Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World – Vol. 8 Ch. 3

Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World. Volume. 8.

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‘Chapter 3:- THE MEANING OF HAVING RETURNED.’

 
Sub-chapter 1.

The return of Subaru & Co. with the bodies of their comrades was a great shock to those who had remained at the camp.

Fortunately, nothing had happened to the camp whatsoever, but the reports of combat and casualties in the forest spread gloom among the faces of those waiting in reserve. All shared the disappointment of not having been able to partake in the battle. Like the others, they too renewed their vows of support toward Subaru.

And, having linked up with additional allies, they began to discuss their plan of action henceforth.

However, the new issues and obstacles that had floated to the surface were all difficult ones. The existence of the Archbishop of Sloth continued to stand before the expeditionary force as a high wall impeding their progress.

“First, my report after examining the corpse of the second Sloth: As you can see, the corpse is a little different from that of the other Witch Cultists. There are traces of a strange ritual.”

The first to offer information was Ferris, once his examination of the madwoman’s corpse was complete. The word ritual brought a grimace to Subaru’s face.

“You mean one besides the Witch Cultists embedding magic crystals into themselves for suicide?”

“Exactly. The fusion was hard to see, but when I compared on a hunch, it became clear as day… I think the same Sloth-like cultists have the same setup.”

“So this setup, it’s the trigger for that authority thingy?”

“I don’t know that far. But when I think of some of the cultists getting this special treatment, it makes me suspect it has something to do with the weird power the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins controls.”

The information suggesting there were multiple Sloths had already been shared within the expeditionary force. Given Ferris’s examinations to date, the possibility loomed ever larger.

“If that’s so, the problem is how many Sloths besides these two are there, huh?”

“There have been two to date, but considering what it took to bring them down, the situation is extremely dangerous. Worst case, we should presume that it is possible all the individuals known as fingers are Sloths.”

“…That’s jumping ahead a little much, ain’t it? If they could all use that authority, they’d use it to hit back at us, right? But no one’s done that.”

“It would be so if the individuals known as fingers appeared as a group under the archbishop’s command.”

Julius’s reply didn’t really answer Subaru’s question. But Ferris and Ricardo registered agreement on their faces.

“I see, I see. In other words, I think Julius means the fingers are like the archbishop’s right hand and left hand.”

“—? Aren’t the right and the left hands both part of the same body?”

“Not that, more in the sense of your confidant or right-hand man. Weren’t you the one to guess what the fingers were to the Witch Cult to begin with, Subawu?”

“…Ah!”

After all that, Subaru finally clued into what the three of them were saying. Subaru knew of several cases where Petelgeuse had referred to his subordinates as fingers, but he’d had to guess heavily as to the details. In point of fact, Subaru had thought that the term fingers was what Petelgeuse used to refer to groups under his command.

But what if, instead, fingers was the name borne by several special cultists, and the same authority as Petelgeuse’s resided in each of them?

“So that’s saying that Petelgeuse was just one Sloth counted by the number of fingers?”

“If there are a maximum of ten, and each base has a single Sloth assigned to it, that might explain why we have been lucky enough not to give them an opportunity to strike back so far. That is being optimistic, however.”

“So that means three bases left, and three fingers to go…so we should assume there are three more of ’em.”

One should hypothesize the worst case in any situation. Casually dismissing the threat posed by the enemy came with a stiff price. Subaru had paid the heavy tuition fee for that lesson many times over.

And given the worst-case possibility they could hypothesize at present—

“—As soon as possible, I want to begin evacuating the mansion and the people in the village.”

“…To be honest, I was thinking that if you did not propose it, I would myself,” Julius agreed, closing one eye.

“Now that we are uncertain of having eliminated the menace of Sloth, our greatest concern should be for their future objective—to do harm to Lady Emilia and the villagers, I imagine.”

“There’s less than half of ’em left now, so we should assume they’re onto us bein’ after ’em. That bein’ the case, the biggest fear is ’em tryin’ to take folks down with ’em.”

With Julius and Ricardo in agreement, Subaru nodded, too, his worry evident in the creases of his brow. There was no mistaking that the Witch Cult was aware of the expeditionary force. The earlier raid had established that well enough.

“The second Sloth was waiting for us. They noticed us at some point. It’s fine for us to be exposed at this point, but it’s bad if our objective is exposed.”

On a combat level, it hurt to lose any advantage, but the expeditionary force’s biggest issue was accomplishing its goal of rescuing Emilia and the others. The Witch Cult ought not to have known just yet why Subaru & Co. had entered the Mathers lands.

If the Cult knew that both sides were after the mansion and village, both were certain to become battlefields.

“Right now, the Witch Cult hasn’t noticed that the plain is wide open yet. If we can get Emilia and everyone on dragon carriages, they should be able to make a clean getaway.”

“If Lady Emilia and the others escape, we can concentrate on subjugating the Witch Cult without any worries about the future. It’s really hard to fight with a weak point like that on your shoulders, meow. Especially for Ferri and Subawu.”

“Hurts to hear that…but that’s how it is.”

Having received Ferris’s dry approval, Subaru asked for any objections to the plan. Fortunately, with time so precious, no objections were raised, so Subaru slapped his knee and made the call.

“Thanks, big help. We’ll take the traveling merchants with us and all go to the village. No leaving me behind, okay?”

“From here, there is no telling when the remaining Sloths might attack. Your eyes will be irreplaceable, yes?”

With Julius’s roundabout assent, the expeditionary force’s plan was set.

“Ohh. So you’re finally calling on us, then. It’s a relief to get some work.”

As it turned out, the traveling merchants were unexpectedly eager when they finally received the order to move out. Sitting and waiting seemed to suit them poorly.

Everything about the Witch Cult was, as usual, shrouded in mystery. But with the current setbacks, there was no option but to rely on their hauling capacity to fulfill Subaru’s long-delayed goal.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, too, Patlash… Hey, don’t be that angry, geez.”

“—”

Patlash, left behind at camp while Subaru walked through the forest without her, was quite miffed at Subaru. The pitch-black land dragon turned her sharp, refined face aside, thoroughly sulking when Subaru called her.

“Er, I mean, it was the middle of a forest? If you tripped and broke a leg there’d be no coming back, you know?”

“This breed of land dragon, known as the Diana breed, is the highest breed of all land dragons. There are dragons specific to desert or arctic climes, but the excellent Diana breed can handle any terrain.”

“Eh? Any terrain, what, you mean forests, too?”

“Forests, deserts, waterside, or glacier.”

Wilhelm’s lofty appraisal left Subaru gaping in wonder. He’d picked the land dragon based on his first impression, but apparently, she excelled more than he’d ever imagined. Perhaps that should have been obvious given Patlash’s intelligence and ability.

“After all, it takes a pretty decent noble house to buy a girl like her, meow.”

“Hey, stop that! Don’t talk about price! That’s gonna stick in my head!”

Ferris smiled as Subaru raised his voice, feeling almost afraid to mount the dragon. But Subaru thought that smile was gloomier than one from Ferris’s usual self.

Subaru, largely able to fathom the reason why, stood beside his land dragon and lowered his voice.

“Sorry, making you act considerate to me like this.”

“—What is it all of a sudden? Did you eat something bad? Should I heal you?”

“Don’t paper over it. You said it yourself. I’m not the only one who doesn’t want anyone to die.”

“…”

Ferris was cowed into silence with a guilty look. Subaru had apparently hit the mark.

Subaru wasn’t the only one who felt deeply responsible for the deaths of his allies. Perhaps the mental anguish was much stronger for someone with a direct means of saving others such as Ferris.

Subaru thought Ferris was strong to hold that inside him and not let it come to the surface, though.

“Maybe my saying this isn’t worth much, but…having you here is a big help. Seriously.”

“Oh, stop it. I know best how useless I’ve been. I’ve let eleven people die, and couldn’t even stop enemies from killing themselves… I’m all talk.”

“But you saved one. He didn’t die, thanks to you.”

As Ferris berated himself, Subaru motioned to the casualty sleeping in the back of a dragon carriage. His endurance was heavily depleted, and he had not regained consciousness. But he was in a stable condition. That was Ferris’s achievement.

Subaru knew how hard it was to save even a single person.

“You’re a bigger deal than you think you are. No, really, I’m totally serious.”

“…Wha—? Are you trying to seduce cute little Ferri? Coming to my side of the fence?”

“I am not, and I’m not seducing you, either! I’m trying to be serious here!”

Subaru knew well enough that he wasn’t suited to the role, but the counterattack, harsher than even he’d expected, left him reeling. However, Ferris’s lips immediately loosened as he exhaled at length.

“If you meant it seriously, I’ll take it seriously. Don’t worry, I’m not questioning my purpose in life. I crossed that bridge a long, long time ago, meow.”

“Th-that so?”

“Just, well, it might make me feel a little better? They feel like words I’ve heard before, so I feel relieved, just a tiny little wee bit…”

Ferris glanced sidelong at Subaru, teasingly showing with his fingers just how tiny that relief was. From that reaction, Subaru felt he’d contributed some small part to cheering Ferris up, which left him relieved as well.

“So, this is a good time, so Ferri is going to say it…Subawu, you really should make up with Julius as soon as you can.”

Ferris switched subjects so abruptly that Subaru’s eyes popped wide.

“It’s not a soon or not-soon thing… You saw, right? It’s not making up, but our clashing is water under the bridge.”

“On the surface, sure. Deep down, you’re still snapping at him subconsciously. That’s why, when something comes up, you’re dropping Julius off the list of choices first thing.”

“…”

“You can rely on Julius. Though I grant you that he’s hard to deal with and tough to understand, meow.”

Fluttering his palm to indicate the end of the conversation, Ferris concentrated on examining the magic crystals from the Witch Cult. In contrast to Ferris, those last words had unsettled Subaru’s mind.

Am I subconsciously snapping at him…?

When he thought about it, he couldn’t conclusively say he hadn’t been. Of course, he hadn’t judged based on such personal feelings to that point. But he had no confidence that he had his subconscious under control as well.

“…”

He’d turned his still-stern face forward when suddenly, the sweet aroma of flowers leaped into his nostrils.

A lovely little flower with blue petals was blooming on the edge of the road, swaying in the wind. Subaru recognized it and its scent, which triggered a memory of a vivid flower garden—the flower garden where he and Emilia had once spent time together.

“I really wanted to put an end to all that and have more of a triumphant return, but…”

Emotionally, Subaru wanted to hurry and hesitate in equal measure. If they continued along the highway and entered Earlham Village, he’d begin to urge the villagers to evacuate. Naturally, that meant the people from the mansion as well; in other words, a reunion with her.

“Would’ve been much cooler to see her again after taking care of it all…”

Partial. Partial. Everything was halfway. The subjugation of the Witch Cult was halfway; so, too, the duty entrusted to him at the royal capital. More than anything else, Subaru’s heart was only halfway prepared to face the future, his mind-set not having changed since he’d aired his feelings several hours prior.

Subaru had yet to make up for all that he had done in the royal capital. He couldn’t puff up his chest while reuniting with Emilia in a situation like that, and the knowledge caused a harsh throb in his chest.

Of course, Subaru’s discomfort was not something he could weigh against her safety and that of others.

“—I committed three sins, he said?”

The words had been tossed his way just before he perished in a world dyed white. The words had convicted him as the fool who had broken his promise to her, trampled upon her feelings, and even robbed her of her life. Such was the curse left from when Puck killed him the third time around.

“Eii, cut that out! Why do I have to feel like that anyway? I’m heading to save her like a prince on a white horse. My land dragon’s black and I don’t make much of a prince, but I should be more up front about…er.”

Fight. Had Wilhelm not told him this? That mind-set was not only for the battlefield. That mentality was precious strength, bolstering your spirit against any aspect of life threatening to crush you.

“That’s how it is, huh, Wilhelm?”

“Hmm? Yes, it is so.”

When he prodded Wilhelm, riding a little ahead, for agreement, the Sword Devil hesitated for a brief moment before giving his assent.

Julius, glancing sidelong at just the right time to catch the exchange, sighed as he said, “That is not something you should bother Master Wilhelm about. It is natural for you to be thinking of certain things, but would it not be better if you retained a little composure?”

“…In the first place, the stuff I’m thinking about has nothing to do with you.”

“I thought you should admit you are in the wrong in this so as to clear the air, but?”

“Well logic’s different from sentiment! Sheesh, that’s right. Push comes to shove, that’s how it is.”

“—?”

When Subaru berated himself in a ragged voice, Julius inclined his head, watching uncomprehendingly.

In the middle of the exchange, Subaru became aware that he was snapping at Julius, just as Ferris had told him. Even if he accepted it logically, accepting it emotionally was a different matter.

But as Ferris had pointed out, letting it compromise his judgment was getting his priorities mixed up.

“Ah, er, yeah. There might be something I need to…say to you before we move on.”

Without looking at Julius as he rode beside him, Subaru haltingly and carefully broke the ice. Subaru was at pains to choose the words that would remove the seed of discord between them as soon as possible.

Ahead, the highway sandwiched between forest to the left and right was growing narrower, but it would still be a long time before Earlham Village ought to be visible, practically tailor-made to give them time to talk.

“When we linked up on the highway, I thought we’d already made the stuff before water under the bridge…but sorry. It seems that I still haven’t been able to digest it.”

“…”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you. It’s just, I guess there’s still dislike of you in my mind, and that’s why I’ve been giving out bad orders here and there… Well, that’s what Ferris told me.”

“…”

“No, this isn’t because Ferris told me that, but we’re in a situation where we all need to work together, and I agree with him that you can’t have feelings of mistrust between people like this, so…”

“…”

With Julius silent, Subaru beat around the bush as he continued the conversation. He was frustrated with himself as much as with the listener’s not indicating he was following along. It was beyond absurd if Subaru turned out to be the only one feeling awkward.

“Hey, have you been listening to me? It’s just me talkin’ like I’m the only—”

Subaru, glaring forward with a look of guilt, let spittle fly at that point as he turned to face Julius. The very fact that he made the outburst, scowling as he turned to glare at that handsome face, underlined that he’d lost sight of his original goal of a conversation to clear the air, but—

“—?!”

The instant Subaru vented, a sudden gust of wind blew, making him subconsciously cover his face with his arms. The unexpected gust, mixed with the scent of flowers, sent his forelocks aflutter, and after a moment of shock, wondering what had just happened, he realized—

—the long line of land dragons had vanished, and he was alone.

Sub-chapter 2.

“What the—?!”

He immediately realized he was in an emergency situation. But he didn’t know what had happened.

Wide-eyed, Subaru surveyed the area, hands still gripping the reins. The scenery around him differed little from before; he was dead center on a highway flanked by trees. The difference was that there was no sight of the allies who had been close to him mere moments before, leaving him all by himself—

“No, I’m not alone.”

“…”

Drawing the reins close, the stiff-bodied Subaru was still riding on Patlash. The low body temperature conveyed through the saddle was intact; he figured he hadn’t been split off from things he was in physical contact with.

“If that’s so, some kind of spatial distortion or teleport… Then…?”

He’d been split off from his allies in the blink of an eye, so he figured the method had to be along those lines. The scenery Subaru was looking at had not changed. Maybe it was everyone but Subaru who’d been jumped somewhere else.

And naturally, only the Witch Cult benefited from isolating Subaru from the others.

“Shit! This ain’t the time to stare into space, Patlash!”

Subaru cracked the reins and sent the land dragon galloping as he berated himself for being so slow to grasp the situation. Patlash neighed, and her strong legs propelled them in an instant—Subaru was attempting to use speed, enough to send the wind itself flying, to extricate them from their isolated situation. During that time, Subaru squinted, wary of attack from any direction.

If his guess was right, Unseen Hands might well come flying from yet another Sloth.

“…”

But in spite of Subaru’s wariness, there was no sign of Unseen Hands coming. Doubts crept in, and simultaneously, uncertainty formed in Patlash’s steps. The cause was the same thing that was giving Subaru pause: though they’d sprinted at full speed for tens of seconds, the scenery didn’t seem to have changed at all.

Mere teleportation could not explain this situation. It made him recall a similar experience.

“This is like Beatrice’s infinite corridor…? But there’s no doors here!”

Only once had Subaru experienced a similar phenomenon: when Beatrice, a little girl living at Roswaal Manor, had used magic to turn a corridor into a spatial loop. At the time, Subaru’s keen judgment had led him to open the correct door, immediately bringing the matter to an end.

However, it would not be so simple this time around. They were in the wild, and there were no doors to be had, correct or otherwise. In other words, Subaru’s intuition was useless for resolving the situation.

“Damn it, just after I stop worrying about things all on my own, this happens!”

He lamented that he had stood and faced one hardship with all his being, only to have this happen immediately. Subaru surveyed the area, clicking his tongue at the unchanging scenery.

“Heyyy! Anyone there?! Is it just me here?! Answer me! Someone—!!”

Subaru desperately raised his voice. Worst case, he’d be drawing the enemy to his position, but he didn’t care. If he could draw even a single foe away from his allies, it was better than doing nothing at all. However, Subaru’s idea was fruitless, with no sign of either friend or foe answering his call.

It was odd. It was strange. Had Subaru been sent to another dimension all by himself? He was not thoroughly versed in the rules of magic of that world; was such a thing even possible?

“Hold up, Patlash. Let’s be cool… Calm down and think…”

Accepting Subaru’s instruction, Patlash slackened the speed of her run and came to a standstill. That instant, when they were stopped, was the perfect moment to strike, but there was no sign of that, either.

The forest had returned to eerie silence, with nothing to hear save the wind and the voices of insects. With so many living, breathing humans erased, desolation dominated the world all the more.

The situation was truly what the world would be like if it came under the Witch Cult’s dominion—

…No? No, this is different.

Once he’d thought that far, a palpable sense of wrongness made Subaru jerk his head up. He looked around the area. The scenery had not changed. However, when he focused his ears, he heard his own heartbeat mixed with Patlash’s breathing, and something like the sounds of crickets—sounds that would have been extinguished if it were a world ruled by the Witch Cult.

“It’s not teleportation. Then what the hell is it…?”

He hadn’t been transferred to a place under the Cult’s dominion. Furthermore, making the same highway scenery loop over and over should have been impossible even for ultra-top mages. If that was the case, something was wrong with his premise.

He thought back to what had initially taken place. What had happened at the instant when he thought, I’m alone? First had been a gust of wind. That was strange all by itself.

Patlash’s wind repel blessing should’ve been up. If I wouldn’t feel shakes or wind normally, where the heck did that gust come from?

—

Something happened the moment that wind blew. No, if something was the trigger, it happened before that. If this was an attack, what stood out was…the scent of flowers?

The scent of flowers. Yes, the sweet scent of flowers. The thick aroma had mixed with the gust of wind, slipping into Subaru’s nostrils, soaking into his brain. And that very moment, the aroma was thick enough to make his chest feel awful.

—?! Uh, eh, what the heck…?

The instant he thought about it, the scent of flowers, which he had ignored to that point, invaded his nostrils. He instinctively rejected the clearly abnormal aroma, instantly shielding his nose in the face of the dangerous scent.

“Have we been walking around in this flower scent all this time?”

Subaru shuddered at the indecipherable power that had slipped in without his notice. Simultaneously, he realized that if the scent was the cause of his circumstance, there had to be flowers.

Therefore, the scent was coming from—

“These flowers blooming on the side of the road.”

Subaru dismounted Patlash and walked over to the flowers blooming right at the roadside. The flowers, petals gently swaying in the wind, resembled the flowers known as pansies in his world. However, now that Subaru had determined that flowers were the cause, he was suddenly at a loss.

If the flowers were the cause, should he uproot them? Stomp them underfoot, maybe? Without any firm idea of how to deal with them, Subaru decided to first snap a flower off with his hand—

“Urgh…?!”

The instant he tried to touch the flower, wriggling vines became like whips, lunging for Subaru’s neck. With incredible strength, the narrow vines wrenched Subaru, the power of the unexpected attack drawing out an anguished cry.

“Ack…agh…!”

Falling on his backside, Subaru tore at the vines as they tried to strangle him.

Hard. The vines were so tough that you wouldn’t think they were plants, rejecting his fingernails, trying to kill Subaru with the bloodlust of an animal. Subaru bent back, reaching out with a hand, calling for aid from Patlash.

The black land dragon stood behind Subaru, quietly staring at his battle with the flower. She merely watched, with no sign of making any move. Subaru lamented with a sense of despair. But that despair was overshadowed by the sense that something was off.

“—”

Having served Subaru so faithfully thus far, it was unnatural for Patlash to overlook this situation. Why, then, was this the case? The possibilities were twofold: Patlash had abandoned him, or she didn’t see the struggle. Subaru dismissed the former out of hand, concluding it had to be the latter. Patlash didn’t see it. Flower scent. Hallucination—

“…There…is…no…flower…!!”

He denied it—the flower bringing death right before his eyes. No such dangerous flower existed. Subaru was seeing a world that was not possible. Accordingly, it was a sham.

Tears clouded his vision. No, something other than tears was clouding it. Patlash’s form wavered, and the fraud that he’d thought was his companion vanished. There was no one else in Subaru’s virtual world.

—It was all a fraud!!

“—Ahu! Gah-ha! Geho, hnnm haa!”

The instant he shook it off, the sensation of the vine wringing his neck vanished. With a chance to breathe at last, Subaru coughed as oxygen filled his lungs, trying to see what had happened with his teary eyes.

Right in front of Subaru, the flowers that had put him through a terrifying experience were burning. Petals, vines, roots—all were enveloped in crimson flames, burning black and falling to pieces. And the one doing this was a flickering red light floating right above the burning flowers—a minor spirit.

“You again…”

It was the red minor spirit that had also saved Subaru earlier when he was the madwoman’s captive. While he gasped for breath, the spirit that had rescued him from peril came right before his eyes.

Subaru immediately put his hand out, receiving the light’s warmth with his palm.

“—! This means…!”

He took in that heat at the same time that the flowers finished burning away. The petals had become ash and the sweet aroma had been swapped for the stench of something burnt; immediately after, the world changed.

The highway he had thought infinite began to waver, bleeding into the sky and the forest to the left and right. The world was warping like a painting being dissolved by water. Then, in an instant, it seemed to snap right back.

The world had reconstituted itself—no, he had been freed from the illusion, and returned to the real world.

“—Subaru!”

A voice called out to him. Raising his head at the sharp voice, Subaru returned to the world as it was.

Standing right in front of him was Julius, calling to Subaru as the red spirit rested upon his shoulder.

Sub-chapter 3.

“So it was you…”

“There is no mistaking that abusive tongue. I do not believe anyone could reproduce your invective toward me this faithfully.”

Subaru was sour at Julius’s face being the first he saw upon his return; Julius responded with mild sarcasm. However, Julius immediately pulled Subaru’s arm, bringing him to his feet, and motioned with his chin toward the surrounding area.

When Subaru followed suit and looked around the area, he stood dumbfounded, gaping at the state of the expeditionary force. All the neatly lined members of the expeditionary force, man and mounted beast alike, were at a complete standstill.

“Someone has attacked us. An illusion-type incantation, but it only sent my mind astray for several seconds. At present, only you and I have returned from it. How did you come back?”

“A few seconds? On my end it was minutes. Maybe ’cause it was all in my head?”

“I never would have thought that you possess the power to resist such magic. How did you make it back?”

“Wait, everyone got trapped by this? Seconds or minutes, at this rate we’ll all be stuck in place and make a real nice target. We’ve gotta do something!”

“That’s why I’m asking you how you came back!”

With their mutual doubts clashing, the lack of headway aroused Julius’s anger. The rare reaction shocked Subaru. Realizing it was no time to argue, he switched gears.

“It was burning the flowers inside the illusion that caused it all. Er, when I say burning, it wasn’t me who burned them, but anyway, the flowers are the trigger. So by getting rid of ’em.”

“Flowers…flowers, you say? I see…a suggestion incantation carried by a flower’s aroma… But…”

Julius let his words trail off as he surveyed their comrades still under the spell. Then, in front of Subaru—who was wide-eyed and at a loss for what to do—he slowly raised his arms. As he did, his arms served almost like a perch as several lights emerged into view. They glowed in different colors, six in all; among them was the red light that had saved Subaru.

“You! Then that’s…”

“This is the radiance given off by my little buds. I shall henceforth inform everyone of how to break the illusion—In! Nes!”

Julius, indirectly responding to Subaru, spread the fingers of his outstretched hands. The lights that seemingly glided onto his fingertips were colored white and black. The two lights intermingled, growing in intensity, and before Subaru’s amazed eyes, their light enveloped the world around him.

“Wh-what’s…?”

Going on? Subaru was about to say, but the change jabbed into Subaru’s brain faster than he could say the words.

“Nn! Choiya! Choiya! Huh, no one’s here! Where is this?!”

“Huh?”

He heard the girl’s faint speech expressing incomprehension of her situation—no, strictly speaking, it was not speech. This was not a voice, but rather thoughts; not sound, but emotion, her will conveyed not to Subaru’s eardrums, but rather directly to his brain. Nor were the thoughts hers alone.

“I’ve gotten lost…no, split off. This is bad, at this rate…” “Darn it, this is the worst. I keep wreckin’ the forest and it don’t change a thing.” “This sort of trick at a time like this…! Lady Crusch…!” “Sis! Sis! Where are you?!” “TB might be crying by now!”

“Gaaaa…!”

They were flowing, flowing into him. The muddy stream of thoughts was merciless, slipping through his ears into his skull, through his skull into his brain, and pressing down upon that brain with a weight beyond what it could handle. The big helping of multiple thoughts and emotions, barbs and all, leaped around inside Subaru’s skull, leaving him moaning in anguish.

He couldn’t really tell if it was pain or suffering. It wasn’t really pain. It wasn’t really suffering. It was simply…heavy.

“—Was the sensitivity too high? I’m sorry. Please breathe deeply and bear it.”

“Aarrghh, you jerk…!”

“Right now I have no time to calibrate solely for you. Getting everyone back takes precedence.”

That was all Julius said before closing his eyes and ceasing to move to concentrate on his incantation.

Amid his agony, Subaru levied curses upon the handsome young man responsible for that suffering. Even when he did as told and took a deep breath, not even a smidgen of relief was forthcoming. Then, as before, his brain was filled with a multitude of thoughts. At this rate, it would soon liquefy and pour out of his ears. I’ve gotta put these thoughts in order, thought Subaru.

The muddying of thoughts and stirring of minds was Julius’s doing. He’d used some kind of magic to produce that situation, allowing him to convey the means of breaking the illusion. Think. Someone spread the flowers around inside the illusion. Several people are free of the illusion and are breaking through the vortex of thought. Still so many. So many still captured.

Brain waves intermingled time and time again. But like thorns being removed or teeth being pulled, the number of thoughts was dropping. People were returning from the illusion’s evil hand to the real world.

“At this rate, everyone shall be freed, and…”

Subaru kept scratching at his thick sweat, enduring the ragged brain waves even the ringing in his ears could not blot out. He brusquely wiped off the cold sweat dampening his brow, panting as he looked up to the sky. The next moment—

“—!”

He heard faint breathing. The source was the sky, right above Subaru’s and Julius’s heads. There was a break in the forest canopy in which the sun was floating in the sky, and with that sun at its back, a figure in white landed at Subaru’s side.

With Julius focused on breaking the illusion and keeping his eyes closed, the figure proceeded to drag Subaru by his arm.

“Oh, wai…!”

Julius, pouring all his energy into the incantation, did not move as Subaru, caught by the white figure, nearly fell down. The figure in white, face concealed by the white robe covering it from head to toe, was set to drag Subaru off without asking. Instantly, he instinctively realized that the person before his eyes was the caster of the illusion. Of course, the Witch Cult had to be involved. If Subaru was dragged off, the expeditionary force would lose its means of resisting the Unseen Hands.

“Shit! Wait, there’s no way anyone’s letting you do whatever you… Uu?!”

The instant Subaru braced himself, trying to resist, his planted foot was swept away, sending Subaru flipping over, unable to even cry out. The off-the-charts martial arts skill didn’t even let him get a word in.

At that rate, the figure in white would try to drag Subaru right out of that place—

“Duaaa—!”

But a cloth-rending cry and the unleashing of silver light interrupted the attempt.

Stepping forward and pounding home a sword strike was Wilhelm, the first of the others freed from the illusion. With the speed of a god, the Sword Devil unleashed his sword, seemingly to vent his rage at the one who had ensnared him in the spell. The arc traced by the slash was without mercy, set to run straight through the slender figure in white. However—

“Wbah?!”

The figure in white violently tossed Subaru into the grass and, with frightening dexterity, barely evaded the sword strike. The evasion, made with an absolute minimum of physical movement, made Wilhelm, who had been certain of a killing blow, open his eyes wide in shock.

“—Fulla!”

As if to blow that admiration aside, the figure thrust a cane forward with an explosion of magic. The target was the ground under Wilhelm’s feet, gouging the surface out in a circle, slowing the Sword Devil down.

When Wilhelm then leaped toward his foe, slashing upward, something caught him by the chest.

“Guh…!”

Wilhelm’s well-honed abdomen creaked as his body was sent flying by force unthinkable for the tiny figure’s size. The cane’s tip was pointed at the Sword Devil as the air twisted before it. The resulting cascade of air was about to slice deep into the Sword Devil—but a slice of steel rent it first, causing its mana to explode.

“—”

In an instant, Wilhelm went from narrowly escaping death to going on the attack, closing the distance with the white figure. Midrange was the range at which an enemy could use magic. Wilhelm would be at a disadvantage for as long as it took to get to close range. But the Sword Devil’s disadvantage was overridden by another factor—the advantage of superior numbers.

“Doraaa!!”

A great hatchet flew into the air, bearing down on the white figure’s rear in a ferocious assault. Accompanied by a roar, Ricardo’s blow held enough might to break through even the White Whale’s bedrock-like hide. The attack, which could only blow its target away, slammed into the defenseless figure in white, sending its slender body ferociously flying away—

“What the hell?!”

But Ricardo, having delivered a blow of certain death, shouted not in victory, but in shock. The cause of that shock was the white figure sent flying—no, the enemy spinning through the air of its own volition. Frighteningly, the figure in white had turned in concert with Ricardo’s strike, diminishing the power of its impact.

Subaru could only guess at the level of skill required for such a feat, which could only be called godlike.

“Your skill is splendid—but…”

“You’re makin’ a big mistake if you think you’re walkin’ away from this!”

Between the Sword Devil’s praise and the great wolf’s roar, the enemy twirled the short cane in its palms and engaged in combat.

The raging great hatchet and vertical and horizontal silver slashes leaped forth, creating a zone of certain death. The white figure seemed to dance while slipping past, weaving magic in the meantime to take both warriors on.

It was an unbelievably good fight against the two forming the main striking power of the expeditionary force. But as the battle raged between combatants beyond the ken of man, the third blade to intervene decided the matter.

“—”

“Though you are our foe, I am captivated by your skill. However, this has gone far enough.”

The white figure held its breath as Julius’s sword rested against its neck.

During the battle, the entire expeditionary force had been freed from the illusion. Having lost all opportunity to buy time and escape, the white figure ceased to resist. It was not just Julius, but also Wilhelm and Ricardo, from the right and left, holding the figure in check.

“The battle…has been decided.”

There was nowhere to run, a fact their opponent conceded.

“…Kill me. I will not be defiled.”

Surrounded by hostility, the white figure accepted its own demise with extreme apathy. The voice was high-pitched; the shoulders under the robe were slender. From the tone of voice, Subaru knew it was a girl.

Wilhelm’s eyes widened at the prideful declaration; Julius’s and Ricardo’s eyes met. Unrest spread as the expeditionary force, now back to reality, grasped the circumstances.

“W-wait! Wait, wait! Wait a sec, please!”

It was then that Subaru, covered with grass from his tumble, raised his hand and his voice.

After being thrust into the weeds, Subaru had watched the battle, unable to help in any way, but with the match decided, the sound of the girl accepting her defeat made him come rushing to the spot.

He did it not because the opponent was a girl, but because he knew that voice. And when Subaru leaped forward, the opponent recognized him as well.

“—Barusu.”

“Ahh, been a while since I was called that. Wait, it seriously is you?”

Deflated at the unexpected assailant’s identity, Subaru let out a very long sigh. At Subaru’s reaction, the person in the white robe pulled down her hood.

And so, the girl’s lovely, stern face appeared, with pink hair and pale-red eyes.

“—Ram.”

It was Ram, maid of Roswaal Manor.

Sub-chapter 4.

“Now I suppose you will explain the meaning of all this, Barusu.”

Having plunged the expeditionary force into unprecedented crisis and spectacularly giving Wilhelm and others the runaround, Ram brushed dirt off her body as her extremely displeased eyes stared daggers into Subaru.

“What’s the meaning of this? Isn’t that our line…?”

Squirming under the stern gaze, Subaru surveyed the sorry state of affairs along the highway. Along the highway and forest were traces of the recent battle, along with allies now freed from the illusion. Fortunately, the aftereffects from the incantation were limited to light headaches, and there were no wounded, Ram included. However, the lack of casualties did not in any way mean that the issue was settled.

How in the world did it come to this? thought Subaru, holding back a sigh as he looked at Ram.

“The gist is, you launched a preemptive strike and people fought back. Fighting your own side really sucks… Wilhelm, you’re not hurt?”

“A small scratch from wind magic. I will ask Ferris about it later. More importantly, I am glad I did not get ahead of myself and slice her down. There would be no taking such a thing back.”

Wilhelm lifted an arm up, showing off his sliced cuff with a strained smile. Responding to the magnanimity, Subaru put a hand to his own chest in relief.

“Wilhelm…Wilhelm van Astrea?”

Ram, arms folded while listening to Subaru and Wilhelm speak, murmured thus when she heard the old swordsman’s name. Addressed by his full name, the Sword Devil turned toward her.

“Hmm,” went Ram, nodding her head. “I did not imagine the Sword Devil would be my opponent. I can accept having lost.”

“Compared to my glory days, ’tis little more than a nickname. Each day, I strive to resist decay, but I cannot defeat old age. My skills are two steps behind my former peak.”

“Having been laid low by such dulled skills, those words feel like irritating sarcasm.”

Ram crisply cast Wilhelm’s modesty aside. The Sword Devil seemed to like that attitude from Ram, but Subaru did not. He pressed Ram about the rude tone of her words.

“Hey, what’s that attitude you’re giving Wilhelm? Setting aside you’re always like that with me, you should be politer to other people at l—ow!”

“Receive outsiders in the manner of guests, you say? I see, it is as you say. My, my, there is no excuse for my repeated rudeness, dear guests.”

Flicking Subaru’s nose with a finger when he drew near, Ram proceeded to elegantly bow to everyone present. As she behaved like a perfect servant, a cold smile came over her beautiful, doll-like face.

“I apologize for my repeated rudeness, but the mansion of Marquis Roswaal L. Mathers lies ahead. At present, at the command of my master, I am not receiving outsiders, so I ask that you please detour and leave.”

“Slip the dagger in at the end, huh? Besides that…what the heck’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means what it says. Currently, the environs of the mansion are in a state of heightened alert. I cannot allow outsiders to approach…though I suppose such words are wasted on an ingrate such as you, Barusu.”

“Ingrate…?”

Subaru’s expression clouded over at the appraisal he could not dismiss.

“Yes,” said Ram, nodding. “Is it not so? Having received such great favor from Master Roswaal, you curry favor with another master as soon as he seems done with you. Or perhaps it was all an act to enter our good graces to begin with? If so, it would seem that you received your just deserts.”

“Wait! You’re getting this all wrong! You’re completely misreading the circumstances!”

“So this is what a dog that bites the hand that feeds him is like.”

“Listen already!”

Ram’s acrimonious demeanor was a daily ritual, but the hostility included with it was the real deal. The gaze she shot Subaru’s way was frigid enough to make his insides tremble, telling Subaru that something was badly wrong.

There was a reason for her to be this rigid. It was to prevent this, to not allow for any misunderstanding, that he’d—

“…Right, the letter of goodwill! That’s what writing that letter was for. Didn’t it reach the mansion?”

“—Letter of goodwill.”

Subaru had taken pains to clear up any possible confusion about the circumstances. When he spoke the words, Ram’s eyes narrowed, her reaction demonstrating that she recognized their significance.

But her reaction to the ring of those words was absolutely not a favorable one—

“…Ram, what are you angry for?”

“Certainly, a letter arrived from the royal capital. But it is useless to characterize that thing as written in goodwill.”

Ram’s voice had little intonation, barely holding back the fires of a burning rage. When Subaru failed to understand the meaning of her emotion, Ram snorted as she spelled it out loud and clear.

“When I think of the letter that pompous messenger arrived with… Calling a blank piece of paper a letter of goodwill is quite a farce. What did you mean by this, Barusu?”

“It was a blank piece of paper?!”

It was Subaru who was horrified at learning the incomprehensible truth. Ram continued to glare at the bewildered Subaru, anger oozing from her eyes.

“The wax was formally sealed with the Lion Rampant seal of the House of Karsten. In other words, Duchess Crusch Karsten was making a declaration of war against a rival candidate for the throne… Well, that is how we took it.”

“That’s crazy! Why would you decide it was that so fast…?”

Subaru was drowning in Ram’s conclusion when Wilhelm intervened.

“Sending a blank letter is a method of conveying to the other party, ‘We have no intent to negotiate.’ It cannot be helped that they took it in that manner.”

The creases of his brow knotted, a stern face on him as he shook his head toward Subaru.

“As a matter of fact, were a white letter delivered to me, I would arrive at the same judgment as she: a display of hostile intent.”

“Then what happens if you seal a blank letter and send it by mistake?! If a war starts over that, what does history say—‘Oops’?”

“Then one could only set the heavy burden aside and give up. That said, I did not judge hostile intent by a single piece of paper, either. But there were multiple issues, so…”

“What do you mean, multiple issues…there’s even more?!”

The bad report had been more than weighty enough. Yet, there was still more on top of that?

“Two days ago, the forest around the mansion became unnaturally calm…to the point that even my eyes could catch nothing. Thereupon, an armed group appeared bearing the crest of the House of Karsten, which had declared war with the blank letter… Surely you cannot blame my little bird’s heart for being on the verge of breaking?”

“Ugeh…!”

The sidelong glance Ram shot him put Subaru’s flea-size heart on the verge of breaking.

Though Wilhelm had a worried look on his face, Subaru raised a hand, feeling the desire to curse Fate for the nightmarish entangling of circumstances. It was the worst diplomatic position ever.

In other words, Ram had mistaken the letter of goodwill, the Witch Cult, and the expeditionary force as signs of a hostile camp. Thus did she treat Subaru as a wicked villain who’d betrayed Emilia to Crusch.

“That’s a huge misunderstanding! In the first place, do I look that cunning?!”

“Well, this is what a dog that bites the hand that feeds it looks like.”

“You’re still saying that?!”

“I have hardly said it enough. But it’s fine. It is clear for the most part.”

Though Ram’s words were sharp, she’d no doubt gleaned the high points of the situation during the conversation. Perhaps that was also because she hadn’t detected the intellect required for wicked scheming from Subaru’s replies.

“So…you sent a blank letter by mistake and you are still Lady Emilia’s dog… You’re fine with that?”

“I’m not, but it’s okay. Dogs are like family, so for Emilia I can be a dog, sure.”

“That would be a rather base ambition, would it not?”

Wilhelm pointed out what low sights Subaru had, but Subaru, worried that the conversation wasn’t progressing, shook his head. At any rate, with the misunderstanding cleared up, he had to get right to the point.

“Wilhelm included, everyone here is reinforcements—we’re on your side. Anyone making you worry, we’re gathered together to send ’em packing.”

The worst of all misunderstandings threatened to bring the hard-won alliance crashing down. Aghast at that fact, Subaru puffed his chest out, establishing his goodwill toward Ram.

Ram furrowed her brows, so Subaru got to the point.

“I fulfilled the objective of me staying in the royal capital—an alliance between Emilia and Crusch, as equals. The people gathered here are the proof.”

Sub-chapter 5.

Immediately afterward, they set off toward Earlham Village with Ram in tow.

They had no time to waste. The misunderstanding-driven combat with Ram had cost them even more. Subaru endeavored to explain things to her while they headed toward the village.

That included the fact that they were allied camps. He was grateful his comrades in the expeditionary force were taking things so well. They’d accepted Subaru’s earnest apology and Ram’s gratitude for their help after her initial hostility, taking it all in stride. Thanks to the zero casualties, those words had ended the matter.

“You did give Wilhelm some trouble…but he even hid the wound from it.”

“A fine man, just as the rumors said.”

“Oh, yeah. He is, isn’t he?”

“What are you so pleased for, Barusu? It is creepy.”

Subaru, gripping the reins, overreacted as he agreed with the words of praise for the Sword Devil. The sight of it brought a genuine scowl to Ram’s face; one of the hands on Subaru’s hips jabbed him in the flank.

At present, Subaru and Ram were riding together on the jet-black land dragon’s back. Subaru turned his head just enough to look at Ram, who was sitting behind him, as he thought back to the earlier battle.

“I have to ask…what was with that illusion attack earlier? I thought the only magic you could use was wind magic? No one told me about that part.”

“It is a mixture of wind-type magic and a hallucinatory drug. I had truly intended only to whisk the commander away while the others were weighed down…but I never imagined you would be able to break free.”

There Ram’s words trailed off. She nodded to herself a few times and said, “You probably gained a resistance to the drug. The drug is derived from the leaves in the tea you always drank, after all.”

“I was drinking that poison every time?!”

“I am kidding.”

It hadn’t sounded like she was joking, but Subaru did not press the issue further—not purely because he was afraid to know whether it was true or false, but also because he felt the trembling in the arms with which she touched him.

Realizing that her trying to break the tension had resulted in him blurting something out in plain sight, he said, “Sorry I made you put your guard up like that. Whatever the cause, you were pretty serious back there, huh?”

“I suppose… Serious enough to be resolved to take my foe down with me. Can I truly trust the gentlemen behind us?”

“Or what, they’ll seize the chance to march on the mansion? A pretty nasty bunch is after the place, after all. Even Crusch doesn’t really want that much trouble.”

“…So it is outlaws lurking in the forest that are after Lady Emilia, then.”

“I really did write about that in the letter, y’know…”

With Ram unexpectedly hinting at the Witch Cult’s presence, Subaru could only lament the cause of the jumbled circumstances. Upon his opening the lid of his painstakingly acquired insurance, it had turned into the greatest of all traps. However, the singular fact that a blank letter of goodwill had arrived brought a different problem into sharp relief—

Namely, that someone out there had swapped his letter of goodwill, aiming to turn Emilia and Crusch against each other.

“What happened with the messenger who brought the letter to the mansion?”

“We politely granted him our hospitality. After all, I thought that he might prove useful in the event of a prisoner exchange.”

“Prisoner exchange…?”

Even if a prisoner exchange with the Crusch camp truly came to pass, the only people from the Emilia camp to have returned were Subaru and Rem.

When Subaru thought back to the surprise attack, he remembered that Rem’s first move had been to try to drag Subaru off without a care as to appearances. Perhaps the purpose of that aggressive operation had been to get the “imprisoned” Subaru back.

Though even if he asked Ram about it, there was probably no way in hell she’d give him a straight answer.

Either way, she already had someone from the most powerful candidate in her grasp. If the messenger proved to be a spy, she would interrogate him, simple as that.

“Anyway, you can relax about the enemies hiding in the forest. We’ve already smashed seventy percent of them. We have a way to draw out the last thirty percent, too.”

“…The enemy is seventy percent crushed? Barusu, are you are saying that you destroyed them?”

He’d conveyed the state of the battle with the aim of changing the subject, but Ram was taken aback upon hearing the words. In modern warfare, losing 30 percent of your fighting strength was considered being routed, but even in an age without modern logistics, 70 percent was a considerable number. The Witch Cult was on the verge of being wiped out.

“But where they’re concerned, they’ve gotta be annihilated down to the last man. Besides, the fewer they are, the more time it’ll take to find ’em. Plus, it might make them desperate.”

“So that is why you assembled the transportation needed to evacuate… Holing up in the mansion is a poor plan, I take it?”

“These guys would set it on fire and not even blink. We have a lot of memories of that mansion, so I don’t wanna see it go up in smoke. Easy to understand why running is better, huh?”

Along with the reinforcements he’d brought were the horde of traveling merchant dragon carriages. When he explained the force’s various objectives, Ram closed her eyes, sinking into thought. Many of them were the result of Subaru’s own independent decision making. It was natural for her to be bewildered by it all—and yet:

“Sorry to act out of turn, but this is my decision. As for the right to decide…Roswaal’s not at the mansion, is he?”

“—That’s right. Right now, Master Roswaal is traveling to Garf’s…to the sanctuary. Currently, I am under instructions to obey Lady Emilia’s commands.”

“Did Emilia order you to smack anyone approaching the village with illusions?”

“That was my independent judgment.”

“Figures.”

Even if she was backed into a corner, it would have been far too violent an order for Emilia to give. Subaru patted his chest, relieved at the fact.

“…You are naive to be relieved about that part, Barusu.”

“Ah?”

“I said, the village has come into view.”

Subaru hadn’t caught her murmur the first time, so he thought Ram had repeated her words as she pointed forward. At her urging, Subaru turned his eyes to the road ahead; the entrance to Earlham Village truly was within view.

The highway, continuing to infinity within the illusion, had come to an end. To Subaru, it had been a very long road, enough to make the proper return a sight for sore eyes.

“I’m finally back…”

Not once but twice had he returned to find the village a tragic sight. When he had returned to the village before that, Subaru’s mind had been whittled down to the bone. So to him, this was a first.

“But…doesn’t feel like there’s much of a welcome.”

The expeditionary force passed through the entrance, entering the village square. Amid that imposing atmosphere, the villagers poked their heads out of the surrounding homes one after another. However, the expressions on their faces were certainly not sunny; naturally, they were ones of worry and confusion. Subaru could hardly blame them; an armed group had suddenly appeared in the village’s midst.

“Ram, how much did you tell the villagers?”

“…I warned them not to wander outside the village and to stay out of the forest. I did not touch upon any of the details.”

“Okay. Nice call.”

If the Witch Cult was even guessed at, the village would surely be in chaos. Perhaps Ram was to be commended for keeping that part a secret, considering that she had thought the Crusch camp was her enemy.

“Hey, isn’t that…Master Subaru and Miss Ram?”

“It really is. So Master Subaru has come back…”

One by one, the villagers began to realize that it was Subaru and Ram on dragon-back. With all eyes upon them, seemingly in charge of the group, Subaru got off Patlash, judging it a good time to do so. He was probably best suited to explain the situation.

“Barusu…”

“Just wait a minute. I’ll talk to ’em—Wilhelm, Julius, Ricardo.”

Subaru put a hand up to Ram and addressed the three heaviest hitters of the expeditionary force. He chose them because they would amplify his persuasiveness to the villagers. They weren’t just reliable; they looked the part. Subaru brought the three with him as he walked straight into the center of the village square.

“Subaru, it would seem that they are concerned. Do not neglect to be considerate.”

Nodding at Julius’s whisper, Subaru took a deep breath before loudly clapping his hands together. Seeing the Subaru they knew so well do this made the villagers widen their eyes, wondering what was going on. Seeing from their reactions that he’d nicely gathered their attention, Subaru opened his mouth to set their concerns at ease.

“Yes, everyone’s attention, please! Hi, it’s been a while. It’s been a few days, but is everyone doing okay?”

“…”

“I know coming back like this is really sudden, but today, I’m asking everyone to do something.”

After a modest greeting, Subaru switched to the topic at hand. The way Subaru raised his voice made the villagers, surrounding him from a distance, look at one another’s faces.

They all knew Subaru, and he knew all of them. Understanding their worry and confusion, Subaru spoke in the gentlest voice he could, but also laid things out very quickly. He wanted to convey the situation with haste, enough to deny them time to think about other choices—and enough to make evacuation a reality.

“Actually, the demon beasts in the forest seem to be getting bad again. These are the people brought in to wipe them out…but I want everyone away from the village until that work is done. Of course, I prepared the transportation in advance. It might not be that comfy a ride, but…”

Hiding the lie behind a layer of truth, Subaru selected words that would not startle the villagers as he continued speaking. Their memories of the demon beast–related crisis two months before were surely still fresh. He had to be convincing when he told them that the forest beyond the barrier still harbored demon beasts.

Behind him, they could see an expeditionary force formed of veterans and numerous traveling merchant dragon carriages to transport them. Even if it felt high-handed to him, Subaru pushed forward while concealing that the Witch Cult was attacking. However—

“The evacuation will be for half a day at shortest, one or two days at most. Sorry to cause trouble for everyone, but please accept this as the safest way to…”

“—Why are you lying to us like this?”

—In the end, that was a judgment formed according to Subaru’s notions of common sense.

“Huh?”

Subaru’s eyes widened at the sudden interjection. The one who had spoken was a youth with a crew cut. As one of the village’s band of young men, he had exchanged words with Subaru numerous times.

It seemed that he’d spontaneously blurted it out, but when Subaru met his eyes, he hesitated for a moment before stepping forward.

“You bring a huge group of outsiders…to hunt demon beasts? Why tell us something like…?”

“Because, hey, it’s dangerous. I mean there was the demon beast ruckus not long ago, right? We need to deal with it before it becomes that bad this time around, so…”

“Don’t try to pull the wool over our eyes!”

Subaru tried to correct the precarious atmosphere, but the young man would not lend Subaru his ear. His unsophisticated face had a scowl on it, his fist shaking as he glared at Subaru.

Upon it were repressed rage and despair, and irrepressible fear.

“Master Subaru, you said you were trying to clear up our concerns, but…doing it this way is making everyone in the village afraid! We’ve been thinking the Witch Cult is up to something the whole time!”

“Uh…”

The young man visibly lost his temper as he shouted, instantly making Subaru’s words catch in his throat.

The youngster’s voice echoed around the village, spreading unrest among the villagers, and, naturally, among the traveling merchants as well. There was no unrest in the expeditionary force, but the turbulent flow of discourse made their faces grow graver as well.

“You’re…not denying it, are you…?”

The young man weakly murmured, finding his answer in Subaru’s silent demeanor. The sight caused an outburst of unrest among the villagers, making their pent-up worries pour out all at once.

“So the people from the mansion really were talking about the Witch Cult yesterday… Why are they in a remote place like this…?”

“That’s obvious, that’s obvious, isn’t it? It’s because the lord did something like that!”

“Why must he support a half-elf…a half-demon…?”

The worries spoken by one set of lips after another made it painfully clear that Subaru’s efforts to smooth things over had resulted in the opposite effect. The villagers had understood long before: the unrest enveloping their village was not unrelated to Emilia, residing at the mansion of the lord of the land.

They were not conveniently ignorant. It was only natural that they would reject Subaru’s plan.

“Hold on a minute! I’m sorry! I was wrong, and I apologize! But…”

“—”

Accepting that his effort to convince them had failed, Subaru voiced an apology. At the same time, he realized something.

Among the villagers, some lamented, some raged, some glared. Those negative actions were not caused by their difficult-to-resist fear of the Witch Cult. Their negative energy was trained not toward the Cult, but toward the half-elf who had yet to show herself.

“What makes you think that?! Don’t you realize it’s got nothing to do with half-elves or Emilia?” Subaru exclaimed.

“How can it not be related?! The Witch Cult rampages against anything related to half-demons. Even the children of the village know that much! And yet, the lord not only shelters a half-demon, he nominates her to be the nation’s king! This is no joke!”

“—!”

The youth’s anger shocked Subaru; the near scream cut into him like a blade. His reaction made the youth’s eyes freeze over as he looked downward. But he did not amend his statement.

When Subaru looked around, he saw, to a greater or lesser extent, the same emotion in the eyes of the other villagers.

“Is that what you all think? You think it’s all the fault of the half-elf in the mansion?”

There was no reply. They seemed to think silence was more eloquent than anything they could say.

These were the friendly villagers he’d spent so much time with. Though it had only been two short months, so many things had happened that Subaru felt deepened the friendship they shared with one another. That was why he had been so desperate to save them.

He’d believed that they would accept his feelings without suspicion or doubt…and yet.

“This was just me getting ahead of myself again…?”

He’d underestimated the deep-rooted fear of the Witch Cult planted in every human being of that world. Even people who believed in Subaru’s innate goodness could not defy the scars of history.

That fact made Subaru weakly slump his shoulders—but the next moment, his shoulders were slapped from behind.

From very close, an individual patted Subaru’s shoulders, moving parallel to him while exhaling.

“Raise your head—after all, Lady Crusch says you should never lower your sights.”

“You…”

“Do you think what you’re doing is wrong…? If you don’t think that, you don’t need to look down.”

Ferris’s firm declaration surprised Subaru, coming from the last person he would have expected to console him. So, too, was he surprised at the memory that Ferris’s words spurred him to recall.

They were words Crusch had actually spoken to Subaru, albeit during a different time around from the present.

“Besides, wasn’t recklessly picking fights at the castle a lot harder than raising your head here?”

“…Now hold on.”

Ferris’s taunting comment made Subaru’s shoulders go slack in a way that was very out of place. Subaru wondered just how long he was going to be made fun of for that single moment. But—

“—Yeah. Compared to that, this is nothin’.”

As much as his words had been rejected, he did not doubt that he was doing the right thing.

He understood that the villagers had an aversion toward half-elves. That very cruel fact caused a dark shadow to fall over Subaru’s heart. But that reality was absolutely not something he could do anything about now. It was something to be changed by Emilia’s future actions, with Subaru at her side.

“It’s not somethin’ I can do anything about just by saying ‘I’m gonna change it.’ Not when I haven’t managed anything else yet.”

As much as he thought their assessment was unfair, all he could do was show them results big enough to make them see her in a new light. And Subaru and the others were acting to create the time necessary for him to do so.

—Subaru Natsuki wanted to believe that was the reason he had come again like this.

“From what you’ve said, I understand how you all feel. I won’t tell you, ‘Drop everything and come with me.’ It’s natural you all have your thoughts on it. It hurts, but I get that, too.”

“Master Subaru…”

“But for now, please, swallow it down. I really do understand all the feelings you’re trying to put into words. So please, do as I say right now so we can speak properly about it later. The village really is in danger.”

When Subaru spoke those words, training earnest eyes toward them, the villagers kept their silence, saying nothing. With silence falling over the village, Subaru thought their reaction very sad. At this rate, all he’d have done was spend time in futility.

However, it was Ram who sternly smashed the stalemate asunder.

“—The words of a servant of our house are the commands of Master Roswaal, lord of this land. You serfs never had any right of refusal to begin with. Come now, hurry and obey your instructions.”

Having observed on the sidelines up to that point, Ram had stepped out of the ranks of the expeditionary force to stand alongside Subaru as she confronted the villagers. The overbearing glint in her eye and the authority of her statement surprised and unnerved the villagers.

“H-hold on! I get why you’re putting it harshly, but you don’t have to put it like that. Everyone has their own lives. It’s only natural they’d be thrown off like…”

“It would seem you, like these villagers, are insufficiently aware of the greatness of your lord.”

When Subaru objected to Ram’s high-handed statement, Ram glared at Subaru with an exasperated air.

“If you incur issues or damages due to the evacuation, our landlord shall take responsibility and compensate you. If any of you object, come forth and state your names. This is Master Roswaal’s decision.”

The way she said it was stern; her meaning was severe as well. But though she had been uncompromising, the contents of her proposal soothed the concerns of the populace, leaving Subaru and the villagers in awe. Everyone understood: by backing up Subaru’s words with the authority of the landlord, Ram gave the villagers what they needed to agree.

“Ahh, sorry for Ram’s harsh way of saying it, but what I want hasn’t changed. Everyone needs to evacuate the village. I realize that it’s so sudden you can’t properly prepare.”

“…”

“That’s why I’ll take responsibility and talk to Roswaal about proper compensation for damages. I want everyone to at least believe me about that. Please.”

Accepting Ram’s viewpoint, Subaru appealed not to emotion, but to logic. Between Ram’s calm and Subaru’s urgings, the villagers were silent for a time. Then they nodded in apparent resignation.

They were a long way from liking it. However, they’d given their consent. The evacuation could begin.

“Sigh…”

When, with one thing settled, Subaru breathed out with relief, he was joined by the comrades standing in a row behind him. Everyone had been tense and anxious, but somehow, they’d climbed that mountain.

“I’ve gotta say, though.”

“What?”

Subaru shared in his comrades’ relief before proceeding to look at Ram, standing right beside him. Ram had a suspicious look in response to that gaze, but there was no question that it had been her words that had given the final push. He thought that was very Ram-like—hard edged, difficult to fathom, but kind.

“Having you tell people to do what I say is new. Does this mean you’ve accepted me?”

“Hah!”

Ram snorted. Somehow—just a little bit—he took solace in her demeanor.

Sub-chapter 6.

The evacuation would last for two days at most. So it would begin as soon as the minimum supplies needed for that time were loaded.

The conditions Subaru placed on the villagers were very grudgingly accepted.

“There’s fifteen dragon carriages. If we put seven people on almost each one, we should be able to get everyone aboard with room to spare.”

Subaru had asked the young men of the village to take a roll call, ensuring every villager was accounted for. Now that they were evacuating, they surely didn’t want to cause any extra trouble. Though they still dealt with the expeditionary force rather awkwardly, they dutifully did as they were told.

There was just one issue that couldn’t be left unresolved—

“Explaining this to Lady Emilia and Lady Beatrice at the mansion, yes?” Ram said, hands on her hips as her eyes shifted to the path going from the village to the mansion.

The issues for proceeding with preparations to evacuate had been resolved. The mansion was another issue. And for Subaru, it posed the largest problem of all.

“I thought the village was pretty agitated, but what’s Emilia been up to?”

The time had moved past early morning, finally entering the period one could call “morning” proper. Even if most human beings would be asleep at that hour, it was difficult for him to believe that Emilia could sleep soundly given the state of the Mathers domain over the last few days.

Ram’s testimony had already made clear that Emilia had had no role in Ram’s attack. But the fact that Emilia hadn’t responded to the unrest in the forest tugged at his mind.

Ram responded to Subaru’s suspicions by lowering her eyes with a faintly melancholic look.

“She was busy until late evening, so she should still be resting at the moment. Ever since returning from the capital in a state of despair, she has been weary, lacking any time to put her heart at ease.”

“Unghh…”

“She has the look of someone who has been put through a distasteful ordeal by a man.”

“Don’t attach distasteful to it, okay?! …Not that I’m denying it…”

Her third-party opinion magnified Subaru’s feelings of guilt all at once. It was natural that the events at the capital had greatly wounded Emilia. He could not disagree with Ram’s scornful opinion of him.

“While Master Roswaal is absent, it is up to Lady Emilia to deal with anything amiss at the mansion and the village. But you can understand the villagers’ reactions to Lady Emilia from their earlier demeanor, yes?”

“I can picture it, but I don’t really want to put it into words… Rejection, huh?”

“‘Rejection’? A rather simplistic impression, isn’t it?”

Ram laughed loudly at Subaru’s words, her face immediately turning more cheerful.

“—More like repudiation. If you have been rejected, you can always reach out again. If one’s outstretched hand has been brushed aside, that means there has been contact. But what if you have been repudiated instead?”

“…”

“If it is disgusting to even touch, one must wonder how one closes the distance.”

Subaru made no reply to Ram’s argument, seemingly made to test him. Ram didn’t seem to be looking for an answer, either. “I said something mean,” she said immediately with a sigh.

“Lady Emilia realized there was something amiss in the forest and attempted to have the villagers take shelter in the mansion. Then the villagers repudiated her. She is not someone sensible enough to withdraw immediately after being repudiated, something I imagine you know for yourself, Barusu.”

“But I also know that she’s not a girl who’ll get hit with cruel words and not be hurt.”

Emilia had been trying to deal with the Witch Cult unrest in her own Emilia-like way. However, that way was not enough to soften the hard hearts the villagers bore toward half-elves.

Or perhaps the villagers’ excessive reaction was the result of their speaking with her.

“So what’d Emilia do after?”

“After repeated attempts at persuasion were declined, she was unable to sit still, so she went around reweaving the barriers around the village. After all, as we had not judged the unrest to be from the Witch Cult, she feared it might be demon beasts.”

“Well, that wasn’t really a bad call, but…”

“After that, the blank declaration of war arrived last evening, so she was fretting about that until the morning.”

“So that pops up here, too…”

While Ram spoke as if it were light banter, Subaru could only lament that the letter had done damage on another front. The report on events in the capital, evacuation preparations, Emilia and Ram’s concerns, Ram’s independent actions—the secondary damage was a gift that kept on giving. For such a simple trick, the effects were all too painful.

“In any case, with this much advance preparation to evacuate, Lady Emilia is unlikely to object. If we report to her at the mansion, it should make her agree immediately.”

“…”

“Barusu?”

“No, I get it. Just makes my heart hurt a little.”

With Ram looking suspicious, Subaru shook his head, conscious of his quickening heartbeats. Here, on the brink of a reunion with Emilia, his tension was at its zenith.

Just as Ram saw it, Emilia was not the kind of girl who’d reject the cooperation of so many people. Hence, Subaru’s stress and worry were an issue of Subaru’s own heart.

“Julius, come with me, ’kay? I’m heading to the mansion to convince Emilia and the loli.”

“Me?”

As he hardened his resolve, Subaru looked around him and called for Julius. Subaru nodded at Julius, whose face showed that the nomination had come unexpectedly.

“Yeah. I’m a lot more convincing with you beside me than not. You’ll be my proof that I’ve behaved and repented after all the stuff at the castle.”

“I see, very well. If it will make the talk go more smoothly, use me to your heart’s content.”

His handsome face indicated consent, elegantly nodding at Subaru’s suggestion. The gesture made Subaru grimace.

Ram, glancing sidelong at the exchange, sighed as she said, “A petty and very Barusu-like little trick.”

“Hey, don’t call it petty. Call it paying attention to the little details. Ahh, Julius, besides that.”

“What is it?”

“You’re the one who stuck a spirit on me, right? I want a proper explanation.”

The offhanded way Subaru made the remark made even Julius look apprehensive. His reaction made Subaru avert his eyes, a guilty look on his face as he continued:

“Now look, I’ve been saved two times now with my life on the line, so I get that you’re a spirit mage whether I like it or not.”

“I would prefer you called me by the proper title, spirit knight. I employ spiritual spells, of course, but I do not recall skimping on my sword training.”

Giving that reply, Julius stared at Subaru’s face with utmost seriousness.

“…You are unexpectedly calm. I was thoroughly convinced you would find my being a spirit user to be distasteful.”

“Even I can account for time, place, circumstances, and person once in a while. There are times when I haven’t, though.”

Subaru, eyes still averted, made a pained smile as he motioned toward Julius’s right arm. There emerged the minor spirits that Subaru had seen during Ram’s attack, seemingly orbiting the arm. The flickering spirits numbered six in total, each one lovingly nestling close to Julius’s arm.

However beautiful and fickle they looked, they were beings imbued with supernatural power.

“As you have surmised, these girls are spirits—known as common spirits—that I have formed a pact with. They are buds yet to bloom into distinct categories of spirits. I borrow their strength through my pledge to become a knight worthy of the beautiful flowers they shall become.”

“So you had the red one keep an eye on me?”

One of the minor spirits resting on Julius’s palm was the red one that had leaped out of Subaru’s hair during the illusion. When he thought back, it was that same scarlet minor spirit that had appeared when he had been captured by the crazed woman.

All of it was Julius’s doing. Twice, Subaru had been saved by him in his time of need.

“It is hurtful to hear you call it keeping an eye on you. She was protecting you from the shadows.”

“…Incidentally, what was that thing you used when you were breaking the illusion?”

Julius had used some kind of magic to share the method of breaking the illusion with every member of the group. As a result, Subaru’s brain had been put through the wringer from the multiple thoughts passing through it.

“That was magic cast through borrowing the power of In and Nes, combining Dark with Light…that is Nekt, an advanced magic spell. It links the Gates of all human beings within range, enabling thoughts to pass between them. Though it seems to have been rather too effective upon you.”

“Yeah. I thought I wasn’t gonna be me anymore.”

“As a matter of fact, there is no question it is a difficult spell to employ. After all, it is a ritual to thin the boundaries between you and the minds of others. If deepened to excess, not only thoughts but also the five senses can be commingled. I’m sure you experienced the fear of being consumed by others to a fair extent?”

“That’s walking one hell of a tightrope!”

Subaru was aghast at learning far too late that he had crossed a more precarious bridge than he had even imagined.

Julius turned a look of deep interest toward him and said, “But it is rare for the buds to make a mistake when tuning it. Perhaps you possess an unusually high affinity for spirits… Does anything along those lines come to mind?”

“Sorry, the only spirit I get along with is a mouse-colored cat.”

On top of that, right then, he had no confidence that he could ever approach that cat in the same way as before.

“If you have an opportunity, you should try to learn the basics of spiritualism from Lady Emilia. If she is resistant to teaching you, I would be willing to aid you myself.”

“I’m not sure what brought on this sudden outpouring of friendliness, but it doesn’t sound like an instant process, so I’ll pass for now.”

He didn’t deny that the suggestion held its attractions, but Subaru reflexively declined the offer. His reaction made Julius pull back, seemingly disappointed, when Subaru simultaneously remembered something.

Ferris had told him. Subaru was still subconsciously harboring enmity toward Julius—just as he had at that very moment.

“Can’t I do something about that?”

The first time, Ram had interrupted, but was it not the time to properly clear up the ill feelings between them?

With such thoughts in Subaru’s mind, his gaze caused Julius to incline his own head. Subaru narrowed his eyes at the handsome young man fluent with words, anguished in the attempt to somehow spit out serious words of his own. But—

“…I understand that you don’t feel like putting all your cards on the table, but right now you’ve gotta put up with it. There’ll be problems with our teamwork if we don’t know what the other can do, right?”

“—Mmm, understood. If possible, I would like to put Ia on you again. Please grant your consent.”

In the end, hesitation clogged up Subaru’s throat, and all he could manage was to keep his statement inoffensive.

While Subaru’s thoughts were elsewhere, the red minor spirit called Ia circled above his head. It proceeded to land on the crown of Subaru’s head, asserting its existence with a faint emission of heat.

“Hey, this isn’t gonna make me bald, is it? I’ll have you know I’m trying to go through life without becoming bald or chubby…”

“She’s been nestled against you until now without you even noticing, yes? It is especially so for those with a high affinity for spirits. Your Gate will acclimate quickly, and you will cease to notice her.”

In accordance with this lecture, Subaru immediately stopped feeling the heat on the crown of his head. The principles were unclear to him, but she had apparently slipped inside Subaru. That faint heat was the only thing he’d felt from it.

“What should I do to call it out?”

“She responds to the name Ia. As she cannot respond to commands that are too complex or beyond her power, please do not forget to be as considerate as when approaching any lady.”

Apparently, in other words, read the mood—not Subaru’s strong suit.

“Now then, Barusu, will you finally put your cowardice aside?”

Ram, looking tired of waiting, cut into the pair’s conversation. She was leaning on a fence, and her jaw was firm as she indicated the road running from the village to the mansion.

“Or do you intend to let a defenseless girl, her mana all used up, walk such a dangerous mountain road alone?”

“More like you ran out of gas doing friendly fire. To be honest, I didn’t know you had that in you…”

He was genuinely surprised at her combat ability. She could even take Wilhelm on, if only for a short period. However, he could not wipe away his disappointment—including at how a crucial scene had gone up in smoke.

“Had Master Wilhelm been at full strength, I would not have lasted ten seconds. After all, my power has fallen two steps…no, four steps from its peak.”

“Why’d you make it double Wilhelm’s? Stubbornness?”

“Pride.”

It was an exceptionally Ram-like statement, and for that matter, it was likely the literal truth. Subaru couldn’t even imagine how astounding Ram had been before she had lost her horn.

“That probably accounts for why Rem dwelled on it so much…”

“Did you say something, Barusu?”

“Nothing at all, Big Sis. If I spill the beans that much, it’ll make for more scary people to deal with.”

“—?”

Ram was suspicious about his demeanor, but Subaru avoided saying any more at that juncture. He was hesitating about Rem—her little sister—and all the feelings Subaru bore toward her. More than any other, it was thanks to Rem that Subaru had overcome his trials at the royal capital and was standing there.

In that moment, the importance of Rem’s existence rivaled that of Emilia’s inside Subaru. But considering the time and place, explaining those difficult-to-describe emotions to her older sister just wasn’t happening there and then.

He could face that, and all the other concerns, after everyone had overcome the current state of affairs.

“We have to explain the alliance, too, so we should grab Ferris and head to the mansion, huh?”

Someone from the Crusch camp was required for smoothly clearing up the misunderstanding from the letter of goodwill incident. They’d leave most of the expeditionary force to guard the villagers, with several heavy hitters joining him on his way up to the mansion.

“So about Ferris… What’s he up to anyway?”

Subaru, searching for any sight of the kitty-eared knight in the village, finally spotted him at a corner of the village square. There rested the merchants’ dragon carriages in a line; Ferris was surrounded by their owners, engaged in some kind of argument.

“It is because the circumstances with the Witch Cult have come to light. They might be venting their frustrations about it.”

“Geh… Well, I suppose they would. Sorry, I’ll go mediate a little.”

Scowling at Julius’s guess, Subaru headed toward them. Ram seemed beside herself as she watched him go. Ferris was clearly relieved when Subaru wedged himself into the center of the dispute.

“Ah, Subawu…”

“Okay, that’s enough! Can someone explain to me what this argument’s about?”

“They keep saying, ‘This wasn’t the deal’! Even though I told them again and again that Ferri doesn’t represent the group…”

“That’s right, pal. You’re the one we wanted to talk to!”

This time, instead of Ferris, whose cheeks swelled up in a huff, the angry voices poured onto Subaru. Breathing raggedly through his nose, the merchants’ representative—an individual named Kety—jabbed his finger into Subaru.

“The deal… Well, I suppose not?”

“Of course it’s not! There’s no mistaking what you told us: ‘Help us evacuate people while we exterminate demon beasts.’ And when we open the lid, what’s inside?!”

Kety, his face red with anger, pressed roughly against Subaru’s chest and said, “It turns out to be trouble involving the Witch Cult! This is quite a fraud, you know? What the hell are you up to, dropping that kind of huge lie at our feet?!”

Accosted in such a threatening manner, Subaru was of course taken aback by the sheer force of it.

They were right to be angry about circumstances not corresponding to the explanation they’d been given beforehand. That said, Subaru was at a loss for how to apologize to Kety, who was vehement to the point of incoherence. Then—

“If that’s the case, how about we make a more tangible apology by raising the reward, meow?”

“—Wha…? You sure got more sensible than earlier all of a sudden.”

Kety’s smile toward Ferris, hiding behind Subaru’s back as he made the proposal, deepened further. Inside, Subaru breathed a sigh of relief that his demand was so straightforward. If they’d gotten bent out of shape Subaru would be right back to square one. A little extra damage to Roswaal’s coffers was no great concern.

“The original condition was to name our price. Can we expect double that?”

“Because you’re greedy, meow… Where is your register? I’ll review the contents with Subawu.”

“Hey! Do we have to do that…? Doesn’t human life come first?” Subaru’s eyes widened as Ferris drove the conversation further and further afield.

Kety, having just handed the register over to Ferris, gave a mean-spirited look down at Subaru and said, “This is a huge issue related to the lives we’ll be leading tomorrow. But if you don’t want to, that’s fine.”

“…I’m just grumblin’.”

Cowed by Kety’s downward gaze, Subaru grudgingly climbed into the wagon of his dragon carriage. So far as he could tell, the register listed all the cargo the carriages hauled, as well as personal accessories and jewelry and the like, in an unexpectedly meticulous manner.

“Even though the owner’s so violent, meow?”

“I had the same thought, but why are we doing this together? Go thataway or somethin’.”

“This’ll be done faster if two people are checking, yes? And it’s not like he minds, meow.”

Ferris snuggled against Subaru as they checked the cargo in the curtained wagon. Subaru raised his eyebrows at Ferris’s pushy demeanor when Ferris narrowed his eyes and said, “More importantly…making up with Julius? Did you do it?”

“…Concerning that issue, after much consideration and study, I wish to approach the matter with positivity and discretion.”

“I thought so, meow. I thought, It’s Subawu, so he’ll mess it up for sure. And after you said all that cool stuff in front of the villagers, too—”

Ferris put a hand on his mouth and giggled, showing no sign of ceasing his teasing look. Subaru, feeling burned at the teasing over earlier events and his lingering resentment toward Julius, continued the inspection, comparing cargo to the register.

“Well, it wasn’t a bad try, meow? All you have to do is apologize to Julius with the same intensity…”

“Why you little…!”

“Hey now, don’t start a lover’s quarrel inside someone else’s dragon carriage. Get the work done already.”

When he talked back at Ferris for making light of his situation, Kety made his disapproval with both of them very clear. When his tall frame lumbered over, he was even more sour about Subaru and Ferris’s lack of concentration.

“I can yell at you more, you know. If you’d rather I don’t, get serious.”

“Y-yeah, sorry. We’ll do it right…”

“Uh-oh, he’s angry with you, Subawu. Sheesh, you really are a handful, meow.”

Seizing on Kety’s anger, Ferris hopped away from Subaru’s side. Subaru had just about had enough of his antics. But before he could raise a coarse voice—

“—So careless of you.”

“Guh—?!”

When Ferris murmured, narrowing his yellow eyes, he touched Kety’s exposed arm. The next moment, the tall man let out an anguished cry, his eyes rolling up as he toppled onto his side.

“Huh…?”

“Subawu, don’t just stare like that. Stand watch outside so that no one notices.”

All trace of levity gone, Ferris gave crisp instructions to Subaru, who was taken aback by the sudden series of events. But Subaru was rooted to the spot, unable to understand what had just taken place. Seeing this, Ferris sighed and explained.

“This person is part of the Witch Cult. I touched him to check earlier when all those people were around me; he has the same weird ritual embedded in him as the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins’ finger had earlier.”

“—?! He’s a Witch Cultist?! And a Sloth on top of that?!”

“The possibility is high. That’s why I thought I’d get into the dragon carriage to lower his guard.”

As Ferris replied to the wide-eyed Subaru, he checked Kety’s fallen body and found something. When he lifted a hand, it was holding a cross-shaped sword furnished by the Witch Cult.

“That’s one of the swords the Witch Cultists… They seriously infiltrated the traveling merchants…?”

“But we captured this one alive. The instant I touched him, I made the water in his body run wild and knocked him out. Though if I’ve directly affected someone even once, I can do the same thing without even touching, meow.”

“…Meaning you can do the same thing to me. Kinda gives me the chills to hear that…”

Grudgingly, Subaru did as Ferris directed and checked on things beyond the curtain. Fortunately, no one on the outside seemed to have noticed the skirmish inside the carriage. No one else seemed to be coming aboard.

“But if one of them was a Witch Cultist, that changes everything.”

“We can’t be certain they don’t have others among the merchants…but we can check that from here on out, I suppose?”

Subaru was chagrined at the plan backfiring, but Ferris shook his head as if it was no big deal. After that, he gave the unmoving Kety a smack on the cheek, then pressed a palm, glowing with a pale light, to his face and said, “Now, spill out everything that you’re planning, would you? Ferri’s hand is the gentlest in the world…but it can do such terrible things, meow?”

“—”

Subaru’s body shuddered when he remembered the phrase Those who know how to heal people also know how to break them.

Ferris’s request made Kety open his eyelids a crack, gazing at Ferris with unfocused eyes. His lips frailly struggled to move, but Ferris’s power was supreme. He apparently couldn’t move at all.

“Ferris, be careful. If he is a Sloth, even if he can’t move his limbs…”

“He can still use his power, yes? That’s why I have you watching, Subawu.”

Just because the flesh could not move didn’t mean Unseen Hands couldn’t be put into motion. In accordance with Ferris’s request, Subaru squared his shoulders and kept the closest eye possible on what Kety was doing.

With Subaru and Ferris both hemming him in, Kety breathed out, seemingly deflated. Then—

“—”

“What?”

When Kety seemed to murmur something, Ferris narrowed his eyes, demanding he repeat himself. Subaru hadn’t been able to hear the statement, either. Kety opened his mouth once more—

“—YES.”

“—! Ia! Protect him!!”

Ferris seemed to leap to his feet the instant the whisper reached his eardrums, calling to Subaru, at the entrance to the wagon—no, to the common spirit tethered to him.

Ferris’s gravity, normally unthinkable for him, made Subaru stare for a second, wondering what had happened, when…

“Ah?”

With a burst of heat, the common spirit flew out, deploying a crimson wall of shimmering light around his entire body. It enveloped Subaru, completely isolating him from his surroundings—

“Now cooomes the beginning…of the end!!”

Frozen stiff, Subaru heard a shrill voice saying that right before his eyes.

The next moment, Subaru was engulfed by the flames of the exploding dragon carriage, losing all track of which way was up.
 

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Diamond. Diamond. Diamond.

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