5
“I see, so that’s why you came crawling back in such low spirits after the second examination.”
“…That’s harsh, Big Sis.”
“Don’t speak like that. It makes that passed-out girl’s theory about you being her master sound all too plausible.”
“That’s bad. I’ll be careful.”
Subaru shrugged weakly at that scary warning. Ram sighed slightly at that response.
They were in a different room on the fourth floor after reuniting with Ram in the green room. In addition to Subaru and Ram, Emilia, Beatrice, and Meili were there. There was also Shaula, who was lying on the ground.
Their party withdrew from the second floor, going down the long, long stairs to bring Julius and Anastasia to the green room, entrusting them to the spirit.
And then they caught Ram up on what they had learned about the third and second floors.
“He sounds like quite the absurd examiner, but…Lady Emilia cleared the bar, didn’t she? Couldn’t she have taken a look at the next floor’s archive by herself?”
“Ah, that’s right. I might have been able to go ahead on my own… Should I check with Mr. Stick Swinger?”
“…No, don’t do that. We don’t want to provoke him when he’s already in a bad mood. And even if he said you could go up alone, it would be…dangerous.”
“I’ll be reeeally careful, though.”
“Too dangerous.” “Much too dangerous.” “Far too dangerous.”
Subaru, Ram, and Beatrice immediately splashed cold water on Emilia’s resolve. That said, they weren’t holding her back out of an overprotective concern.
“With the second floor’s examination being what it is, the odds of something dangerous waiting on the next level went way up. Letting you go alone when there’s no guarantee you can come back down is…”
“Then we’ll just have to work hard until we can all beat Mr. Stick Swinger together?”
“It would certainly be nice to do that, but…”
There was an argument to be had whether it was even possible. Their strongest fighter had only just barely cleared the hurdle after lowering the bar almost all the way to the ground. And Julius was currently unconscious…
“It’ll be fine if he doesn’t beat himself up too much about it…”
“Are you worried about Julius?”
“Who knows…? Well, I guess I am a bit worried… But it’s not that simple.”
After he lost completely to Stick Swinger in a head-on match, Julius’s expression when his sword was broken stood out to Subaru. On second thought, he decided he was worried.
Julius’s swordsmanship had failed him; he had been toyed with like a child by his opponent and even had his sword broken…
“There’s a spare sword in the carriage, but it’s not that sort of a problem, either.”
“A sword can be reforged. Betty doesn’t understand what there is to be so hung up on.”
“You take good care of the stuff I made for you, like that handkerchief or mittens or apron, don’t you, Beako? It’s sort of like if those were destroyed, but on an even bigger scale.”
“…Sorry for saying something so foolish.”
Subaru exhaled and patted Beatrice on the head as she retracted her strong statement.
He could not imagine how Julius would react when he finally woke up. Would he be depressed, or would he be able to at least act tough, like his usual self? Either way, Subaru did not know what to say, and it was weighing on him.
And in terms of concerns, Julius wasn’t the only one.
“What was with Anastasia…with Echidna’s desperation…”
A big suspicion that stuck in Subaru’s head was Anastasia/Foxidna’s decision to interfere and directly support Julius in his duel.
In the moment, Subaru and everyone else were all looking for the timing to do something to support him. But for Echidna to be the first to act was something he hadn’t imagined.
All through the trip, and even after reaching the tower, Echidna had never forgotten about acting like Anastasia, and she had kept her promise of taking care of Anastasia’s body, too, as far as Subaru could tell.
So why did she do that?
“ ”
When she first revealed herself in Pristella, Echidna had explained her connection with Anastasia and the issue that Anastasia’s body had.
Her gate was incomplete, so she couldn’t absorb mana from outside and could only use magic by burning her own Odo, shaving away at her life.
“Why was she so desperate to help Julius?”
It did not look like some calculated move with an ulterior motive in mind. There was a genuine concern for Julius underneath that desperation.
“—Lady Anastasia was just concerned about Sir Julius. There are more important problems to address first.”
“The examiner, Stick Swinger.”
“Yes. It may seem cold, but to me, the question of what will come of the examination is more important. If it cannot be passed, then we have no way to find out how to bring back Rem.”
Interrupting Subaru’s thoughts was Ram with what could be considered a cruel opinion.
As she herself acknowledged, it was more than a little inconsiderate. But Subaru couldn’t bring himself to criticize her.
“ ”
Ram’s expression looked the same as usual, but there was a trace of impatience lying behind it. It was the irritation and unease of being right on the verge of finding a way to get her little sister back but being just one step short of the answer.
“A kimono and an eyepatch. Red hair and a blue eye… That sounds like an unpleasantly flamboyant appearance.”
“Any thoughts on it? It can be hard to imagine without seeing the person yourself, but bluntly speaking, he was monstrously strong. Maybe Reinhard-class.”
“Sounds like a nightmare.
Ram did not sound entirely convinced, but Emilia chimed in with her own confirmation.
“Subaru isn’t lying. I haven’t ever seen Reinhard fight seriously, but…mmm, I think he was probably about that strong.”
“Then, trusting your and Barusu’s description, if he is an enemy of a similar quality to Sir Reinhard…if we are talking about someone who can stand on the level of the strongest person in the world, then at present, each country has one.”
“Reinhard is the strongest in the kingdom, and each of the other three countries have their own strongest, too?”
“The Volakian Empire’s leading general is Cecils Segmund, the Blue Lightning; the Holy Kingdom Gusteko’s is the Mad Prince; and the Kararagi Federation’s is Admirer Halibel. But none of them fit the physical description.”
“No one with long red hair?”
“The Mad Prince’s description isn’t known, so I cannot say there.”
“Prince… A prince, huh…? He didn’t really feel like a prince, did he?”
The mad part of the title made it hard to say for sure, but while he had certainly been handsome, he did not seem like a royal.
His was more a savage sort of beauty, the kind that was allowed because it existed in the wild.
“In which case, could he be some sort of martial artist unknown to the world…?”
“He wore Kararagi clothes, and he was proficient with chopsticks, I suppose.”
“That’s too different from how they are intended to be used, so I’m not sure you could really call it proficiency…”
And Subaru couldn’t really imagine him being some great martial artist who was unknown to the rest of the world. With how strong he was and how grandiose he behaved, it was hard to imagine him staying anonymous.
And he’s part of this weird tower, so there is the question of whether he is some random strong person or if there’s some deeper connection…
“Hey, mister, got a second?”
“Hmm?”
“The half naked lady seems to be waking up.”
Meili, who was devotedly lending Shaula her lap to rest on in the corner of the room, raised her hand. Like she said, Shaula was still resting her head, but her body was stirring almost seductively as she started groaning.
And as everyone turned their gaze to her, her eyelids slowly opened…
“Master… Don’t leave me alone… I don’t want to be by myself anymore…”
“Don’t say something that pulls on the heartstrings right when you’re still half asleep! Are you actually awake?!”
“Tch. I was hoping you’d be moved if I said something touching, but I guess it was no good. B-but I love that part of you, too.”
“Making me worry for nothing…”
Swinging her long legs up and then back down, Shaula nimbly stood up. Her long hair swayed as she looked around the room, then cocked her head.
“Huh? Why are we here? Didn’t we get past the examination, thanks to Master’s dramatic insight, and head up to the next floor…?”
“Yeah, that wasn’t a dream. That happened.”
“Then Master held me and said ‘I’ll never let you go’…”
“That part was a dream! You fainted right at the start of the second examination!”
Shouting at Shaula, Subaru tried to get her to remember what happened right before she collapsed. But Shaula snorted as if laughing at the idea.
“Passed out? There’s no way I would do something pathetic like that. I didn’t pass out after meeting you again after hundreds of years, did I? Don’t make me laugh!”
“I can understand being dubious about it, but you really did pass out. Subaru and Meili were both reeeally worried. Please believe us.”
“Eh! Master was worried about me?! Geh-heh-heh, I believe you.”
“So easy…”
“The way I was totally uninvolved just now sort of feels rude…”
Subaru and Meili each were of two minds about how easily Shaula changed her mind. Shaula cocked her head.
“Huh? But what could’ve happened that made me pass out? It’s weird for me to get knocked out. If that happened, wouldn’t everyone other than Master get slaughtered…?”
“I can understand your wild expectations of Barusu…or rather, your master, but it is the truth. Please carefully think back… The long, long stairway is right there.”
“Long, long stairway…”
Ram’s voice was almost hypnotic, as if trying to get Shaula’s mind to travel back to what happened in her memories.
“There was a white room at the end of it, and a steel sword sticking out of the floor. And when it was taken, a strange voice echoed in everyone’s mind…”
“Mm-hmm, mm-hmm…”
Shaula and Emilia were both getting drawn into Ram’s evocative, sensuous words. Shaula aside, Emilia should already know what happened, but Subaru did not say anything for fear of breaking the moment.
“Just then, a figure appeared deeper into the room. A man in foreign clothes, with long red hair and a blue eye…”
“Hiyaaaaaa!”
Reaching the critical moment, Shaula screamed and leaped backward. She turned to cling onto Subaru, but predicting it would come, Subaru lowered his center of gravity and used his whole body to catch her. This time, he did not get bowled over.
Instead, he was smothered by Shaula’s soft skin.
“Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! D-do you remember?! You do, right?!”
“Wh-wh-why—why is he here?! You all said he was dead! He’s alive! He really won’t die even if you kill him!”
“Hah?! What are you…?”
Subaru’s eyes were watering in pain as he tried to figure out what Shaula was saying, but then it dawned on him.
He understood what she was saying.
There was only one person who fit that description that they had talked about since coming to the tower.
That was—
“Stick Swinger! Stick Swinger Reid! That demon! Monster! He’s come back to life to grope me again!!!”
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