CHAPTER 24: HE WAITED
The first things that plunges into Subaru's consciousness is discomfort. Subaru: “Ueuegh! Oeue! Ubggelgh!” He feels something like gravel and grit dancing atop his tongue, which he coughs out as he opens his eyes wide. The world around him is black, and he vaguely feels a cold touch across his whole body. Focusing his attention on that sensation, he realises that he's toppled sideways, and with further casual inspection of the surroundings, understands that he is inside an old, familiar ruin.
Subaru: “Inside the, tomb?” This sensation of puking gravelly shit out of his mouth is a pretty recently-had one, too. Meaning, Subaru: “Right after the first TRIAL? Came back this far... no, more importantly,” If this really is right after Subaru's first TRIAL, then that means, Subaru: “Emilia!” And he finds the silver-haired girl at his side, collapsed in the darkness. Subaru nears her and sees the anguish in her expression, but hesitates one moment to reach out his arm and touch her. He knows that if he touches her, regardless of what's going on in her TRIAL, the thing will be interrupted and she'll return. It's highly likely it will result in her failing from a third party's hands. Subaru needs to pay extreme caution regarding touching Emilia inside the tomb. But,
Subaru: “I already know this attempt won't work...” Subaru shakes his head to kill his hesitation. He gently lifts her body up, burning the image of her sleeping face into his memories, settling her in his arms. Emilia's anguished expression instantly recedes, herself being guided back to wakefulness. Emilia: “Suh, bahru?” Subaru: “Yeah, that's right. It's me, Emilia-tan. Are you okay?” Subaru answers Emilia with a reassuring smile while waiting for her to get a hold on the situation.
Waiting for her to remember what she was doing, to catch up with the results of her TRIAL, and to start bawling like a child. Waiting for his weakness, knowing she will break down crying, but being unable to do anything. Waiting for her purity, her acting firm regardless, and standing back up.
Holding her tenderly so she won't break, Subaru keeps Emilia in a strong embrace until she calms, never letting go.
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
It's after a bawling Emilia gets brought to Lewes' house and put to bed by Ram that Subaru calmly begins sorting the situation and his RETURNING BY DEATH.
The others wanted to hear about what happened inside the tomb, but Subaru declined them by asking to wait until Emilia woke up first, so he was now alone. He stares up at the night sky outside Lewes' house, bathed in wind, his feelings complex.
Subaru: “But either way... again, huh?”
Touching the left side of his stomach, Subaru's fingers confirm the non-existent wound. A deep, gouging cut, from which his intestines had spilled. He thought that getting chances to see one's own internal organs was not a particularly common thing, but Subaru's personal experiences of exactly that had already placed him easily superior to most in the world.
Subaru: “Whether I'm happy about that's another story. I don't have twisted sympathies that make me feel hungry or ecstatic or whatever at seeing my own stuff... someone who would'd be...”
The words float up in Subaru's mind.
???: <—Didn't I tell you? Didn't we promise?>
A sensual, female voice. Subaru remembered that voice, that promise, and that deviancy to the point he was sick of it. This wasn't the first time Subaru had had his stomach slashed open like this.
Subaru: “This's seriously where the GUTHUNTER makes her reappearance... gimme a break...”
Putting his hand to his forehead, Subaru laments as he looks up to the sky. Arising in his mind is the image of a beautiful woman, her long hair the same black as Subaru's. She was a killer who wielded wicked blades, and had robbed Subaru of his life twice. Elsa Granhiert.
Subaru: “I didn't see them, but it was almost definitely Elsa. Actually I don't wanna think there's others like that around. We'll say it's Elsa.”
In Subaru-time it's been over two months since he last ran into her, but in real time it's barely been one month. The wound she gave him back then supposedly hadn't been shallow, but it had already completely healed.
Subaru: “Safe to think the wound's gone, I guess. Considering healing magic, it's like this world's one where you can do something about anything so long as it isn't death. And getting on that topic, I'dve already died heaps of times... I mean, I actually did die, but.”
Hard to get a grasp on this when he's had so many cases of being on the brink of death and reviving, and being on the brink of death and just dying. Either way, Subaru concludes that the threat which attacked the mansion was Elsa. The problem now is—
Subaru: “Why Elsa was in the mansion, and what happened to Frederica and Petra.”
When Subaru arrived in the mansion, the place still had slight feelings of being lived-in. Petra's room had its lights on, and the entry hall was bright. The office had been used to access the escape passage, so that one could excluded. But considering those two lights,
Subaru: “At least, nothing had happened until that night... maybe?”
It's difficult to make a conclusion about. Subaru takes considerations not to rush it. If the lights in Petra's room, the entry hall, and the office had been left on for a whole day, Subaru's thoughts that they'd been safe until that night might be mistaken. But if you were going to raise a point to reject that hypothesis, it would be the lights' sustained operation time.
Subaru: “Different from lagumite crystals, crystalights need to charge on the mana in the atmosphere throughout the day. I know from experience that if they're left on, they won't stay continuously operational for half a day.”
Subaru's had an experience of forgetting to turn off the crystalights and being suddenly plunged into darkness while studying his writing in the mansion.
Subaru: “If they were left on since afternoon, it's strange they'd still be alight at night. It should be safe to discard the idea that the mansion's been empty since prior the day before. Which makes the limit... night of the sixth day. Now is night of the second day, so four days left. No, three and a half days.”
Subaru's remaining time limit is about 84 hours. His role for this time is,
Subaru: “Defending the mansion getting attacked by the GUTHUNTER, or otherwise securing the people in the mansion's safety.”
Subaru doesn't have definite proof that Frederica and Petra managed to safely escape from that snakelike, spiderlike killer. He didn't know where the escape path led, but if Frederica and Petra had evacuated the mansion, they should've been looking to meet up with their Master, Roswaal, in SANCTUARY. But despite that, Subaru's group hadn't run into Frederica's group on the way back to the mansion.
Subaru: “One idea is that stupid-long evacuation tunnel connected somewhere unknown and they escaped there. Otherwise...”
He didn't want to consider it, but another idea was they hadn't managed to escape. Subaru's had some notable experience with meeting powerful people in this parallel world, Elsa being one of them. Taking her pure combat power into account,
Subaru: “Above Julius, below Wilhelm-san... or about.” Subaru complains about her being just a little too tough of an opponent.
Subaru's fundamentally weak at the best of times. The power difference between him and her is that of a cat and a tiger. The chance of him winning is flat zero. And even considering the fight with her last time, ultimately it was the influence of a random element he'd run into and relied on that was huge.
Subaru: “If invincible Reinhardt-san could just happen to stop to by this time too, that'd be great, but... Even if he's the proper protagonist hot guy character, having him show up here'd be seriously asking too much.”
It'd be shameless opportunism, but gladly-welcomed shameless opportunism. Subaru sighs his futile escapism away.
Subaru: “Elsa's reason for going to the mansion... probably to same as last time, to interfere with the Royal Selection. Whoever's fucking hiring her's getting in Emilia's way.”
The case in the Capital of Emilia's insignia, stolen by Felt. Elsa was the one to hire Felt, and Elsa herself had been working for some secret mastermind. If you consider the particulars of who would steal the insignia, which qualified one to participate in the Royal Selection, from Emilia, then Subaru figures it was more than likely one of the rival factions. But,
Subaru: “After seeing the other candidates... doesn't feel you can fully assert that.”
Start with the perspective of hiring an assassin to rob the insignia. From that very juncture, Crusch is out. Subaru, who had seen Crusch's laudable character with his own eyes, could state that with his chest held high. Crusch was assuredly not the kind of person to do such a thing. Then, just by the circumstances, Felt is out. The only candidates left are Priscilla and Anastasia, but —
Subaru: “Priscilla... would that haughty young madame really favour a backstage fight like this? If I'm not misreading her, she's a person who seriously believes she's the centre of the world. Doubt she'd actively take these pre-measures. Which leaves Anastasia-san, but...”
The purple-haired merchant woman comes to Subaru's mind. Amid her her soft features was the spark of a sharp-nosed hunter, conscious of her own conduct and able to perfectly balance to anything—to the point that even Subaru had utilized this disposition of hers. Perhaps she would rationally choose to have another person eliminated. Her imaginations also likely could harbour the plan of hiring an outsider, and gleefully going through with a somewhat forbidden tactic. If there was any element to refute this theory, then,
Subaru: “Doubtful that Julius'd let that happen. Er no not like I've made any assessments about that guy or anything. Nope, but just, got that kinda feeling is all.”
Otherwise she may have concealed it from the COURTLIEST KNIGHT, but would she really go so far as to irreparably fracture their harmonious master-servant relationship? Subaru couldn't erase that doubt. Ultimately, Anastasia's faction could also be more or less discounted.
Subaru: “No candidates out of the candidates. But... even so, there's lots of leftover room for thought. Considering how, Emilia's treated.”
If the commissioner wasn't one of the Royal Selection candidates, it could simply be someone belonging to a faction who wanted Emilia out of the running. If this was someone who detested half-elf Emilia electing for a simplistic plan, it would further make sense. Speculating on whether anyone would go so far in itself meant Subaru's thinking was naïve. The hatred toward her half-elf lineage was just that ingrained.
Subaru: “But if that's true, then it's impossible to find out who the commissioner is. So long as Elsa herself doesn't spit it up.”
And Subaru lacked the power to make her spit it up. Going in circles. Ultimately, thinking over who could possibly deal with Elsa's attack,
Subaru: “It's disconcerting how weak our faction is. I'm completely useless. Otto's just number-filler. Emilia can put up a fight, if Puck's around. If you consider it turning into a drawn-out battle then Ram's stamina gives unease. Roswaal's injured so he's useless as ever. I don't know how much Frederica can do, and Petra possibly being a cheat character with hidden power... isn't happening. Which means...”
Subaru reaches two ideas for breaking out of the deadlock. The first is to return to the mansion, and take Frederica, Petra, Rem, and Beatrice along in a retreat to SANCTUARY, avoiding Elsa's attack. The second was,
???: “—Hell're you doin' with yer dawdlin' out here?” Says Garfiel who comes out of the building and looks down at Subaru, seated on the ground and leaning his back against the wall. Subaru experiences the fresh and uncommon feeling of being looked down upon by the short Garfiel. He shakes his head. Subaru: “Nothing,” Subaru: “Just had some things I wanted to sort out, did some thinking. Emilia?” Garfiel: “Princess's still sleepin' like a damn log. Better hope it don't turn inta DAWN TO DAWN
MOROROK DOZES.” Subaru: “Dunno who he is, but this Mororok dozes too much.” Subaru stands up and faces Garfiel properly. He's half a head shorter than Subaru, with short blond hair. A sharp gaze and a white scar on his forehead. His oversharp canines and somewhat bestial body emit the willies. Self-confidence, possessed only by the strong. Subaru's second plan that came to mind for dealing with Elsa was this young man.
If the TRIAL was conquered and SANCTUARY was freed, Garfiel could leave this place. And if Garfiel was as strong as he boasted, Subaru anticipated he could fight Elsa. Subaru: “Hey, Garfiel.” Garfiel: “Nnwhet?”
Subaru: “You're the strongest, aren't you. You're confident you wouldn't lose to anyone, right?” Garfiel: “Ohh? Well 's obvious. My amazin' self'll right smash anyone, right bash anyone, right kill anyone 'n boast 'f the winnin'.”
Garfiel's self confidence doesn't waver a bit. Subaru nods.
Subaru: “There's a time coming very soon where your power'll be needed outside of SANCTUARY, I think. When that time comes, I'll probably be relying on your being the strongest.” Garfiel: “Wha?” Subaru: “Prove those words to me. This, is the thing which feels most reliable.” Subaru taps a confused Garfiel's shoulders, and heads inside Lewes' house. Ram, Lewes, and Otto's gazes fix on Subaru as he enters, Subaru heading toward Emilia's sleeping room.
Ram: “Barusu, Emilia-sama is still...”
Subaru: “Nwell, she should be waking up soon. —Emilia-tan, I know it's hard to show your face, but let's talk. Everyone's waiting for it.” Calls Subaru through the door, and the faint sound of breathing comes from the other side. A slight hesitation. And after a few seconds, the doorknob turns and there appears Emilia. She looks up at Subaru.
Emilia: “Um... I'm so sorry, for causing so many problems. Inside the tomb, and now...” Subaru: “The problems you cause aren't problems they're the things I wanna do everything's fine. More importantly, does anywhere feel heavy or hurt? If anywhere feels weird, I'll tenderly pat and stroke and heal it for you.”
Emilia: “Mm. It feels like I hit my hip when I fell down, it's kind of tingly...”
Subaru: “Right got it. Now, quickly and carefully I'll... Ram-san? Ram-san? Your wand is stabbing something in proximity of my liver!?” Ram has approached Subaru from behind and indeed has poked him with her wand. She wordlessly drives the point in deeper, punishing him until he yelps like a puppy and jumps away.
Ram: “Would you be feeling well, Emilia-sama? Please disregard Barusu's impolite statements and clearly inform me as to your body's condition.” Subaru: “It's amazing you haven't commented on what you just did! Look, I'm seriously bleeding a little here. Just how much force did you put in, piercing these thick-ish clothes?”
Subaru rubs at his still-painful waist. Ram shoots him a glance as if looking at a bug and snorts a breathy laugh, turning back to Emilia. Ram: “So, would you be well? If there are no issues, then...” Emilia: “Ri-right. I'm okay. We have to... talk about the TRIAL, right.” Emilia nods and continues into the middle of the room, Garfiel enters shortly after, and now we have the usual cast circled around Emilia. Emilia gives a stuttering explanation of what went on in the TRIAL, just like last time. If there's anything in this conversation that went different than before, then it's—
Otto: “Then, just why is Natsuki-san alright after entering the tomb?”
Asks Otto who raises his hand. Subaru had entered the conversation so little, that this question actually came up. Subaru: “Didn't I say? I went inside while having the QUALIFICATIONS. If you're gonna ask where I got them, it was probably afternoon in the cemetery. So, if you're wondering what happened when I went in... I took the same TRIAL Emilia-tan did. And it kinda looks like I passed.” A shake goes through the room at Subaru's statement, Emilia being the most surprised. She looks at
Subaru with confusion rising in her amethyst eyes. Subaru nods at her.
Subaru: “Just saying in advance, it's not like I got through the TRIAL because I was better. The TRIAL was facing your past. I had more or less worked that out, so it was just a bonus stage kinda thing for me.”
Lewes: “Don't know what this bohnas er whatsit is, but if yerve passed the TRIAL, Lil' Su... Hrmpm. That's sermthing werth serprise.”
Ram: “However, according to what Emilia-sama has said, the TRIAL doesn't end with simply one, correct? We can expect a continuation from the word 'first.'”
Subaru nods at Lewes and Ram, then examines Emilia. She's still silent, a wave of complex emotion in her eyes. Though Subaru can imagine what she's feeling, he shakes away his sweetness. Balancing the time limit against the difficulty of Emilia's TRIAL, there aren't many options for him to take. Thus,
Subaru: “When I beat the TRIAL, I heard... that if two challengers try the TRIAL at once, the next TRIAL won't start. The day has to change before you can enter.”
Ram: “...Mhm, meaning?”
Subaru: “If me and Emilia-tan enter the tomb together, Emilia-tan's TRIAL starting means my TRIAL... it means I can't take the second one.”
Otto: “Whawh, please wait, Natsuki-san.”
Otto plunges his hands into his grey hair, heedless of Subaru's suspicious gaze upon him.
Otto: “From where this conversation is going, you wouldn't also be intending to challenge the TRIAL, Natsuki-san? But, wasn't this something done for Emilia-sama's securing achievements in the...”
Subaru: “Idiot, Otto.”
Subaru's slow to hold Otto back as he blabbers on. Otto looks back on what he said, realising he mentioned something he shouldnt've, and hurriedly shuts his mouth. But everyone—including Emilia—had already heard it.
Emilia: “What did you just say?”
Subaru: “Let's calm down, Emilia-tan. That was, um...”
Emilia: “Don't cover it up, tell me. —Please, Subaru.”
Anyone who could deny a beautiful girl's tearfully-voiced entreaties was no man, and anyone who could deny such when it was Emilia was not Natsuki Subaru. His shoulders droop.
Subaru: “If you clear the TRIAL, Emilia-tan, the villagers from Arlam'll be released from being hostages, and the people of SANCTUARY can say goodbye to living bound to this land. If you can conquer the TRIAL, both camps'll give you support... was the real plan behind all this.”
Emilia: “...That was, it. You knew, Subaru?”
Subaru: “No, I had completely not at all noticed it until someone told me.”
Lies Subaru gallantly, chest high, before Emilia who can't hide her shaking. Ram and Otto look at him with gazes suggesting they're chewing something bitter, but Subaru shuts both of them up with a glance. He turns back to Emilia.
Subaru: “All of it was Roswaal's plot. I've honestly been suspecting his wounds were part of a bigger performance for this purpose.”
Emilia: “Even Roswaal wouldn't go that... as if, I can't finish saying that. Thinking about the situation, he would do something like that.”
Subaru something somethings about hating going along with the plot just joking haha not but demo soreyori
Emilia is confused, her head lowered slightly. Subaru bends down and looks up at her face from beneath. Her eyes tremble in surprise.
Subaru: “I want to be your strength. I don't know what you saw when you faced your PAST. But if it's something that makes you feel so much pain, that's so agonizing, that brings you that many tears, that makes it seem your heart will break... I want to offer you my hand.”
Emilia: “...Subaru.”
Subaru: “If it's just taking the TRIAL and freeing SANCTUARY, then there should be no problems with me doing it. If the achievement is necessary, then I give all I have to you. My achievements are your achievements. Everyone out there harbours a PAST... but deciding that all of those have to be sorted out doesn't make for anything good.”
They were the words Garfiel had told him, the previous loop. Emilia's eyes open in surprise. She bites her lip, expression thoughtful. Subaru knows what's conflicting her. In absolutely honesty, she should feel some desire to shrink back from this PAST she didn't want to face. Emilia is also a very pure person, who wouldn't even think of pressing painful roles on people. Exactly because of that, the conflict is huge.
Subaru couldn't clearly state that the remaining TRIALS would not wound his heart, as her PAST had wounded her.
Subaru: “It's all right if you're deliberating. I know it's not something you can immediately decide. —And because it's all right, I'd like you to try giving me at least tomorrow.”
Emilia: “Tomorrow?”
Subaru: “Either way, I'm not gonna be some evil instructor who drags an exhausted you to the tomb tomorrow and demands you take the TRIAL, Emilia-tan. While it also means we'll have some foresight into the second TRIAL, with me still having reserves left, I should be the one to challenge. And if it seems like I can beat the TRIAL, then that makes it a profit.”
And if he could get that profit in one day, then manage something over yet another day, then he could hope to free SANCTUARY by the day after tomorrow. This was the most ideal plan—no burden placed on Emilia, goal achieved, time left to rescue the mansion.
Subaru knew Emilia was wavering at his proposal. It did bother him that he was wheedling her when she was weak, but putting out a big condition upfront, and then following with a smaller, preferred condition was one technique of negotiation. Her presently being mentally unstable, she wouldn't have the capacity to reject the second, consolation plan after already denying the first. Tomorrow and the day after, Subaru would take and conquer the TRIALS. They could surely prepare another chance for Emilia to stand, taking the time she needed. But the timing here was bad. No time. This unreasonable fate had once again—
Garfiel: “Yer think yer gonna just move things ahead how yer like, with us shuttin' up n' followin' along?”
There comes the voice from behind Subaru, which had waited for this moment, just before Subaru's underhanded aims were realised. The obstacle has blond hair, his emerald-green eyes narrowed fiercely, his sharp canines clicking as he steps forth.
Garfiel: “'F it's not the Princess... not Emilia-sama takin' the TRIAL, then my amazin' self rejects it. 'T very least, 's you alone who I absolutely, absolutely, absolutely don't wanna get freed by.”
Subaru: “Wha—!?”
Unexpected words. Subaru swallows down their meaning, but unable to connect the content and the speaker, all Subaru does is voice his confusion. Garfiel bends forward.
Garfiel: “Listenin'? Want me t' repeat? My amazin' self ain't gonna accept anyone but Emilia-sama takin' the TRIAL. Thinka this's a condition comin' from me, that not even th' granny's gonna get'ta bend.”
Spits Garfiel, his nose scrunched up, displeasure in full display.
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