CHAPTER 109: MISSTEP
Otto: “Just as how we discussed before, I'm about to have the villagers escape while I lure Garfiel. Natsuki-san said he would be fine with just buying time, but I'm feeling greedy for something more... could I hope for you to assist me?”
After parting with Subaru, before departing on the two bait carriages, Otto spoke with Ram there at a corner of the village.
Ram crossed her arms in response to Otto's rather unconfident query, herself leaning against a wall as she closed her eyes. She proceeded in her silence, while the impending start of battle threw Otto into impatient panic.
Otto: “Erm, excuse me... honestly, there isn't very much time...”
Ram: “Impatient men go unliked. I mentioned this before, but nothing has changed about it depending on the requirements.”
Ram opened one eye, before promptly discarding Otto's imploring gaze. The BEFORE she mentioned referred to an event from three days ago. The night where Subaru challenged Roswaal to a bet, and Otto proposed a joint fight with Ram.
Roswaal urged Ram to leave the room when Subaru visited him, leaving the two alone. Back then, Otto had been intending to make contact with Ram when she left the building. Otto accurately determined that Roswaal would distance Ram provided an important matter related to the gospel came up, and he managed to catch her in a moment of her free time.
Plainly said, three days ago Ram and Otto were crossing the line for shallow acquaintanceships. They could count their interactions on one hand, and furthermore short of something incredible happening, Ram had not a shred of interest in any men except Roswaal. The people she conversed with in SANCTUARY, excluding those related to the Roswaal Mansion, were probably just Lewes and Garfiel. And thus when Otto called out to Ram and she looked at him as he were a pebble lying on the road, he needed to begin the conversation by building up cordial relations.
Otto: “Greetings, erm... Ram-san. It sure is a nice night out.”
Ram: “—”
Otto: “Hello?”
Ram: “—. Ah, I was wondering who you were, and it turns out you're that man who was prostrating himself behind Barusu. You give so thin of an impression when separated from him that I could not tell what kind of creature you were.”
Otto: “So I'm less than human!? That truly does hurt to hear. Or, no, erm, I mean I do understand why I'm being treated like Natsuki-san's accessory...”
Ram: “A man who accepts being anyone's accessory is worthless. Begone.”
Otto: “Unsparing!?”
Ram's unapproachable attitude swiftly tore Otto to shreds. With not the slightest interest in Otto, Ram leaned against the wall beside the door as she crossed her arms.
Otto: “Excuse me, would you mind if we talked?”
Ram: “Leaving aside whether or not I remember it, have you ever considered starting conversations by first presenting your name? Leaving aside whether or not I remember it.”
Otto: “Why is it that you reminded me twice about whether you'll remember it? Hauhh... My name is Otto Swein. A humble travelling merchant, although I would greatly appreciate it if you could at least memorize my face and name.”
Ram: “That would depend on how interesting this talk of yours is.”
Ram conceded not a speck of her dominance in this conversation. Although indicated that she would listen to Otto's talk, she stated that she would immediately cancel it should the topic be worthless. Otto again pumped himself up to present a perspective that his conversational opponent would not have expected.
Otto: “This would be related to what Natsuki-san and the Margrave are presently discussing, but... Ram-san. Would you be interested in assisting myself and Nastuki-san to liberate SANCTUARY from its barrier?”
Ram: “—What a farce. My wish is the fulfilment of Roswaal-sama's deepest desire. Should I respect Roswaal-sama's will, then to liberate SANCTUARY by that method carries no meaning at all.”
Otto: “But that would suppose that matters proceed exactly as the Margrave intends... correct? Ram-san, would you be aware that events have already diverged from that path?”
Ram: “—”
It was Otto who proposed, following his conversation with Subaru, that they drag Ram in as an ally. Subaru had been overwhelmingly reluctant about it, but going by what he told him, Otto judged that this bet was one they had definite chances of winning.
Ram opened her eyes and looked at Otto with her emotionless cerise gaze. She uncrossed her arms, the fingers of her lowered left hand grazing, most likely, against her wand equipped there beneath her short skirt. His choice of words either would or would not incur her wrath, and her rage would bear the shape of a windblade.
Otto swallowed his breath, wet his lips with his tongue, and smiled the same fearless smile he always did when making a challenging business deal. The tenseness of his body vanished as his quickened pulse clicked into a more comfortable pace.
Now, just like always, time to ENDURE.
Otto: “A path diverged from the Margrave's plots—and there being, the first possibility that your true wish may be accomplished. My belief is that Natsuki-san and I could aid you with this.”
Ram's fingers wavered, hesitating—before leaving her wand. Seeing this, Otto determined that his sales pitch was nothing to be belittled.
Having listened to Otto's proposal and learned the details of the plan, Ram presented several terms. Revealing their entire plan to Ram was truthfully a rather large gamble for Otto and Subaru. Should they misjudge how their proposal affected her heart, then all of their plans would leak to Roswaal. But there existed enough merit in converting Ram to risk the danger.
Ram stated several terms necessary to secure her cooperation, and finding them entirely reasonable, Otto accepted them. Otto did not tell the details of Ram's terms to Subaru. Necessity existed that he secure the greatest cooperation he could from her, and keep their proceeding actions a secret from him. If Otto informed him, Subaru would stop them. If he ran off his feelings and stymied Otto and Ram's movements, that would likely leave the outcome on many problems as down to luck.
Ram: “Your disposition is an unfortunate one. I haven't any clue what you do as an occupation, but you wouldn't be suited to being a merchant.”
Otto: “But you absolutely do remember that I'm travelling merchant, don't you!”
Alongside Ram's snort at Otto's secret determination, a pained wail echoed through the sky of SANCTUARY.
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
—Faced with the overwhelming pressure exerted from the vicious beast, Otto thought it strange that he was not trembling.
This aberrant form looming before him, with its four meters of length and powerful flesh, was that of a monster. Crooked, sharp fangs stretched like sabres from its overlarge mouth, its claws curved in grim crescents as the life-reaping scythes of a psychopomp. Every single strand of golden fur coating its body was like a wire, and thick enough to entangle any weapon which possessed a lacklustre blade. The glint in those eyes as golden as its fur alone retained vestiges of before the transformation, the complete lack of common points between now and before Otto last blinked conversely making it all seem unreal.
Having shed his human body and revealed his shape as a mighty tiger, Garfiel was there. His vile-smelling breath came laced out his throat in growls, a pressure strong enough to freeze creatures from their core out dominating the whole of the forest.
Otto: “—”
Consciously crafting a smile, Otto attempts to distract himself with a joke.
But his frozen throat utters no noise, and even his supposedly-grinning cheeks have ignored him and remain rigid. Getting belatedly onto this track, Otto realises why he is not trembling.
—It wasn't that he wasn't scared. It was that, faced with absolute DEATH, Otto's body had given up on the faculties extant to promote survival.
Trembling in fear was defence mechanism which incited the body's survival instincts to try and keep the soul alive. It was a phenomenon where the body would demand that the soul not surrender—but when placed in a situation where this would be entirely pointless, it was actually natural that he not be trembling.
He had heard about it. And so he had imagined it. Garfiel possessed both beastman and human blood, and he could transform into a beast. Otto had heard that. But the reality of it annihilated Otto's flimsy imaginations, manifesting a creature beyond any human knowledge, devouring his spirit whole.
To this thing, in presence of this creature, Otto had proclaimed some nonsense about 'Buying time is fine, but how about we defeat him?'. Of course it would condescend him a fight. As if Otto had any hope of winning this. And yet,
Ram: “Garf transformed... we've met all the requirements now.”
Says the petite girl standing beside him, her inflection entirely identical to before this overwhelming creature existed. He could not even question her: requirements for what? Regardless, the movement so mechanical that his neck may graunch, Otto manages to look at her—at Ram. Ram's mouth relaxes slightly, and for the first time, she shows Otto something like a smile.
Ram: “Garf made a mistake by picking this obvious choice. —We've won this fight.”
Otto: “—”
Goddamn really? quips Otto mentally, forgetting his politeness.
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
—The terms for cooperation that Ram presented to Otto amounted to three.
Ram: “To, regardless of the divergence from Roswaal-sama's plans... from the gospel's writ, in whatever fashion preserve Roswaal-sama's will to live in this world.”
This term was fulfilled once Subaru challenged Roswaal to the bet. Roswaal, having been on the verge of abandoning absolutely everything, again bore his war paint and resolved to once again challenge the world, his eyes brimming with life.
Ram: “To, unrelated to that issue, ensure that Emilia-sama maintains her spirit to challenge the TRIAL. If a world diverged from Roswaal-sama's plots yet means to continue, she inevitably will have to stand for herself. ...We'll prepare a setting to test this, until the day of action comes.”
This term was one that Otto would have to leave to Emilia and Subaru, but at least going off the fact that she was hearing him out, Ram more or less considered this condition as cleared. When he heard that Emilia had gone missing, Otto thought that everything was utterly over. But apparently, Ram didn't. He was scared to ask her about it and for her to change her mind, and so had not probed into the topic. And,
Ram: “Supposing those two requirements are met, I have little issue in conspiring with you. ...The conditions for my cooperation in this plan you're keeping secret from Barusu will have to be somewhat more complex.”
Otto: “I'm wondering whether, if I may hear it, I might sight some clues for securing victory even on my own.”
Ram: “If I am going to assist in fighting Garf, it's going to be after the prospects of winning have been broadened. First is inhibiting his nose. Then inflicting some amount of damage on him, and robbing him of his composure. I will not interfere until the decisive moment has come, so accomplish these without my assistance. Being that you've gone out of the way to propose me this plan, surely you have some ace in mind?”
Otto: “That is, well... more or less, yes.”
Ram: “Of course. And with that established, so, here's the final requirement.”
Otto: “Right.”
Ram: “Make Garf transform. —That is the final requirement for attaining victory.”
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
Ram: “His sense of smell is still subdued, yes?”
Otto: “...”
Ram: “Pathetic.”
Otto: “Gaeuh!”
Seeing Otto so debilitated that he cannot even answer the question, Ram plunges her elbow into his side. Wailing at the sharp, gouging pain, Otto gasps as he remembers to start breathing.
Otto: “Aeg, aghu... I-I thought I, was going to die... just now, die from just the pressure!”
Ram: “That is preferable to failing even as a flimsy soft meatshield, stay firm. His sense of smell should still be subdued, yes?”
Otto: “Forgetting about that unforgettable statement, indeed, it's ruined. Makoil pollen is an extremely powerful animal repellent, and even humans will fall unconscious should they smell it from close proximity.”
Ram: “And evenmoreso when it is Garf, with a sense of smell many times superior. This means the single benefit of his transformation has been nullified. Then is the time, and the damage from before his transformation... both are as we expected.”
With a breezy breath out, Ram flits her heels off the ground as she shifts to stand on her toes. Maintaining that posture, she lowers her heels again, then lifts, then lowers, lifts, lowers, commencing some simple leg exercises. Otto furrows his brows at Ram's strange behaviour, tiling his head.
Otto: “R-Ram-san? What are you doing?”
Ram: “I'm warming up. Quickly loosening my body before I begin. Loathe as I am to admit it, Barusu is correct about this being efficient.”
Otto: “Erm, no, that wasn't quite it... what are you doing those exercises for?”
Ram: “That's simple.”
With Otto and his trembling voice in the corner of her vision, Ram finishes her exercises and closes her eyes. She then opens her eyes again, her feet heading forward—her manner entirely casual, her gait one of taking a leisurely stroll, as she begins closing distance on the beast.
Otto: “Whah!?”
Ram: “Be silent.”
Otto's eyes bulge as he witnesses her boldness. But Ram rejects his call, her speed slackening not at all as she heads to meet the tiger. The tiger stoops low as it glowers at the prey before it, its body stiffening in unguarded surprise for a moment at the little creature's action—but immediately, it judges the behaviour as an insult toward itself.
Rage arises in its golden eyes as it raises its forepaw, the thing thicker than Ram's torso, those vicious claws extended. A single strike from these claws, each big as dainty Ram's arms, possessed enough force to instantly transfigure her limbs into clumps of gore with just graze.
The wind screams as the reaper's scythe, clad in the shape of claws, ousts Ram's life from the world. —Imminently.
Ram: “Deplorable, Garf. —Who do you think it is that you're facing?”
Crouching down, Ram bypasses the mighty paw overhead as she speaks to the tiger in commiseration. Having put the force of its entire body into the swing, the tiger flounders while Ram's small figure dives for creature's chest. With her legs folded in, Ram then stretches out her whole body as she shunts out her readied fist—
Ram: “Have you ever beaten me in a fistfight even once?”
Garfiel: “——Ϡ!”
The fist from below embedded in its torso sends a beast exceeding several hundred kilograms in weight soaring into the air. Its body arcing from the force of the strike, a pained wail spills from the beast's maw. The shockwave destroys the forest as Otto hears the noise of the air bursting.
Otto: “No, way.”
A girl a head shorter than him had just punched a powerful beast so tall that looking up wasn't enough to sight the whole thing. And just like that, with her fist still contacting the tiger's torso, Ram's free hand was slapping the animal around even further. The blows swap from one hand to the other as they beat the enormous tiger, the thing shrieking alongside its retreat. Its great jaws aim for Ram with fangs bared, but the nimble girl sets her foot upon the tiger's nose, and her forceful kick instead sends the beast's face slamming down to the ground.
The earth shreds away as the incredible beast writhes, attempting frantically to tear apart the limbs of the girl so toying with him. But Ram dances through the air like leaves in the wind, evading the tiger's attacks mockingly, driving pointed attack after pointed attack into places where its fur is shallow.
Her heel into its throat. Her hand into its torso. Her fist punches her past the thing's paw, allowing her to send a kick into the creature's unguarded face.
The unreal feeling of witnessing her subdue the tiger, as if he is reading a picture book, grasps Otto's heart.
What on earth was he watching? Sighting Garfiel bereft of his human shape inflicted Otto with so much despair that his body gave up on living. Was meant to be the case, so what on earth was he watching, here?
With every swing of the girl's arm, the beast's body would go flying beneath the force of the blow. A tremendous monster whose very roars could likely slaughter a creature was accomplishing entirely nothing, unable to land a single hit on her. The tiger's furious paws defectively mowed through trees, sliced into earth, the chaotic violence altering the shape of the forest, but the gradually shifting land caused Ram no issue at all.
They could win. Like this. He looks an imbecile for doubting Ram's pre-battle remarks. Her statements about purposefully getting Garfiel to transform now held definite credibility.
Garfiel's presence when he transforms into a tiger is overwhelming, something which shows its power in one-versus-many situations. His very mass is a weapon in itself, and even should he fight a single individual, he clearly should not lose.
But when said individual possesses fighting ability beyond that of human capabilities, that changes the story.
His muscled body becomes a target, his powerful tree-felling forepaws become weapons fraught with openings, and his decimating strength creates a dimwittedness that keeps him from entirely opting for either retreat or attack.
Calmly analyse the situation, and it is possible to deduce all of this. But that said, these ideas only work, and defeating him only looks easy, when presupposing the presence of AN OVERWHELMING INDIVIDUAL. A friendly wildcard to counter a transformed Garfiel. The very act of securing one of these uncommon things as part of his team was Otto's greatest contribution to the fight.
Otto: “We can... we can do it! If it goes like this, then Garfiel...”
Clenching his fists, Otto cheers as he sights the prospects of victory. Ram's fist supports that hope as it slams the tiger in the side of the face, the creature kicking up plumes of dust as it skids magnificently across the ground, further and further away. When—
Ram: “—ghg”
Unable to suppress her groan, and with a stream of blood coursing from her forehead, Ram's body sways tremendously.
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
With the flowing blood dying her vision in crimson, Ram's frantic legwork allows her to somehow withstand the sensation of her body as it borders on collapse.
The sharp, stabbing pain flashes just above her brow—in the very centre of her forehead. Ram finds the agony originating from the faint scar there a bothersome thing, her clicking her tongue at it.
Behind her, Otto's voice cracks as he shrieks. Annoying. It was no one but Ram who best understood that the situation had nosedived. It wasn't that any of Garfiel's attacks had hit her. With those thoughtless, opening-laden swings, trying to get hit would be the more difficult option. These screams are annoying. Wanna hit him.
Ram: “—hhu.”
Giving a short breath, Ram's unsteady feet kick off of the ground. Immediately, the tiger's claws swing down to strike the land she jumped from. Clods of dirt spring into the air, the dirt projectiles mixing with vivid red droplets as Ram spins, dances to evade. She was obviously on a time limit, but by some way or another, she could move. She kicks the tiger's exposed jaw from below, the creature shrieking as she follows with another strike from her other leg. She uses her momentum from the kick to backflip into a retreat, taking range and then making touchdown, only for her stance to instantly crumble.
Ram: “—a,”
Garfiel: “——Ϡ!”
A hair's breadth. Ram is slow to dodge the claws as they slice through a tuft of her hair, pink scattering as it dances through space. That she dodged that strike was complete coincidence. If her feet had not just happened to slip, then Ram's head would have unmistakably burst like a red fruit. Feeling that she is in proximity of death, feeling something indescribable rushing up her spine, Ram's red lips tear into a grin as she howls.
The exhilaration of battle. Her forehead scar throbs, something between pain and an itch flooding down her whole body. Her broken horn. Proof of being oni. In order to fully demonstrate Ram's potential, she absolutely needed her horn to amass mana from the inexhaustible ambient supply. Her body, having lost the organ, could not demonstrate even a tenth of its actual ability. She understood beforehand that should she overtax her body like this, she would immediately be hit with a backlash.
She had thought to ready the requirements regardless, for if she ended this in a quick fistfight, she wouldn't lose. And yet.
Ram: “—You've become strong, Garf.”
Ram's murmur overflows with an emotion she rarely shows to others. Of course Otto seldom witnessed it, and even Subaru's sightings of it were sparse. This was the kind of emotion she would show to her family, vanished from her memory.
With the gentle smile still etched upon her face, her fists beat and beat the tiger's face mercilessly. She feels his tough skin on her fists. Her hands have lost their hardness, the recoil from each strike hitting her directly, breaking the bones in her hand. It feels good. She's fighting. She's living. This exhilarating sense of killing, being killed. What dominates her is abounding euphoria. More. More. There is more after this. There is yet another dimension to reach.
Her right hand shatters, no longer capable of forming a fist. The tiger with its crushed face bellows. Breath like a windstorm looms in before her, her left hand slices through the wind to gouge the thin skin on the tiger's neck. Blood spouts, the flesh her fingers hook tears down, away, the blood spouts. Sanguine speckles her white cheeks gruesomely, the lick of her tongue on sweet iron intoxicating. If her shattered right hand is useless, constrict their neck with her arm. The neck's width far exceeds her own body, one arm will never make it. Soaring, grappling, using her legs too to strangle the beast's arteries, claws pressing in to tear her away—dodged. Put in all her body weight and, snap, goes her finger. The shriek feels good, like she's back home.
Ram: “Bgh, hgn, aggbh,”
This dance they're having is so fun, but her hazy head is aggravating. The bleed from her forehead shows no signs of stopping, her nose and mouth also beginning to overflow with blood. She has passed her limit, and her body is beginning to break down. Her body, receiving no mana to supplement it, cannot keep up with the potential vested in Ram's nerves as they operate her flesh. Ram continues to move at blazing speeds, still evading Garfiel's claws. This is combat ability so overwhelming that not even a single strike grazes her. But the wicked hands of destruction indeed gorge upon her flesh as they seek her end. Before the claws or fangs can land any hit, she will be over.
Ram: “—egh, ghh,”
Immediately after taking a deep breath in, a deep breath out, the overflowing stuff spills out of Ram's mouth in a torrent. The blood splashes to the ground, and as if the expelled stuff were Ram's very energy, her body loses its strength. Her shoulders slump, her legs collapse. The beast surely would not overlook this moment. Its beaten and enraged visage bares its fangs, swinging its paw to strike Ram's slim body.
However, it—
Otto: “Aaaauauuueh! Dona!!”
Alongside the screeched canto, a wall of earth shoots up from the ground. It cuts in the space between Ram and the tiger's paw, dulling the attack's force for only an instant before immediately being torn to smithereens. But in that single instant a force drags Ram's body back, and with all the possible strength it has, flings Ram backwards.
—She gets the sense that this is the second time someone has thrown her like this during a fight.
She soars through the air, dazedly staring at the sky as that out-of-place sentiment hits her. The impact of her back to the ground robs her of her breath, while she nonetheless swiftly raises her head to register the situation. There in front of her, in the place she had just been, now stands Otto. It seems he had both judged Ram's condition as odd and the situation as disadvantageous, and so plunged himself in. But even having said that, surely there's nothing he can do—
Garfiel: “——Ϡ!”
Enraged that a powerless creature has intruded on the battle between itself and Ram, the tiger intimidates the pale young man with a forest-jolting bellow. Should he freeze, he would assuredly become food for those fangs. At a juncture which demanded immediate action, Otto balls his hands into fists and stomps the ground as—
Otto: “——ϡ!”
—His slender throat expels the exact same bellow as that of the beast's. This was the BLESSING OF XENOGLOSSY that Ram had heard about prior. He had bragged that so long as it was an intelligent lifeform, be it a dragon or a critter, or even an insect, he could speak with it. Apparently the power could even communicate with Garfiel, transformed into A BEAST DEVOID OF RATIONALITY.
Ram couldn't tell what Garfiel's roar sounded like to Otto. And she cannot tell what Otto's response made Garfiel feel.
But this exchange of roars does create a brief opening before the beast can unleash its claws and fangs. That period is more than enough time for Ram to realise Otto's true motives in throwing her.
Garfiel: “——Ϡ!”
Otto: “—ϡ! Aaeuh! That's, my throat's limit...”
Struggling to withstand a shriek liable to literally draw blood, Otto presses down on his throat as he coughs. Punctuating the end to this conversation, the tiger raises its paw, aiming to annihilate Otto with a single strike. Otto raises his hands before him, his expression determined as he screams in desperation.
Otto: “El Dona!!”
A thick wall of earth extends before Otto, who neglects to finish watching the thing form as he sprints backwards. The tiger's paw breaks through the wall in pursuit, kicking up a whirling plume of dust, looming in on the fleeing Otto's torso—for a direct hit. The slender man flies through the air like a dead twig, plunging nonstop through bushes and trees.
Whether he lives or dies is entirely determinant on Otto's fortitude. Ram pays no attention to the result of his decision and actions. To pay no attention in itself was the deed most appropriate to repay Otto for what he had done.
Ram: “Garf. —Transforming truly was a misstep.”
Announces Ram to the tiger, which turns to attack her next. Leaning against a tree and freed from the exhilarating feeling of blood, Ram steadily regains her composure, her wand grasped in her barely-operational left hand, its point aimed at Garfiel.
Mana—shifting.
Ram: “Supposing you had even a speck of reasoning ability left, I doubt you would have overlooked me.”
Garfiel: “—”
The tiger scrunches its nose warily. But does nothing further. It has no idea what is coming. The eyes of the dimwitted tiger do not understand what it means that Ram IS STANDING AMID A MASS OF WHITE LIGHT.
Having transformed, and over the course of its fight with Ram ravaged the earth, the trees, the forest, the residents of the woods regard the tiger as an irredeemably violent and wicked guy—
Ram: “I'm not bungling this the way he did.”
Garfiel: “—!”
Realising something, the tiger stoops low as it charges for Ram. Too late.
Ram: “—Al Fula.”
The mana congregated from the rage of the forests' residents assembles at the tip of Ram's wand, bursting into an explosion of light.
—The forest fight in SANCTUARY now, concludes.
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
Getting the feeling that he just heard a beast roar, Subaru stops walking and glances behind him.
Subaru: “Nah, no way.”
It's way too early for that, is Subaru's very simple impression. It had been perhaps twenty minutes since he asked Otto to buy time and parted with him. It's questionable whether Otto has even departed on the carriages yet, and there's no conceivable way the situation could've progressed that far.
He does come up with the theory that his anxiety is making him hallucinate, but that thought is actually the terrifying one. Just how unconsciously anxious about this situation is he?
Subaru: “Gotta believe, gotta believe. Otto's devoting himself to buying time. After all, he said that he'll spill everything once Garfiel catches him... and we didn't tell the Arlam villagers anything they didn't need to know, so they shouldn't be targets.”
The context for Garfiel attacking the villagers and by extension Subaru as they attempt to leave, by Subaru's speculation, was whenever he has spoken with Garfiel about the Lewes doubles. Meaning that Garfiel doesn't want information about the Lewes doubles to leak outside. Subaru didn't know what the root reason for that is, but if Garfiel doesn't exterminate everything which might know about them, he cannot be at ease. The loop where he slaughtered all the villagers except Subaru probably resulted from his inability to determine whether or not Subaru had leaked information to one of his fellow escapees.
How much trust Garfiel would place in Subaru's assertion that he didn't tell them was a bet, but he had a mysterious conviction that if he sincerely emphasized the point, Garfiel would probably be receptive. Garfiel does not seem the type to deal with finnicky thinking well. Perhaps Subaru's impression came from some idea where all he had to do was hand Garfiel some basis that'd allow him to settle the matter without really thinking it over.
Subaru: “And according to Otto, we've got Ram's help secured. Worst case, so long as he's not cornered, he shouldn't try laying hands on her...”
If there's anything to worry about, it's the possibility that Ram will provoke Garfiel more than necessary. The two have known each other for a long time, and share a past that Subaru can't quite deduce. If some fissures erupt thanks to their mutual backstory, that could lead to an unforeseen development. But the reasoning for Ram agreeing to help them was so that Roswaal would keep living in a world diverged from the gospel, and she should autonomously work to keep on that path. Or at least that was how Subaru interpreted it, and figured that she would need to cooperate with him and Otto to achieve it. Even if Otto's icebreaking dissatisfied her, she would surely, probably go along with it.
Subaru: “Believing in you, Sister. No matter how unreliable Otto is, please listen to him.”
Putting palm to palm, Subaru prays his utmost for their safety. Unaware that the two had gone off and made a decision skirting the boundary of life and death of their own accord, Subaru finishes his solitary prayer.
Subaru: “Okay, time for me to fill my role then.”
Tugging his cheeks to psych himself up, Subaru gives a shake of his head before proceeding forth. The moment that Subaru's foot steps inside the gaping entrance, the unpleasant sensation of freediving, plummeting through air—of his guts floating upward assaults him.
Subaru: “Euhghhh...”
Putting his hand to his mouth, Subaru forces the welling nausea back down as the treads onward. This perpetual feeling of floating. The sense that with every step, his guts are strewn in further disarray. The overwhelming discomfort of his blood seemingly flowing backwards, of the air slathering its tongue over his eyeballs. Sustaining a great sense of rejection while the world does everything it can to rebuff Natsuki Subaru, Subaru takes deep breath after deep breath, his hand to the wall and his face pale as he drags his feet onward.
Subaru: “Stop, being so cold... y'know this does, actually sting...”
Having anticipated this, Subaru left his stomach empty in advance. Regardless this stomach-churning nausea demands that gastric juices spill from his mouth. Subaru forces the feeling down, and forces his eyes open, as he frantically creeps step after step.
And—
Subaru: “Ah, thank goodness. —Finally found you.”
Having proceeded entirely down the short distance of what felt like an endless path, Subaru's shoulders slump in relief. Opposite Subaru, leaning against an aged wall, seated there in the dirty and dusty corridor with her hands hugging her knees, the girl looks up at him with an expression of astonishment.
???: “Su, baru?”
While her voice is faltering, the fact that she called his name confers him full satisfaction.
Subaru settles himself down beside the seated girl—
Subaru: “Now—let's talk, Emilia-tan.”
Using the same icebreaker as back then, when he could not entirely accept his mistakes, this time it is Subaru who initiates.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login