the corner of his mouth, rummaging in his side pocket and grasping hold of the crystal he had pickpocketed.
Who was strongest was so clear, it was laughable. As living beings, they stood on different platforms. After such terrible pain, what was wrong with acknowledging defeat? He’d fought hard enough to buy time. If he only returned the stone—
“Hhah!”
“…Why are you laughing, damn it?”
Garfiel grimaced as Otto, who was being stepped on with his face marred by a nosebleed, suddenly laughed. He’d seen that creeped-out reaction when he was a little boy. Otto concurred with the eyes viewing him as a foreign entity.
What was wrong with him? He had spent so much time in a cold cave in so much despair that he’d wanted to die. It had only been several days since then, and here he was—cheerfully placing his own life into peril.
“It would be a waste to give up here… For at long last, I have a thrilling role to play…”
Garfiel immediately realized that the exchange at the facility was the cause behind Otto’s words. Otto was paying him back for saying he didn’t have what it took.
“Why you little…!”
It was just as Subaru had said. He found it amusing to do things people firmly thought he could not. It was the mark of a bad personality, but there was no mistake: It felt so good, it hurt.
When Otto laughed, deeply appreciating what a bad friend he was, the air Garfiel gave off completely changed.
The coarse anger in his jade eyes was stripped away. In its place rested polished, refined hostility. This was proof that Garfiel had acknowledged Otto as his foe.
It was proof that Garfiel regarded Otto as someone he had to take down without delay.
“…May I say one last thing?”
When Garfiel removed the foot on his belly, straightening his posture in a display of respect, Otto addressed him. Receiving his words, Garfiel went “Ahh?” and quietly scratched his head.
So Garfiel had enough mercy in him to listen to Otto’s last words. Had he been savage to the core, he would have simply finished Otto off.
Garfiel was a warrior. —Hence, he’d fallen for it, giving Otto enough time to lay one final trap.
“I may have induced you to…but you have disturbed these woods quite a bit on your way here, Garfiel.”
“—The hell?”
“The residents whose homes you have disturbed say this. —You must be punished.”
He touched a hand to his belly as he sat up. Then, as Otto spoke, the air around him was enveloped by light.
This was an accumulation of mana so vast that it became visible to the naked eye. Those cooperating with Otto had allotted him the building blocks of magical energy—all for the sake of a single, grand blow.
Garfiel realized that something was wrong. He bared his fangs. He moved. But it was too late.
“—Al Dona.”
Otto chanted, relaying the mana filling the forest through his own Gate, causing it to interfere with the world around him.
The explosively welling magical energy sank into the earth, creating a flow of sediment with enough intensity to pulverize the trees. This incredible force danced toward Garfiel, who was standing atop the ground, smashing him all at once with the violence of its sheer mass.
“Gaaghhhhh—!!”
His howl echoed into the sky until even this was swallowed by the wave of sediment and crushed.
As a result of employing magic that should have been beyond his reach in this lifetime, Otto was out of breath.
This. It was this that was his final trap, triggered by the ace up Otto’s sleeve.
Having been in contact with the living creatures in the forest for an entire day, alongside ascertaining where Shima had holed up, he’d laid numerous traps—all laying the groundwork for this final, great magic.
He had not immersed himself in the blessing of language to merely to use it as a tool for his escape. Nor did he use it only as a trap , revealing his hand to put his opponent off guard. He had combined tool and trap to create a weapon .
Garfiel had swallowed Otto’s scheme hook, line and sinker. Scorned as small fry, Otto gained his recognition with a layer of traps, only to use Garfiel’s acknowledgment of him as a warrior itself to create an opening for his true attack at the very end.
All of it had gone according to Otto’s plan. In other words, this time, it truly meant that—
“—All out of schemes now, ain’t ya?”
“Give me a break, would you…”
When the torrent of earth abated, a cloud of soil erupted. Clawing his way out of the dense curtain of dirt and trampling the disturbed ground of the forest was Garfiel, messy but quite intact.
Seeing Garfiel like that caused Otto to sigh in grudging respect.
“T’ be honest, I’m surprised.”
“That I resisted you with little regards as to the means?”
“Not that. Even after ya did all that, I didn’t think ya were serious. Not only that, I looked down on ya and assumed you’d just give up. —Forgive me. That’s bad o’ me to do to a man.”
Otto greeted the meek look on Garfiel’s face with a shake of his head. No apologies were necessary.
What he wanted to hear was Darn it . However, even when Otto was committed to fulfilling his role with his entire body and soul, it was not enough to overcome Garfiel’s raw strength.
He had no moves left. Otto’s defiance had come to an end.
“I did everything I could…didn’t I…?”
So he murmured. He’d played every card he had. He felt it in his bones.
That he could not reach all the way even so could not be helped. Not anymore.
That was why—
“See ya. —It’ll be all over by the time ya wake up. “
“Let us hereby put my solitary battle to rest, shall we…?”
When Otto drew in his breath and murmured, Garfiel snapped his eyes wide.
The statement did not sound like it came from a man throwing away victory or bearing any sense of defeat—
“Don’t tell me that…”
There’s still something more , thought Garfiel, aghast as he searched the surrounding area for any presence. Every hair on his body was standing up, his wariness plain as his eyes roamed the area. There was no presence on any side around him.
Just paranoia… Rather than lazily dismissing it as such, Garfiel looked up.
And there—
“—!!”
Garfiel bared his fangs, moving as if to howl at the approaching figure. But his reaction instantly slowed. Shock left his howl stuck in his throat and even impeded his actions thereafter.
He bellowed. Not enmity, not bloodlust—but a name.
“Why are you here?! Raaaaam—!!”
“—El Fulla!”
The chant from the girl descending from the treetops—Ram—overlapped with Garfiel’s cry.
The next instant, an explosive blade of wind mercilessly slammed onto Garfiel.
4
The chant rewrote the world around it, weaving wind into a blade that bore down upon its intended prey before it exploded.
The invisible blade of wind raged up and down, left and right as it pleased, grandly slicing through forest, earth, and flesh.
It was a decisive, well-aimed blow that would inflict a mortal wound on anyone it struck. However—
“Ain’t no way—!!”
The howling Garfiel slammed his foot down, his heel pulling up a block of the forest floor. This became a wall, dulling the wind blade’s advance as it bore in on Garfiel. Of course, this was not enough to completely fend off magic of such force, but it created a momentary opening sufficient for him to evade it.
Leaping powerfully behind him, Garfiel distanced himself from the impact point of the wind. Seeing this as she landed upon the ground, the girl—Ram—made a small hmph through her nose, glancing sidelong at him.
It was then that Otto, driven into a beat-up state as a result of his valiant fighting, wilted.
“I expected as much, but such a pathetic sight is unfit for my eyes.”
“Even for you, that is a little too harsh a thing to say to someone fighting to the brink of death…”
“The brink of death? Even though Garf has the blessing of earth spirit, you chose an earth-element Dona spell as your trump card? …That is no good.”
“Never before have I seen a maid as little comforting as you!”
Ignoring Otto’s laments, Ram kept her attention to the front, the tip of her wand never wavering. There, as he glared at the pair’s exchange, Garfiel was crinkling his nose and keeping his guard up. He audibly clacked his sharp fangs together, staring at Ram in anger.
“I’ll come right out and ask, Ram. Why are you takin’ their side, ahh?”
“Is there something strange about that?”
“Don’t ya get it? Goin’ with them means turning yer back on what that Roswaal bastard wants. At the very least…the bastard has no intention of lettin’ the princess take the Trial.”
“You have grown quite impertinent, speaking to Ram of what Master Roswaal thinks. Surely, you have known me long enough to know? Ram never lends her ears to such attempts at persuasion.”
Puffing out her chest, Ram proudly proclaimed her own obstinacy.
“I know you were a hardhead to the bitter end. That’s what I love about ya. That’s why I can’t understand it. You’re that bastard Roswaal’s maid, ain’t ya?”
“Of course. That is why I shall exhaust all efforts for my master’s desire. —However, I will do it in my own way.”
Ram had no intention of cordially replying to Garfiel’s question.
She sighed heavily, turning her gaze toward Otto and leaning against a tree as he stood.
“So weak in the knees. Do you intend to make a woman fight by her lonesome?”
“Y-you’re a slave-driver! Terrifying! …Is this person’s younger sister, the sleeping girl, truly so kind? I am tempted to think Mr. Natsuki has lied to me…”
“Such a noisy complainer.”
His body was wobbly; his nosebleed had finally stopped. Of course, he was in no condition to stand, let alone meaningfully participate in battle. Even so, Otto stood, which Ram considered only natural.
Garfiel clicked his tongue in annoyance at the pair’s attitude.
“Don’t get carried away, ya hear?! What are ya tryin’ so hard to slow me down for? What’s he plannin’ to do while you keep me here?! And more importantly…that bastard got enough value for ya to trust him?!”
“Mr. Natsuki’s value? Ah, if we are discussing whether he has worth, the answer would be no, I suppose.”
“…Huh?”
Garfiel was dumbfounded at the unexpected reply. But when Otto scratched his now hatless head, he brushed his hair off his forehead as he made a rather smug smile.
“I am saying, at this time, Mr. Natsuki does not hold all that much value. But I am a merchant. I think of this as an investment. Ensuring the future of one’s investment is not ruined, brushing the insects aside and pruning the flowers, eagerly awaiting how they shall bloom—that is how I feel at the moment.”
He is truly a time-consuming person , Otto seemed to say, his shoulders sinking as he gave off an air of fatigue from the bottom of his heart. Otto’s words brought an audible snort out of Ram.
“Hah! To be honest, Ram cannot understand why he expects so much of Barusu, either. Barusu is weak, useless, and his talent is insufficient even for pouring a single cup of tea. My opinion is the same as yours, Garf.”
“That is going too far……though, on second thought, perhaps not…”
“But when he is most needed, Barusu is a man with oddly good timing.”
Ignoring Otto’s nervous attempt of support, Ram maintained a casual tone as she made that firm declaration.
Her words made Otto widen his eyes, and Garfiel grimace.
“It’s timing. A man who’s there when you need him. That is Barusu.”
Even though, in normal times, he was a useless man with seemingly no redeeming features whatsoever, the human being named Subaru Natsuki was a man who was mysteriously at exactly the time and place you wanted him.
There was nothing attractive about him, and he was without a single shred of charm as a member of the opposite sex. Ram didn’t understand what part of him was any good; indeed, she found him irritating. —When was it that…? At the moment, it didn’t matter.
Either way, that was all there was to the man called Subaru Natsuki.
That was why, once more, Ram did as he’d asked. —When Otto had revealed Subaru’s plan to her the night before, she made the decision to trust him.
“Barusu’s good timing is reason enough to believe in him. —If Barusu sees an opportunity and has taken action in order to seize it, then it must be the one and only chance to obtain victory.”
“…After all that, it seems you trust Mr. Natsuki as well, Miss Ram.”
“That is Lady Ram to you.”
“Are you hiding a blush with incredible aggression?!”
Not caring for the grin that had appeared on the face of the man standing beside her, Ram shot a scolding gaze at Otto to silence him.
But their views were one and the same. They had formed a pair, comrades in the common pursuit of Subaru’s aim. They had mutually agreed to keep quiet to Subaru about their fight to buy him time.
Many would say they had already bought sufficient time, but—
“—Ya don’t intend to move aside, do ya?”
“ ? ”
When Garfiel posed his question, Ram and Otto replied to it without a word.
Otto brushed off his knees. Ram made sure her wand rested comfortably in her hand.
With neither lowering their guard, Garfiel shook his head from side to side. The hard clattering of his fangs was the only thing echoing through the forest. Then, gloom fell over Garfiel’s face.
“—Enough.”
He wove that single word with a raspy voice. Otto and Ram simultaneously knit their brows.
In front of the pair, Garfiel seemed to hug both his shoulders as he balled up his body and howled.
“ ? !!”
The bestial roar, which seemed to echo across the entirety of the Sanctuary, made the very air shudder.
“ ? ”
The sudden appearance of a fiendish beast, its entire body covered in golden fur, struck Otto with the force of a gale. But his body did not tremble. Nor did he shudder. Perhaps he was simply all out of fear.
Moreover, right beside him, he saw a pleasant smile come over the face of Ram—a girl smaller in size than he.
“Garf’s easy-to-understand decision is mistaken. —In this match, victory belongs to us.”
You Serious…? internally retorted Otto, forgetting his usual formal manner of speech.
At that very Otto’s side, Ram lightly hopped from heel to heel, repeating the warm-up exercise several times over. After that, she walked straight ahead toward the enormous beast, her gait looking as if she was out on a pleasant stroll.
“Wait a—! Miss Ram?!”
Her bold action made Otto’s eyes bulge. However, Ram did not cease her feet as she moved in front of the ferocious tiger.
Garfiel, transformed into a fiendish beast, had no glint of reason left within his eyes. To the beast, she was not a lovely girl standing before him, but a weak, fragile being—a walking mass of soft flesh.
The beast reacted accordingly, smashing its upraised claw onto the small, pathetic figure.
That instant—
“Too weak, Garf. —Who do you think you are facing?”
As Ram crouched, evading the bestial claw, she spoke words of pity as she slammed her fist into the beast’s wide-open lower jaw.
It was a slender, delicate girl’s fist—and with this, she sent the ferocious creature flying high into the air with all the force of a cannonball.
“—?!”
“I wonder, have you won against Ram in a fistfight even once?”
The beast turned over in midair, landing upon the ground. The beast understood that the girl was not helpless prey. Raging wildly, it leaped, four limbs lashing out…only to sustain another punch to the face, crashing to the ground once more.
“No way.”
The astonishing scene left Otto unwittingly gaping.
Even to an amateur’s eyes, Ram clearly had the upper hand, using their difference in physical stature to circle into her opponent’s blind spots; the terrifying beast was waving its burly arms without the slightest technique, hitting nothing but air as the one-sided pounding continued.
“It…it’s working! With this, Garfiel can be…!”
Never mind buying time—did this development not bring outright victory within sight?
As if to bolster that glimmer, Ram plunged her fist into the side of the tiger’s face. Snapping back from the sheer force, the beast kicked up a cloud of dirt as it was sent flying in spectacular fashion.
And then—
“—Pff.”
Along with a moan of being able to endure no more, a ferocious torrent of blood scattered into the air from Ram’s forehead.
—Her limit, which had been reached far too soon, made Ram grit her teeth, halting her steps there.
With her horn long broken, she knew making her blood awaken would instantly bring her to the brink. Even so, having waited for the conditions for a short, decisive battle to align, she’d intended to win nonetheless.
“—You’ve grown strong, Garf.”
Haltingly, Ram murmured, her voice flowing with emotion that she rarely let others hear.
Still smiling softly, Ram leaped in and drove a knee into the great tiger’s torso. She bounced off hard; the damage to her kneecap was severe. She’d already run dry of the mana she’d used for physical enhancement; now, her body was only as strong as her petite appearance suggested.
She relied on intuition and talent to evade the countless claw swipes coming her way as she leaped backward.
“—Ngh, phew.”
She took a deep breath and coughed. The next moment, the clot of blood made a sound as it fell to the ground. As if that had been all the strength her body had left, her posture crumbled as she went down on one knee.
This time, the ferocious tiger did not let the opportunity slip. Opening its maw wide, fangs bared, it leaped to the front.
And then—
“ ? !!!!”
Otto, his fist clenching the crystal, let up a ferocious roar unthinkable from his slender throat.
It was the same roar a fiendish beast erupted with at the moment it began to consume its prey.
This was the power of Otto’s blessing, which Ram had heard of beforehand. The power of his blessing allowed him to converse with any creature; with it, Otto was using bestial words to speak to the beast that had lost its mind.
Ram did not know what meaning the roar held.
For but a single moment, there was hesitance in the ferocious tiger’s movements, with that slight pause giving Ram just enough opportunity to evade the blow. The great exploit made Otto smile in admiration of his own achievem—
“Er, whoaaaa—?!”
Faced with the fiendish beast’s charge, Otto was sent flying by the fierce collision. He spun as he plunged into thorn bushes, vanishing from sight.
At that point, whether he survived or perished was completely up to Otto’s resilience.
Ram expended no thought on the results of his decision or action, for she had judged that this was the best way to repay Otto for what he had done.
And Ram used the time provided by Otto’s honorable death to draw her wand once more.
The tip of that wand glowed with an aura from the mana she had poured into it even at the height of the fistfight.
“ ? !!”
The ferocious tiger realized it might too late. It charged toward Ram. Too slow.
“—Al Fulla.”
Incredible light gushed forth. Bathed in wind, the fiendish beast opened its great maw, its roar echoing through the sky.
—And so, the Battle of the Lost Woods of Cremaldi came to its conclusion.
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