CHAPTER 33: A PATHWAY ESCAPED OF WIND
Eyes lowered, Frederica speaks of her brother.
The emotion packed in her gaze is complex, containing both something troubled and something loving. That might just be common thing to feel in response to a blood relative. Subaru: “Even if he can physically break through the barrier, his mental problems mean he won't cross it... that's how you're thinking?”
Frederica: “He did not respond when I, his elder sister, called him to it. He came along to the verge of leaving the barrier, but ultimately elected to to stay inside and pass his time with grandmother rather than go with me.”
Subaru: “Grandmother... you mean Lewes-san?”
Frederica: “He may not speak kindly, but he truly does adore grandmother. It's unthinkable he would come outside if grandmother's utmost wish is not fulfilled.” Though Garfiel's disrespectful attitude of going 'the granny the granny the granny' stood out, it was obvious Garfiel harboured familiar love which surpassed casual friendliness towards Lewes. Subaru had called him a tsundere before, and that might've been spot on in some respect. Subaru: “In the end, this doesn't change anything about conquering the TRIAL and freeing SANCTUARY being essential conditions. Say it's disappointing and it's sorta disappointing.”
Frederica: “I apologize for my failure to answer to your expectations. ...If there is anything further you would like to ask...” Subaru: “Within answerable range, yeah?” Frederica: “I do apologize for that.”
Subaru: “Is asking about Roswaal's real intentions an okay topic?” Frederica: “The Master supports Emilia-sama, and would intend to see her as Ruler of Lugnica. I will declare that no purchase exists for doubt on this matter.”
Subaru: “That you're prefacing your answer to 'his real intentions' with this means that you don't think Roswaal's actions right now're really following with that either, yeah?” Frederica: “He has chosen oblique and roundabout methods, would be a notion neither Ram or I would deny.”
Frederica's expression as she answers is pained, as if she's accepting Subaru's doubt as being natural, but is prohibited to provide the key that will unravel said doubt. Meaning,
Subaru: “Can't say anything more about it without said Roswaal's permission.” Frederica: “My apologies. But that much alone... the Master is your and Emilia-sama's ally, Subaru¬sama. As long as you would possess a will to prevail in the Royal Selection, that much is assured.”
Subaru: “That wording is crazy bothering me, but... well, fine. Nevermind Roswaal, I've gotten this feeling figuring it's probably okay to trust you, Frederica.” Something something hard making judgements if you're as nutso into Roswaal as Ram
Subaru likes Ram as an individual, that that didn't equate to absolute trust in her. It's a complicated relationship. Either way, so long as Roswaal's staying put as the absolute in her order of priorities, being that Subaru can't completely trust Roswaal right now, he has to put his judgement of Ram on hold.
Subaru: “If you can't talk about Roswaal's real intentions... what does SANCTUARY being a test site mean? Garfiel called it that.”
Frederica: “A test site—you say.”
Subaru: “Also called it a packing of shit for guys with no destinations. After that talk on demihumans we just had honestly I can imagine what 'no destination' means. And that Roswaal's demihuman fancy or whatever he calls it is making half-bloods without any destination live in SANCTUARY. But,”
Subaru: “Even if it's not the WITCH OF ENVY, if people knew his family's had custody of a witch-related facility for generations, I'd say it'd be a pretty big thing. I heard there's no documents left or blah blah whatever, but actually there's still a whole cemetery around.”
Frederica: “The meaning of the word 'witch' in itself has shifted to a negative one. I would doubtless say that people would not regard the Master's contract relation, the WITCH OF GREED, as something appropriate, either. I believe that concerns would be exactly in line with your thoughts, Subaru-sama.”
Subaru: “Glad there's consensus on SANCTUARY's existence being an issue. So, would it being a test site further overwrite that consensus for me?”
Frederica: “...This location by nature was a hidden village of half-bloods, that the WITCH OF GREED may conduct a certain experiment. It is unclear what negotiations passed between the witch and the plot's landlord, the Mathers household, but that contact would reason why the Mathers household has come to be managing and maintaining SANCTUARY for generations, or some such.”
Nodding to Frederica's faltering speech, Subaru sorts his information. Subaru'd basically put together this much from the indirect statements he'd been getting from the people in SANCTUARY. So the problem is,
Subaru: “What was the witch testing using half-bloods, and why is Roswaal still obeying the contract even after the witch's death... or so.”
Frederica: “The reason for the latter would be simple. The content of the contract is 'OVER THE PERIOD UNTIL SANCTUARY IS FREED, MAINTAIN SANCTUARY IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PLEDGE SHARED WITH THE WITCH.' Should people not enter the place at regular intervals, the environment known as SANCTUARY would fail to stand.”
Subaru: “And so half-bloods with circumstances are getting the hidden village treatment. Just hearing that, it's possible to think what Roswaal's doing is part of some philanthropy.”
Being that discrimination exists, places where half-bloods could be guaranteed safety were necessary. If Roswaal's the one fulfilling that role, then Subaru would have to re-evaluate his judgement of him. However,
Subaru: “Doesn't seem like it's entirely people who wanna stay there, though. The guys following with Lewes-san and wishing for SANCTUARY's freedom are the majority, right?”
Frederica: “...The prejudiced view against demihumans has considerably thinned. That my brother and I entered SANCTUARY was more heavily due to simply lacking anywhere to go, rather than our blood. SANCTUARY will be freed one day. —Which is precisely why I...”
Shutting her eyes, Frederica cuts off her sentence. Subaru falls silent, and after leaving some time, hesitatingly broaches the topic.
Subaru: “This might just be me getting myself stuck on some idea, but... was it maybe because you were thinking about what would happen after SANCTUARY was freed, that you left?”
Frederica: “...Why would you believe such?”
Subaru: “You're saying why well, you're expression's so sad when you're talking about SANCTUARY. That you left your home despite that means it has to be either for your own sake, or for others' sake. And so...”
Scratching his cheek, the image of a blond, short-haired young man rises in Subaru's mind. He was exactly like this kindhearted woman before him, entirely words and not at all upfront.
Subaru: “If you share your little brother Garfiel's trait of hiding his true feelings, then it wouldn't be weird for your actions to have an underside so thoughtful it's embarrassing. Y'know you... left SANCTUARY to create a place for the people leaving a freed SANCTUARY to go, so things wouldn't turn problematic for them, right? You're working here because of course you have a debt to Roswaal, but that's not all of it. ...I mean is just kinda the sorta way I'm thinking.”
Aware halfway through that he's making some incredible leaps in logic, Subaru bears the embarrassment as he glances at Frederica. If she laughs him off for a wrong guess, then all this was was Subaru getting too into it and embarrassing himself. But,
Frederica: “I desired that, when the new world one day opened... I would be to guide them into it.”
Says Frederica, a smile rising on her face. It was not an expression of ill will towards a misaimed Subaru, but of reinspecting her own heart, and the following liberation of speaking sincerely with another.
Frederica: “I, raised there, want to craft an environment which'll foster the desire to leave there. If I'm even the slightest of help in crafting that environment, my... my perhaps-undesired birth would surely have meaning.”
Subaru: “Undesired, that's...”
Frederica: “Consolations would be unnecessary. Particulars being particulars, it is unthinkable that my mother grew heavy with me while desiring so. She abandoned myself and my brother in SANCTUARY and left. With that answer... but, with merely that answer was not how I wished to allow the story to end, and so I am now here.”
It's a problem Frederica's already reached the answer for.
Knowing only the surface circumstances, Subaru's sympathy effects her heart not. She had already embraced the answer she had come to herself, and chose not to end it on that answer alone.
—Strong, Subaru thought sincerely. Conviction so strong, as to be admirable.
Subaru: “...Does Garfiel know about your true feelings? If he knows, but still didn't come out...”
Frederica: “My brother is the only one to whom I have told everything I harbour. That he regardless did not accompany me... would have been his choice. Rather than leave to procure something difficult to obtain, he chose to be present to protect something simple to lose. That us siblings have split paths, would entirely be merely that.”
Subaru: “Protect... protect, yeah. Didn't think he was the kinda character to pick that option, going off his looks. Well, not like people's hearts are something understandable from the outside.”
Rubbing his chin, Subaru drinks the rest of his tea in a single sip, and holds back a burp. He wipes his mouth the back of his hand.
Subaru: “So,”
Subaru: “Feels like this's gonna get dodged so back to topic, what's going on with the term TEST SITE. Is the content of what those tests were doing something you can talk about? ...Or, do you know the content?”
Frederica: “Unfortunately, I would not know of the content nor purpose of this affair. The continuation of the testing became impossible once the WITCH OF GREED had passed away. Merely the facility remains, and the Mathers household maintains it, would be all the matter is.”
Subaru: “Thinking like that this didn't go anywhere. I've got it sunk into me that keeping promises's important, but what the heck's the point of keeping a promise 400 years after the partner's died?”
Frederica: “Were it not for the Master's family preserving that promise, I doubt my brother and I's childhood would have been especially peaceful.”
Subaru: “Ueg... Um, that's... I wasn't thinking. Sorry.”
Frederica snickers at Subaru's sincere apology and empties her cup as well. She collects the two teacups, standing up.
Frederica: “We have gone speaking for some time. Allow us to take a pause. What shall you do now, Subaru-sama?”
Subaru: “I just came here alongside getting the Arlam villagers back to the village. After I get to ask what I wanna ask, I'll go straight back... but saying that, seems tight today so it'll probably be tomorrow morning.”
Frederica: “I see. Petra will be in high spirits tonight and tomorrow morning. Although considering her concentration will be apt to faltering, it is difficult to say whether that is a good thing.”
Subaru: “So long as her studies're vaguely going forward. Where's she now?”
Frederica: “I believe she will have returned to village, and be meeting with those who have returned. I had advised her beforehand to do so.”
Sasuga Frederica for having had already considered Subaru's intentions before he even voiced them. Subaru stands from his chair too as Frederica carries off the cups, counting off on his fingers the things he has left to do.
What he's heard from Frederica is half of everything he wanted to hear about. But it gave him enough information to do some speculating. All that's left is to find the final person who seems to know the details of things.
Subaru: “Gonna take time, but for now let's try going one-by-one through the mansion...”
Subaru's shoulders droop at the imminent HEAVY LABOUR of OPENING DOORS. Glancing at his back as she leaves the room, Frederica says quietly,
Frederica: “I don't know the content or purpose... but, I do know the outcome alone of the test site. When they know, when it becomes known... now, just how will they think?”4
Her muttering doesn't reach Subaru.
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
Everyone in the mansion knows what a fucking pain Beatrice's GATE CROSSING is, but Subaru's true realization of it came after returning from the Capital.
His instinct for multiple-choice situations was one of the few things Subaru could have self-pride in. His trait of picking the correct answer for no real reason had at least helped him by contributing to his probabilities in encountering Beatrice. But ever since returning from the Capital, that instinct hasn't been working too well.
Subaru: “'Sweird. This should've been the last door in the mansion...”
Closing the door to the bathroom, Subaru gives a disappointed sigh and tilts his head. This makes his score on the Beako Guessing Quiz since getting back from the Capital Wins: 1 Losses: inestimable. Considering that his accuracy had been almost 100%, this wasn't something to call a slump. Subaru has to accept it.
Subaru: “It's like she's seriously goddamn avoiding me.”
Ram had once said that there was no being which could beat Beatrice's GATE CROSSING when she's serious, but Subaru defied that magnificently. He developed a kind of superiority complex toward Beatrice, not so much because he beat her GATE CROSSING, but because he had an advantage against her that no one else in the mansion did.
Subaru: “Even with how that last parting went, there's no one who holes up with this much vigour. ...If she doesn't show herself, I can't argue, or apologize.”
Subaru has no idea what he said that made her reject him that hard. Had no idea, but if he remained separated by physical distance like this, then he would continue to have no idea about the things he
4 No subject specified for this sentence. She probably means Subaru but since it's foreshadowy I'll play it safe. had no idea about. He hated that. He had things he wanted to ask her, and even ignoring that last-ditch reasoning, Subaru wanted to see Beatrice and just talk with her. He was fine with getting insulted. He didn't care if she mocked him. He had an everyday life he had lost. He couldn't bear losing another one. He knew that even that was a selfish idea.
Subaru: “Are Puck and Beatrice seriously not gonna talk at all at vital moments?”
Neither Puck or Beatrice are showing themselves when Emilia and Subaru are seeking them most. Blah blah Elsa's coming can't repel her so best choice is to evacuate those in the mansion.
Getting Rem and Petra out of the mansion won't be difficult. Frederica will probably come if Subaru appeals to her professional sense. The problem's just Beatrice. In a loop cut from the anime, Subaru attempted to bring her out of the mansion and failed. That Subaru left her behind then was because he knew the attacking cultists weren't aiming for the mansion. But now is different. Elsa will invade the mansion, and won't hesitate to brandish her blades. Regardless of Emilia's absence, her knives'll only be thinking of slicing open the guts of everything inside the mansion.
Subaru doesn't actually know Beatrice's combat strength. He doesn't know, but he does know that Elsa's a monster strong enough to go tit-for-tat with Emilia plus Puck, and by Subaru's imagination might even be able to match Wilhelm. Subaru can't envision Beatrice winning against her.
Subaru: “Maybe I'm just way too overconscious of Elsa being a problem. ...Kinda natural when she's killed you three times. —Oop.”
Rubbing at the phantom pain in his stomach, Subaru stops in his advance down the hallway. His gaze fixes on a conspicuously gold-plated door, the gateway to the central room on the uppermost floor—Roswaal's office. Subaru knows that just going on in while the master's away is more than bad manners, but,
Subaru: “Right, there was something I wanted to check here.”
Says Subaru as he pushes the door open without any particular enthusiasm and enters the room. There's been no changes here since he came round checking all the mansion's doors, so it's still exactly the same as when Subaru had Otto sorting the paperwork. Subaru glances around the room, heading for two bookshelves in the back of the room beside the ebony desk.
Subaru: “Hidden passage'll be behind these bookshelves.”
Subaru's confirmed the existence of the hidden passage twice—it's probably some kind of escape route or something, but Subaru doesn't know how to activate its mechanism or where it leads.
Subaru: “It was open last time when Elsa attacked, and I think it's certain you can escape somewhere through this, but... when I went in before I froze to death partway through.”
A memory where he had ended as an ice sculpture, alongside witch cultists who apparently pissed off Puck. It was a terrible memory, of his fingers snapping off and limbs shattering, but since it ended without pain and a lot of it was blurry, it wasn't enough to send him trembling. However, death was death. Subaru didn't have intention in the slightest to look down on that.
Subaru: “If I know where the escape route leads, I can make hypotheses for the worst-case scenario. Or, you follow the escape route and enter back into the mansion or something. ...Don't think that'll be it, though.”
Being that ensuring safety is the highest priority, Subaru has to check the escape route. It probably leads somewhere in the mountains behind the mansion. If there's some kind of evacuation provisions prepared halfway through for emergencies and so on, then great.
Subaru: “And so to check, zip into the escape route... is what I was thinking, but...” The escape route's gimmick is 'do something and it'll move' right? Subaru tries out pushing on the bookshelf as hard as he can, but the jam-packed bookshelf does not yield an inch before Subaru's maximum arm power. Though there might be a chance of moving it if he takes the insides out and tries moving just the shelves, but, Subaru: “You can't take it that leisurely in a fast evacuation situation, so there should be some kinda switch or something or whatever to make it move.” Subaru checks under the desk and through the bookshelves, but he doesn't find anything switchlike.
Though he does discover a second bottom to the drawer and a bunch of gemstones packed inside, but he decides to file that little event away as a 'that didn't happen' among others. Subaru: “Have to call it quits, huh... Might not even be inside this room...” ???: “What isn't inside this room?” Subaru: “Well of course the hidden switch-ish something. I wanna take a peek in the hidden passage behind the bookshelves, but if I can't find that something then the story's stuck.” ???: “Oh, the escape path. That's this statue.” Petra tugs Subaru's sleeve as he tilts his head. Subaru looks over to where she's tugging him, his gaze following her pointing finger. Subaru: “Ohh,” Subaru: “In the corner of the room was a sculpture... is this where the trick is?” The sculpture is of a person seated in a chair, of size small enough to put on a desk. It possessed a weirdness about it, being in the sparsely-decorated office, but Petra approaches it without fear. Petra: “Tyah,” And with that little noise, the sculpture's neck twists. Twists so far it goes 180 degrees backwards. It looks like the thing's broken its neck, which makes Subaru's brows furrow, but Subaru: “Oh, oh, ohhh...” The noise of something heavy sliding sideways echoes through the room, the usual bookshelves breaking away from each other to the right and left before Subaru as he turns back. There appearing was a space large enough for a single person, an entrance into darkness. Seeing the appearance of the evacuation passage, Subaru balls his hand into a fist and strikes a pose.
Subaru: “Hereherehere it is. I'd been looking for it, thanks.”
Petra: “Huhuu, right? Big Sis Frederica taught me all about it. That this's an escape path for emergencies, so let's remember it.” Subaru: “Yup, thankyouthankyou. Now let's just dash... Petra, since when've you!?” Petra: “You're asking now!?” Petra had gotten involved in everything so smoothly that Subaru, in deep thought, was belated to notice her existence. Petra pouts.
Petra: “And when I rushed back, and even helped you... Subaru-sama, I do believe you rather mean.” Subaru: “No, I felt like I was alone but I still thought halfway through that I was talking with somebody. The delight of having my goal achieved overwrote that so I noticed late. Sorry-dorry.”
The little girl averts her face in displeasure. Subaru gives her head a light pat as he apologizes, and again looks toward the passage. Subaru: “By the way Petra, did Frederica tell you where this leads?” Petra: “Yes. Big Sis Frederica said it leads to a small cabin in the mountains in the back. It has a different barrier than the barrier for the witchbeasts, which means from outside you cannot tell it is there.”
Subaru: “Got it. Indeed it is a hidden passage. But I'm gonna check it with my own eyes too.” With it confirmed as exiting into the mountains, it could serve as an escape route or an invasion route. Subaru rolls up his sleeves, expression overflowing with motivation as he heads for the entrance. Petra's quiet footsteps follow behind him.
Subaru: “You're coming too, Petra?” Petra: “I can't?” Subaru: “It's not that you can't, but it's probably not gonna be anything interesting. I'm just going outta pure curiosity to see where it leads, then I'm coming back.” Petra: “Now would be my break hours, so I am also free. So it is okay if I come too, right?” Petra grabs the hem of her clothes, looking up at Subaru with puppy-eyes. Distancing her when she's so attached would make it hard to breathe. Subaru gives a sigh and a wry smile. Subaru: “It really is just going and coming back. You're a curious one, Petra.” Petra: “If I wasn't curious I wouldn't be here... I'm glad I'm a curious one.”
Not really getting what she's trying to say, Subaru smooths it over with a smile, takes her offered hand, and heads for the passage. The dark, hidden passage becomes a spiralling staircase, while the walls themselves become sources of dim pale-blue light. They're probably not going to lose the sight of the stair below, but knowing this passes through the underground, Subaru glances back.
Subaru: “The staircase's a little long and dark, so be careful not to slip.”
Petra: “If I slip will you save me?”
Subaru: “I'll hug you and we'll tumble down to the bottom's all that'll happen so please let me off on that... and if I can't stand back up afterwards it's gonna be too miserable to watch.”
Petra: “If that happens, I will care for you your whole life, Subaru-sama.”
Subaru: “I'm glad but getting there's terrifying!”
Having this exchange, Subaru takes the lead as they begin descending the staircase. A cool wind drifts up from below, prompting thoughts of a surely-not-there-Puck and sending shivers down Subaru's spine. It's not that he's scared of an impending non-existent death from freezing, but,
Subaru: “Going down while saying nothing's boring, and you might be scared Petra so let's talk.”
Petra: “Subaru-sama, do you realise that your palm is slightly sweaty?”
Subaru: “And you might be scared Petra so let's talk! How was everyone at the village?”
Petra looks at him with affectionate pity and goes along with the talk. Continuing the conversation to an extent that no silence falls, they proceed down the stairway for several minutes—when the staircase ends, and they reach a narrow passage. A little further down the passage will be a door, and what is behind that door will be an unexperienced zone for Subaru.
Subaru: “Going off how it feels, we're still just in the mansion's underground. If this passage goes all the way to the back mountains, this's a pretty long tunnel.”
Petra: “Escape route, escape path, tunnel, we can't decide what to call it.”
Subaru: “Yeah. In a wind blows from Mexico meaning, let's call it Santana.”
Petra: “Ah, don't trip, there's a bump there.”
Petra beautifully ignores Subaru's bullshit. Subaru feels delight at her rise in Subaru Proficiency and also loneliness. Continuing down the passage, they finally arrive at a somewhat wider space. A door rises dimly out of the darkness ahead, verifying that there is a room here. This spot had been cramped with frozen cultists last time, but naturally this time there are no traces of that. Subaru gives a relieved sigh.
Subaru: “Obvious but looks like this's settled without tripping my trauma switch. So anyway getting here would be about a third of the way to the cabin on the mountain?”
Petra: “The air's cold... maybe on the other side of the door.”
Subaru: “Yeah,”
Subaru: “Last time I got a game over just after touching the door. What's ahead is somewhere completely unknown... well, we'll check it out as we follow the road.” Subaru puts his hand to the door.
Pushes it open, and with his face bathed in the rush of cold wind pouring into the room— Subaru: “—ah?” —Subaru realises that something has struck his stomach.
He lowers his gaze to see his chest, stricken on the left side. Something like a skewer protrudes from his belly, the rear end quivering as if to prove it had only just struck him. —Seeing the blood seeping into his clothes, Subaru's throat freezes.
Petra: “Aah—!?” His throat blocked with shock, Petra shrieks in Subaru's place as she notices the wound. Her scream echoes far through the narrow passage, hammering on Subaru's eardrums. In the instant before the pain hits, still not understanding what happened, Subaru forces himself to think with all his strength.
Petra's shriek leaves a wake. It echoes through through the passage, driving out noise, her voice the only thing audible. Subaru nevertheless hears something he supposedly should not. Footsteps, the sound of a blade leaving its sheath, and— ???: “Now, let's fulfil our promise—” —wetting their lips and trembling for the oncoming slaughter, the voice of a murderer.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login