5
There was an odd air to the area. Even Subaru could notice almost immediately from the way his skin crawled.
“ ”
When they stepped into the shelter carrying a wounded person, they were met by many different gazes. A moist, cloying, depressing emotion rested within those eyes. An oppressive, vague negative feeling that was uncomfortable to be around and made it hard to breathe.
This location was apparently a shelter that had been constructed in the basement of one of the buildings in the fourth district.
It had been designed to protect residents in the event of flooding, and its sturdy door had been sealed, keeping all the water out. But even so, the mere fact that they had escaped the flooding was not enough to soothe everyone’s worries, given all the danger threatening their city. That much was clear enough from the way they buried their heads in their knees and from the potent fear that appeared in every face that wasn’t just looking down at the ground.
“This is bad for the heart. What is this feeling…?”
Leaving the injured man in the care of the healer on duty in the simple medical room setup at the shelter, Subaru slowly looked around the underground area, gulping bitterly.
There were a lot of people. There were enough crowded here belowground to make the shelter feel cramped. But it was quiet. Very quiet.
They were holding their breaths, avoiding one another’s gazes, looking down in silence. As if they were trying to avoid drawing attention to the fact that they were still alive.
“I see, he’s not here, either.”
Priscilla was cast from a different mold, though, able to carry herself without any hesitation even in this uniquely oppressive environment. On the one hand, it was certainly a regal quality to remain so unaffected by one’s surroundings, but it also did nothing to ease the fear and uncertainty gripping people’s hearts, which made her seem more like a tyrant than anything else in the moment.
Almost naturally, something akin to annoyance started welling up in Subaru’s chest. Priscilla was always so full of arrogant self-confidence, and he felt a sudden urge to tear at her face, to peel away that haughty mask—
“At the end of the day, a mediocre man remains a mediocrity. You’ve been completely bewitched after such a short time.”
“Wh-what are you talking about…?”
“There was a barbarous gleam in your pupils. It is only natural that the mere sight of me ignites lustful passion, but the desire to harm beauty is mere brute savagery. Can you truly say you know not of what I speak? Well?”
Interrogated by the woman whose face he had just considered clawing off, Subaru was suddenly dumbfounded.
“ ”
Why had his emotions boiled over so suddenly? It was not that odd for him to feel antagonistic toward her, but there had been no reason for it to suddenly get so intense and violent.
—It was almost like he had lost control of his emotions.
“No way…”
As that thought occurred to him, a chill ran up his spine. The discomfort grew and grew until his arms and legs were trembling, and he couldn’t keep his teeth from chattering.
The way his emotions were unnaturally shifting in a way he could not control reminded him of something.
“Sirius… Wrath’s Authority…? Is that what’s causing this?!”
Subaru pinched his cheek, clearing his head with a dose of pain as he gritted his teeth.
Naturally, Sirius was not in the shelter. Subaru could not hear her voice, either. But he could not escape that sense of gloom, that unpleasant sensation of being tossed into a pot of simmering emotions until they were all scorched black.
The moment after Subaru realized what was happening and how dangerous it was—
“—What’s your problem? The hell do ya think you’re staring at?!”
A middle-aged man near the back of the shelter shouted, teeth bared and face red. His rage seemed to be directed at a younger man near him. His anger still obvious on his face, the older man approached the younger man and gave him a hard shove in the chest.
“If you’ve got something to say, then say it! Well?! What’s your problem?!”
“—Ngh! Fine, you really want to know?! Take a look around you! You aren’t a boy anymore! Have some self-control! We don’t all need to know how pissed you are! It’s a pain in the ass for the rest of us, you washed-up piece of shit!”
“Stop it! Stop it! Please, just stop it!”
The younger man’s rage exploded at the older man’s provocation, and the woman beside him started crying as she cradled her head. Unable to hold back her emotions, she started sobbing uncontrollably, which only stoked the older man’s anger and the younger man’s righteous fury.
And the explosion of emotions did not stop there.
“This isn’t good! The other people are getting affected…”
It was slow at first but quickly picked up speed—a wave of intense emotions spread throughout the shelter. The explosive increase in noise after the previous silence made it feel like pandemonium had broken out in the blink of an eye.
“This isn’t good! Priscilla! If we don’t do something, people are gonna die!”
“Fool. You’ve lost your calm as badly as they have. Just sit down and shut up.”
“Is this really the time for that?! Even in a situation like this, you’re still… Gh.”
Impatience turned his vision red, and he tried to grab Priscilla, but she evaded his hands with a simple sway and grabbed his hair, pulling his face close to hers.
“Gah?!”
“Listen, commoner. Your fears will become reality. The unpleasant feeling that corrupted this city’s water will warp people’s hearts, steal their rationality, and rob them of their kindness. However—”
Priscilla coldly explained the tragedy that would befall the shelter as Subaru’s face tensed and his lips quivered. But as she trailed off, she looked to the center of the room.
Subaru naturally followed her gaze. Standing there was…
“Hark. Lend me your ears—Pristella wavers, reflected in the water’s surface.”
The plucked strings of the lyulyre created clear, high-pitched chords that pierced the pandemonium. In an instant, that sound shattered the rage and grief that had gripped the shelter. Everything paused for a brief moment. And into that split-second gap, something slipped:
Music.
“ ”
Right as feverish emotions were about to boil over, an ephemeral melody emerged from the lyulyre’s strings. And everyone who heard it was shaken to the soul by the voice that accompanied it.
Liliana’s tongue danced, giving form and shape to the song welling up inside her. That strain of music struck the people, Subaru, and even Priscilla alike, captivating the crowd from the moment the sounds hit their ears and making their bodies, their minds, and their very souls tremble.
Her song had stolen their hearts. There was no other way to put it. They were taken back and returned to their rightful owners.
Subaru could feel himself being set free from the confining emotions of Wrath’s invisible web. This was the power of song. The brilliance of Liliana’s music, the music the Songstress unleashed, was a power beyond reason capable of shaking people to their very core—
“—Thank you very much for your kind attention,” Liliana said with a bow.
By the time she finished, the dark emotions that had dominated the shelter were long gone.
—There was only a thunderous round of applause that welled up naturally from all sides.
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