Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World. Volume. 15.
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‘Chapter 1:- THE FINAL DAY OF ROSWAAL MANOR.’
Sub-chapter 1.
—Even now, recalling that moment, she found herself stricken with regret.
The fingers she had extended were brushed away, even as she lovingly called out the girl’s name.
The girl’s parting words were caring. There was happiness, as well as determination, in those tearful eyes of hers; seeing that, her voice died in her throat.
Even now, she couldn’t remember what went through her mind back then.
Even now, she didn’t know what she should have said.
Even now, she had no answer to the question What should I have done differently?
—That was why, even now, she was alone, cowering in the archive of forbidden books, unable to leave.
“…Ryuzu.”
The fragment of an old memory from the far reaches of her mind made that word spill from her lips.
She had spent those empty and stagnant months and years the same way, averting her eyes from that painful past.
Why now, of all times, had she remembered that regret, that memory, that girl’s name?
The most likely explanation was her premonition.
A premonition that was much like how she had been refused long ago—
I’m getting you out of here, Beatrice—This time, my hand’s gonna lead you right out under the big ol’ sun, and we’ll play around until that dress is totally black from mud.
—though this time, it was her turn to brush aside the offered hand.
Sub-chapter 2.
The battle only continued to grow fiercer. The refined solace of the mansion was utterly shattered by the destructive powers at work.
“—Oaaaaaah!!”
In the wake of a roar, steel met steel. A dance of sparks punctuated the ringing echo.
Moonlight beamed into Roswaal Manor, the stage where the waltz was reaching its climax.
“—Marvelous. You are truly marvelous. Just stunning.”
One impact shattered a window. Another cracked the floor. The aftershocks shredded a painting on the wall. The sultry voice that reached the ears of the ferocious golden beast seemed utterly amused by the mortal combat that was unfolding.
“I ain’t happy hearing praise from anyone but Ram!!”
Blotting out the lovely voice with an angry cry, Garfiel threw his mighty fist, which sailed over the head of his foe and punched through the wall behind her. The woman tried to use the opportunity to slip into his blind spot until he came at her again with a lethal follow-up.
His arm ripped through the wall he had punched clean through, bringing a whole chunk of it with him.
“Ah…!”
Seeing the incoming attack boasting a surface area a hundred times larger than a fist, the woman—Elsa—let out an aroused sigh of admiration.
The next instant was so crucial to the outcome of this battle that even blinking would have been fatal.
As Garfiel’s attack lacked any openings, much like the wall he was wielding, instead of trying to fall back, Elsa opted to press forward. With superhuman agility, she minimized the damage she sustained as her black blade flitted toward his neck.
A blow with the force of a gale sent Elsa flying back. However, she was certain that in the exchange, her blade had reached—
“Marvelous.”
“Praase frmm you dnnt mke me hppy, dmmnit!”
Elsa murmured in wonder as she remained crouched, one hand on the floor. It took only one look to realize that Garfiel had caught her kukri with his fangs. He shattered the arrested blade with one bite and spat out what was left.
—From the first exchange, he knew this woman was someone he couldn’t afford to be careless with.
Faced with an opponent so powerful that normal methods were useless, Garfiel glanced over his shoulder and behind him. There, standing stiffly while observing the clash between the pair, was a woman with jade eyes—Frederica.
“Hey, Sis. What are ya doin’, just starin’ at me like that?”
“Eh? Ah, well, I had not intended on…”
“Sorry, but it really don’t look like I’m gonna have time to show off. The general put me in charge of keepin’ you safe, so please.”
Garfiel chomped his fangs as he called to his hesitant sister. However, Frederica’s reactions were dull, and her legs remained motionless, though it was no fault of hers.
The battle between Garfiel and Elsa had reached a level that left Frederica unable to intervene. Assistance was out of the question; simply moving required courage. That being the case—
“It’s time to show what a good little brother I am!”
“Garf?!”
Seeing Frederica hadn’t moved, Garfiel decided to act first.
When he ferociously leaped toward his foe, Elsa smiled charmingly, already knowing what he intended to do.
“Thinking of your sister at a time like this? What a kind boy.”
As she spoke, the killer parried a bestial claw with her knife and leaped backward, clearing a great distance. Garfiel followed after her, shifting the battlefield to somewhere deeper in the mansion. This cleared the path to the Sleeping Princess—Rem.
If Frederica took Rem with her and left while her brother kept the enemy occupied, then there was nothing to fear.
“Garf!”
As he rained a flurry of punches, a clear, unwavering voice called out to him from behind. There was no time to look back, but his sister had only one thing to say to her little brother, whose back had grown far wider than the one in her memories—
“I believe in you!”
It was a reunion of mere minutes after ten years apart. But it was enough.
She trusted in her little brother’s strength, and he was determined to live up to his older sister’s expectations—that was all they needed.
“Damn right you do!!!”
His strength surged as a fire roared to life in his belly.
Elsa twisted her body to dodge a swing of his bestial claws, but she was too slow. Garfiel snagged her black braid and slammed her into a wall before proceeding to race down the corridor with her.
“Ooooaaaaahhh!!!”
Roaring, Garfiel charged straight into the mansion, with Elsa still pinned against the wall. Dust and debris flew from the wall as it broke, leaving her unable to resist the heavy impacts. All he had to do now was snap her neck, cave in her skull, and grind her against the wall until she was reduced to paste. Then he’d regroup with his friends and—
“Letting your mind wander in the middle of our dance? What a naughty boy.”
Faster than his mind could think, he miraculously flinched away out of sheer instinct.
A moment later, what should’ve been a direct hit grazed his left ear instead. Now off-balance, Garfiel completely lost his footing—in fact, the floor itself was missing. He fell right through the gaping hole that Elsa’s swing had produced.
The slicing attacks kept coming even as he entered a free fall. Garfiel relied purely on intuition to deflect them with the shields strapped to both his arms—defense, defense, defense. Ultimately, he couldn’t intercept every strike. Blood flowed freely from fresh wounds that appeared all over him.
The moment he made contact with the floor below, Garfiel rolled away to escape the zone of death. He rose from the carpet on all fours while glaring straight ahead. A white cloud of dust parted to reveal his opponent, as though she stood atop a moonlit stage.
The beautiful assassin smiled, gripping her kukri with both hands. Her upper body was smeared with blood.
“…Looks like Sis is on her way. The rest is up to the general.”
Sensing the presence still on the floor above had already set off, Garfiel sighed in relief at the completion of his first objective. According to Subaru’s plan, the remaining objectives were…
…Wait, what were they again?
“Awww, crap. I can’t remember… Oh well.”
No doubt there was a backup plan in case Garfiel didn’t win—a plan for keeping everyone alive as they sought shelter in the Sanctuary. That didn’t matter, though. It was fine even if he forgot.
As long as he won, there was no need to remember that plan. With that final thought, he slammed both his shields together in front of him.
Garfiel steeled himself with the clamor of metal scraping against metal. Elsa licked her lips at the sight.
“—Elsa Gramhilde, the Bowel Hunter.”
“Garfiel Tinzel, the Sanctuary’s Ultra-strong Shield.”
The assassin’s bloodred smile melted into the darkness right as she started freely bounding in all directions, awaiting his pursuit.
Just before they collided, Garfiel crinkled his nose, bared his fangs, and howled:
“This is one hell of a first battle, General, so ya better hold up your end!”
Sub-chapter 3.
Just how many times had he visited this oh-so-familiar room to meet her like this?
The first time they’d met was in the evening of the day Subaru had first arrived at Roswaal Manor. He had no trouble breaking through the illusion she’d cast on the hallway with ease, setting foot into this very same archive of forbidden books.
There was little doubt that both of them had made the worst impressions imaginable during their first encounter.
After she robbed his still-recovering body of mana, Subaru went down without even putting up a fight. Burning with the need for revenge, he later went on to prod and annoy her at every opportunity, continuously interfering with her alone time.
He spent two months at Roswaal Manor like this. During that time, Subaru and the girl—Beatrice—argued and fought on numerous occasions, getting along rather childishly.
When they saw each other, a commotion was bound to occur. Yet, curiously, their likes and tastes matched in the strangest and most unexpected of ways.
Why? Somehow, it constantly bothered Subaru that she seemed alone.
Even now, he thought of those days and the time they’d spent together as something irreplaceable that bonded them together.
Subaru had returned to see Beatrice once more, and this time, he would never, ever let go of her again.
“You want to take Betty away from this place…?”
Bewildered, Beatrice repeated the declaration Subaru had made upon entering the room.
Still seated on the stool in its customary position, she hugged the black book to her chest all the tighter.
She clutched the book of knowledge entrusted to her by her mother, its pages of prophecy blank.
“Is that…any of your business, I wonder? No one asked you…to do such a thing.”
“I figured you’d say that, but I don’t have time for a long debate. I’m bringing you out of here with me one way or another.”
“What a self-serving… Would you leave this instant, I wonder? Leave and have a good cry on that girl’s lap.”
“You trying to start a fight…?! You keep that up, and it’s gonna be war…!!”
Subaru’s lips trembled in shame as she brought up memories of him making a fool of himself. If anything, Emilia’s lap pillows were an enormous blessing, but he couldn’t rely on her at the moment.
Emilia was currently giving her all in the Sanctuary. It was Subaru’s job to do the same at the mansion.
“Anyway, there’s no time for chitchat. You know what’s going on outside, don’t you?”
“…I understand there are intruders in the mansion, I suppose. Still, why should Betty get involved in this dispute? Anyone who wishes to scuffle in the dirt should do as they please.”
“Unfortunately, the situation isn’t friendly enough to be called a scuffle. I left the fight against Tough Enemy Number One to a promising newcomer, but…he’s too much of a softy.”
Shaking his head at Beatrice’s words, Subaru racked his brain as he mulled over how their allies had been deployed throughout the estate.
The greatest asset they had—Garfiel—was almost certainly already engaging the main threat—Elsa. Both possessed superhuman strength, so they could be considered evenly matched—or at least, Subaru hoped so. He couldn’t be certain.
It was less that Garfiel was too soft and more that he was incredibly kindhearted. That was the proper way to express it.
Subaru and company had strategically relied on that kindness to defeat him during their confrontation at the Sanctuary. How his deeply emotional personality would influence the current combat situation at the manor was anyone’s guess.
Subaru couldn’t dismiss the possibility that Garfiel would, instead of pitying his opponent, be so concerned for his allies that it’d end up dulling his claws and fangs.
To get everyone in the mansion out safe and sound, Garfiel had to be in peak fighting condition to draw off their powerful foe.
“Basically, that means I have to eliminate any obstacles that get in the way of our Lethal Weapon so he can go all out. I’ve left Petra in Otto’s hands, and I’m relying on Frederica to secure Rem, so…”
“That leaves just you and Betty… Is that what you are trying to say, I wonder?”
“Yep, that’s pretty much it.”
If there was nothing holding him back, Garfiel could unleash his full power. That was why the top priority was getting Petra and the others out of the mansion first. He was sure Frederica would secure Rem and meet back up with everyone else in short order.
“And the last piece of the puzzle is me getting you out of here. If you don’t wanna run hand in hand, I’ll carry you in my arms or on my back, whatever you like. Just so we’re clear, I’m not budging on this.”
“Don’t make me repeat myself. Is your help even necessary, I wonder?”
When Subaru tried to take one step closer, Beatrice refused him in a low voice.
She swiveled her head about, as if meaning to address the room instead of Subaru.
“Betty is in control of the Great Spirit’s archive of forbidden books, a place isolated from the fleeting outside world. No matter what menace lies beyond those doors, does it even matter, I wonder? Your concern is unnecessary.”
“Nah, I can’t let this slide. Your archive of forbidden books is awesome, all right. No argument there. But it’s got a fatal flaw. More importantly, the other side knows exactly how to beat it.”
This critique of her Passage ability, the foundation of her confidence, made Beatrice raise her eyebrows with displeasure.
Certainly, when it came to staying hidden, the archive of forbidden books offered countless advantages. However, Subaru had seen for himself on previous runs that these advantages were not absolute.
“Your Passage is only effective on closed doors. If someone opens all the doors in the mansion…”
The last one would lead straight into the archive of forbidden books without fail. In a prior run, Elsa had used that method to trespass upon the archive, attacking Beatrice in an attempt to take her life.
The archive wasn’t safe. He was doing his best to explain, but—
“—Why does the enemy know of this weakness, I wonder?”
Beatrice’s question made Subaru catch his breath.
“Roswaal told them…that must be how they know.”
She’d arrived at the conclusion so quickly that Subaru had no chance to offer up any excuse.
He could only gaze in astonishment as Beatrice’s certainty deepened. The assailants had come to the mansion on Roswaal’s instructions, and it was necessary to defeat Beatrice’s Passage in order to achieve their goals. Roswaal must have had a reason for why that had to come to pass. In other words—
“Is Betty’s death recorded in Roswaal’s book of knowledge, I wonder?”
After voicing that musing, Beatrice briefly let out a breath.
Phew. Like a spontaneous sigh of relief. The sight sent Subaru into a fit of rage.
“You…! What was that sigh just now…? Why do you look like you’re okay with all this?!”
“…If you have come this far, surely you understand. Roswaal is simply upholding what is written in the book of knowledge, I suppose. If this is the result, Betty’s fate is already sealed.”
“What the hell are you…? Roswaal’s book is his, and your book is yours, right? Or are you telling me that book you’re hugging says at some point he’s going to have you killed?!”
Subaru jabbed a finger toward the book of knowledge, which Beatrice clutched as if hoping to shatter her resignation.
The truth was that he already knew Beatrice’s mystic tome was empty. Not once in four centuries’ time had any prophecies of the future appeared within its pages.
When Subaru shouted at her, Beatrice cast her gaze downward and slowly opened the book in her arms. Then she turned its contents toward him, revealing there was indeed nothing written inside.
“There isn’t anything in here, I suppose. Betty’s fate is a blank page.”
“Then that means you don’t have any reason to let Roswaal have his way! You should decide what you wanna do for yourself the way you always have!”
“…The way I always have?”
Beatrice’s eyes went wide, blinking as she softly repeated those words.
Her voice, sounding as if it was devoid of all emotion, left Subaru speechless.
However, those blue eyes of hers glinted with something unmistakable—a cavernous sorrow.
“Just what did Betty decide on for herself in all those days?”
As she murmured, Beatrice meticulously turned the pages of the tome with her slender fingers, as if she thought those pristine pages represented the sum total of the long years she had spent blank and empty.
“I have continued to protect this mansion, all alone, because Mother asked me to… When did I ever make a choice of my own? Who is this Beatrice you speak of, and what has she done for herself?”
“…Beatrice…”
“Is Betty’s life not as barren as this book, I wonder? Is it not as empty? I have decided nothing for myself. No accomplishments or achievements… I have nothing at all…”
Softly, she closed the book of knowledge. Beatrice slowly stroked the front cover of the tome that bore no title. She caressed it gently, enviously. Then she quietly spoke again.
“Truly…it would have been better if Betty were simply a book.”
Unable to indulge in even fleeting fantasy, Beatrice confessed her sad, painful wish.
If only she could be a doll without a heart, a storybook unshaken by the passage of time, then she wouldn’t have to suffer.
But she couldn’t. And so she grieved.
“Sadly, Betty does have a heart. After waiting for so long that all hope and faith faded away, certain thoughts came unbidden. Were these fears and worries, I wonder? Many a night have I gathered my memories and clung to them, anxious that I might one day forget my mother’s face or smile.”
Digging her nails into the book she clutched to her chest, Beatrice bit her lip as she glared at Subaru.
“There were times when I was afraid of being alone and desperately wanted to be with someone, anyone. But as the years went by, everyone eventually left Betty behind. They all said something incomprehensible about how it was for something so important… Mother left! And so did Roswaal! Even Ryuzu!”
Beatrice shouted, on the verge of tears as her face contorted.
The names she shouted struck Subaru as he recalled everything he had learned about Beatrice back in the Sanctuary.
In the short time the two girls spent together, she had undoubtedly formed a bond with Ryuzu Meyer, the girl who had become a sacrifice to protect the Sanctuary—something that scarred Beatrice’s heart to this day.
“Betty…the spirit Beatrice…has always been alone, destined to be left behind by everyone else… But now I can rest a tiny bit easier, I suppose.”
“…Why? Why would you feel relieved that you might be killed by someone you know?”
“The reason is obvious.”
Beatrice responded to Subaru’s strained voice with a single nod.
A fleeting smile came over her lips; it was one that showed a yearning for something that lay deep in the past.
“Even if it’s only within Roswaal’s book of knowledge, the fact that Betty has been recorded… Does that mean Mother has not forgotten about her daughter, I wonder?”
With a little smile, Beatrice spoke those words, as if they were some kind of salvation.
The girl seemed happy, as if a death sentence written in the mystic tome left by her mother was exactly what she hoped for. As if she could find peace by dying at the hands of a man who belonged to the same household she had treated like family for centuries.
After four hundred years of faithfully waiting and wishing, Beatrice was happy to finally fulfill her mother’s wishes, even if it meant death.
It was precisely because she’d insisted on following her mother’s instructions with blind devotion that Beatrice couldn’t do anything but accept her fate. She believed in Echidna the Witch like a martyr ready to sacrifice herself for the faith.
This much was plain to see in the pure liberation that suffused her smile—
“Give it a rest already.”
That unsettling, intolerable smile made the fire in Subaru’s chest burn all the hotter.
The tragic happiness Beatrice felt after seemingly confirming her mother’s love was a twisted thing. It was utter garbage.
As if condemning her daughter to death could ever be considered a form of motherly love.
“…What do you…intend to do?”
Subaru was so consumed by righteous indignation that he had stepped forward without even noticing. The disconcerting expression on his face made Beatrice stiffen warily.
“Were you even listening, I wonder? What is it you plan to do? Does it need to be explained that whatever you intend, Betty shall show no mercy, I wonder? I have…already accepted my fate.”
“What a load of bullcrap. You’re just like Roswaal. You haven’t changed a bit. Actually, you’re a lot worse. At least Roswaal knows what he’s doing. Why do you have to make everything more complicated, damn it?”
Boundless anger began welling up within him. When he thought about it, ever since he had become involved in the events surrounding the Sanctuary, Subaru had been wrestling with his wrath over and over.
He had been angry with himself during the Trials; angry at the Witches, who toyed with him; angry at Garfiel, the stubborn kid who looked down on him; angry at Roswaal, the man who was trying to prove the frailty of Subaru’s beliefs by doggedly adhering to what was preordained; and angry at Emilia, who refused to believe in not only Subaru’s love but also herself.
And now he was angry at fate itself after seeing Beatrice abandon all hope.
“Beatrice, you’re an idiot. Dumb as rocks, that’s for sure! It hurts just looking at you!!”
“Wha…?!”
Subaru’s sudden outburst of anger and the abrupt segue left Beatrice speechless.
The irritation and confusion she felt prevented her from immediately raising her voice. Subaru took advantage of that bewilderment to pile on her even more.
“You had four hundred years to figure this out! Why is the only thing you ever came up with so extreme…?! Why’d you think of only one plan?! There are so many other things you could’ve done, damn it!!”
“O-of course I thought about it! Betty tried checking if there was anything on these blank pages again and again…but nothing ever changed!”
“That’s why you’re an idiot! What about trying to heat them to see if anything was written in invisible ink?! These days, no one falls for that trick anymore, even when it’s a novelty New Year’s card! Consider some more possibilities, would you?!”
The persistently blank pages of the tome had convinced Beatrice that her fate simply led to a dead end.
But if that wasn’t necessarily true… If there was another possibility, then—
“Like what if your mother messed up and gave you the wrong book by mistake?!”
“Huh…?”
The latest theory Subaru proposed was so haphazard that Beatrice didn’t even know how to respond. That surprise quickly gave way to anger as Beatrice’s ire only grew.
“Do you intend to insult Mother, I wonder?! Mother would never make such a stupid mista—”
“Can you say for sure it absolutely couldn’t happen? You don’t have even the slightest doubt? Are you so certain the only possible explanation is that your mother deliberately handed her own daughter a book with nothing but blank pages?”
Subaru used fallacies and questionable logic to massage and obfuscate the truth.
It was still a mystery to him what Echidna’s true intentions had been when she gave Beatrice the book of knowledge. He wouldn’t put it past the foul Witch to entrust someone with it just to mess with their head.
But after hearing about the past of the Sanctuary from Ryuzu, he felt like the Echidna in that tale was different than the twisted person he met. The truth continued to elude him. That said, the truth wasn’t important here.
What he needed to do now was knock down the walls surrounding Beatrice’s heart and say the magic words that would pull her toward him.
“Why…would you put it that way…?” Overwhelmed by Subaru’s force of will, Beatrice’s voice wavered, her eyes losing focus.
She firmly believed in her mother. The mother she loved and respected would never try to ensnare her on purpose. And yet, Beatrice stubbornly shook her head. When she weighed blind faith against love and respect, she chose blind faith.
It was as if she wanted to continue clinging to her mother’s words, which she never once doubted over the course of four hundred years.
“M-Mother surely would never make such a mistake. I-is that not obvious, I wonder? This is Mother we’re talking about! Would you doubt your own mother’s words?!”
“Of course I would! The times I can trust her don’t come along all that often! My mom’s the same person who heard a report about a satellite falling into ‘the atmosphere’ and somehow thought it was ‘Aichi Prefecture.’ I stopped believing any news that came from her mouth after that! It’d be mega-embarrassing if I spread around something that stupid again!”
It was impossible to forget how he’d been mocked by his classmates and neighbors for taking that story seriously and sharing it with everyone. To top it all off, the original culprit herself forgot she had started the whole thing and even asked him, Why on earth did you tell people that?
Ever since that series of events in his third year of primary school, Subaru had staunchly refused to blindly believe what either of his parents had to say about anything. In fact, he’d learned to doubt his father’s words even earlier on in life.
That was why Beatrice’s unshakable faith in her mother as an infallible existence irked Subaru to no end.
“Even if I had twice as many fingers, I wouldn’t be able to count on my hands how many times an argument between my dad and me ended with a fistfight, and that’s in the span of less than twenty years. You’ve had twenty times that. You’re telling me you never had doubts like that even once?”
“I simply do not understand… What is it you want Betty to say, I wonder?! I cannot understand at all! Your desire, your objective… They make no sense! None at all!”
“Fine. I’ll say it straight so that even idiots like you and your mother can hear me loud and clear!”
As Beatrice started clutching at her head, Subaru drew near and grasped both her hands.
From above, he brought his face close to Beatrice’s, coming so close that he could feel the teary-eyed girl’s breaths.
“Stop letting an empty book and a verbal promise you made four centuries ago control you. Beatrice, what you want to do is your choice.”
“”
“Four hundred years… Isn’t that more than enough time to justify at least one rebellious phase?”
Because she loved her mother, Beatrice had stayed bound by loneliness and emptiness.
Perhaps Echidna considered even her own daughter’s mental anguish to be an exquisite delicacy. But what was left of a person’s heart when they’d forgotten what it was like to want to cry, or even how? It made Subaru want to hurl from the bottom of his heart.
With both her hands still in his grasp as she sat atop the stool, Beatrice averted her face from Subaru.
Considering the height of the stool, her eyes were roughly at the same height as Subaru’s. Beatrice cast her gaze downward, her lips trembling as she looked at the book on her lap.
“No matter what you say…a pact is a pact. And a pact is absolute… That’s why…”
“Big talk from a girl looking for a loophole in that same pact, ready to go straight to her death so long as that pact isn’t broken in the process.”
Beatrice shied away from his piercing stare until his comment made her eyes shoot wide. It seemed he had hit the mark.
After having her inner thoughts laid out so plainly, a shudder ran through her as she began to tear up.
That was only natural. Subaru had heard those exact laments straight from Beatrice’s own mouth once before.
Now, across time and space, he’d make up for how helpless he felt and for everything he had been unable to convey.
“What you’re saying is all messed up, Beatrice. Haven’t you noticed the inconsistencies? There’s no way you haven’t. You got a good head on your shoulders.”
“Would you…just be silent, I wonder…?”
“No, I won’t. You want to stop upholding the pact? That’d be fine by me. You’re the one who hates keeping your promise so much that you literally want to die. No one would blame you for wanting to break it.”
“I would blame myself! Why can you not seem to understand this?!”
“You’re the one who doesn’t understand. If keeping that promise you made means dying, you should just break the promise and live. That’s what I’d do; is it so weird I’d make that choice?”
Beatrice, who continued obsessing over the pact, looked at Subaru like he were some kind of monster beyond all comprehension.
Subaru found it pretty baffling to be perceived that way.
Of course he knew keeping your word was important.
He’d been scolded by Emilia more than once for breaking his promises, and he’d learned that the hard way after enduring quite a few painful experiences. That’s why even someone like him had taken to heart how important it was to not go back on a promise.
Despite that, Subaru didn’t feel any reluctance whatsoever in telling Beatrice to break hers.
He’d already explained his reasoning. It didn’t even merit a second thought.
“H-how can you be so impudent and devious, I wonder…?”
“I know I’m the brazen sort, and I’ve reflected on how that’s gotten me into trouble before. Still, I’ll never budge on the important stuff.”
Subaru’s answer would not change. From the beginning, the issue at hand was Beatrice’s heart.
She could not conceal her shock and confusion as he told her to ignore her pact. That much was expected. In this world, pacts bore enormous weight to the beings known as spirits.
He was in love with a spirit mage himself, so Subaru was well aware of the gravity of the situation.
He understood completely. And even so, Subaru told Beatrice to prioritize herself over the pact.
“I-if you were…the one I’ve been waiting for…then maybe…”
As Subaru continued to stand close by, Beatrice gazed at him, slowly shaking her head side to side.
A single duty had remained entwined around Beatrice’s heart, chaining her down for four hundred years even as the blank pages of her mother’s keepsake whittled her heart away. This mission of hers was the greatest reason she had not relinquished the pact despite all her suffering.
If she only completed this duty, Beatrice could finally be free.
Accordingly, Beatrice peered into Subaru’s black eyes, as if clinging to them, as if giving her heart to them.
“Would you…?”
As if out of breath, she exhaled slowly, seemingly trying to forgive herself…
“Would you…become That Person for Betty?”
This was tantamount to asking him to finally bring an end to Beatrice’s four centuries of emptiness.
He recalled Echidna’s words. This was precisely the reply that the Witch of Greed desired.
Given that there was no right answer as to who That Person was, would Beatrice eventually select one of her own accord?
This was the question the Witch had entrusted to her daughter in order to satisfy her own curiosity, forcing Beatrice into four centuries of loneliness in the process.
The question Beatrice just uttered was the fruit of all that time, the end result after four hundred excruciating years.
“”
Beatrice swallowed, awaiting his reply.
Gazing straight back into the girl’s eyes, Subaru answered loud and clear.
“You really are an idiot. There’s no way in hell that I’d be this stupid person or whatever you’ve been waiting for.”
Sub-chapter 4.
Subaru slammed into the wall, swooning in agony as he crumpled from the impact.
After he hit his side hard on a column in the hallway, he raised a soundless cry as he writhed around on the floor.
“Gaaaghhh… I—I can’t believe it…! That idiot… We were still in the middle of talking…!!”
Seeing the door slam shut right before his eyes, Subaru leaped toward it and tried to open it as fast as he could, but once he did, all he found on the other side was a simple guest room. Passage had already activated, and Subaru had been barred from the archive of forbidden books once more.
The moment he forcefully announced his true feelings on the matter, Subaru had been locked out.
“I had more stuff to say… Damn that short-tempered toddler…!”
He’d chosen his words poorly. His chest ached as he recalled how the last expressions he’d seen Beatrice make were ones of sadness and anger.
He hadn’t told Beatrice everything he wanted to say to her yet. If he didn’t find a way back into the archive of forbidden books right away—
“—Mr. Natsuki?!”
A voice held Subaru in place just as he was about to run off in search of the archive. When he turned to check behind him, his eyes met those of someone peeking in his direction from the next room over.
It was none other than Otto, who had accompanied Subaru to the mansion and should have been operating independently. And just like Otto, Petra was also sticking her head out to see what was going on. Subaru widened his eyes in surprise as realization dawned upon him.
“Damn it, you guys… Why are you still in the mansion?! You only needed to open the doors on the first floor, and the plan was to run as soon as that was taken care of, right?”
“That is true, but unfortunately, a problem has arisen within the mansion…”
Though initially surprised by the unexpected reunion, Subaru’s face went pale when Otto mentioned some trouble was afoot.
Securing an escape route out of the mansion and using it to elude the enemy was the crux of their plan. Accordingly, Subaru had entrusted that duty to Otto. If he couldn’t do it, no one could. If even Otto had deemed it too difficult, then there was no choice but to accept it was an impossible task.
“What happened? The short version, please.”
“This is the work of the Beast Master you spoke of, I presume. The interior of the mansion is already filled with demon beasts.”
“That must mean Meili’s here, huh…but she already should’ve been accounted for.”
Otto’s hushed report left deep creases in Subaru’s brow.
The two assailants—Elsa the Bowel Hunter and Meili the Beast Master—were basically sisters of slaughter.
The danger Elsa posed was painfully obvious, but Meili’s command over demon beasts was something that could not be taken lightly if they wanted to make it out of this encounter in one piece. So of course, he’d readied a countermeasure—
“—But there are demon beasts the repel stones don’t work on at all!!”
Even in the darkness, he could tell Petra’s face was red as she shouted and beat Subaru’s question to the punch. The girl was gripping a glowing blue crystal—a phosphorescent stone for warding off demon beasts. This was what Subaru and the others had prepared to neutralize the Beast Master.
“Wait, seriously?! I was sure that if we had these demon-beast repel stones, they’d keep them away like during the Urugarum incident… Why isn’t it working?!”
“I don’t know! Perhaps the ones that appeared here are exceptions, but at any rate, assuming these demon beasts have appeared throughout the entire manor, even reaching the marquis’s room will be…”
Extremely difficult. Otto left this part unspoken as he finished explaining how the odds had abruptly turned against them. Then—
“—?!?”
Subaru felt an impact come from below his soles, instantly drawing his attention. He quickly noticed there was an odd warping underneath the red carpet covering the corridor floor. It bulged further, and then—it burst.
The tremors and deformation of the corridor had merely been a harbinger. The real show of destruction was occurring on the floor below, causing the entire west wing of the mansion to collapse, taking the corridor they were in along with it. The windows cracked, the wooden beams flew apart, and the whole mansion seemed to groan under the strain.
As he lost his footing, Subaru found his body suddenly floating in midair. Reflexively, he reached out and yanked a tiny body toward him. As he fell toward the center of the hole, he tried to at least shield the small child pressed against his chest before they hit the ground.
“—Make sure you don’t let go!!”
When that thunderous voice rang in his eardrums amid all the destruction, Subaru did everything he could to obey. A moment later, he felt his body being pulled by the scruff of his neck. Then he was unceremoniously tossed to the ground, which made for an admittedly much softer landing.
He felt his cheek brushing up against grass. When Subaru looked around, he saw he had rolled onto the green, open yard outside the mansion.
“J-just now, that was…”
“Miss Frederica!”
When Subaru shook his head and looked up, Petra leaped out of his arms. Her gaze was focused on someone whose blond hair was beautifully flapping in the wind; it was none other than Frederica herself.
Petra’s eyes glimmered as the older maid elegantly brushed the young girl’s hair back and gently wiped the grime off her cheek.
“Even if this is an emergency, please forgive my impropriety. Frederica Baumann has returned.”
“Frederica!!”
Overcome with emotion, Petra threw herself toward Frederica, who smiled as she gently caught her adorable junior and held the girl close to her chest. Consequently, Otto, who Frederica had been supporting on her right side, was unceremoniously dumped onto the grass.
“Ow!! Wait a minute! I’m grateful you saved my life, but what is this rough handling?!”
“I—I am very sorry, Master Otto. She was simply higher on my list of priorities…”
“Women and children, the elderly, men, and then Otto, huh?”
“Have I been exiled from even the ranks of men?!”
Setting Otto’s complaints aside, their group quickly confirmed they were all unharmed. Thanks to Frederica, everyone present had emerged from the manor safely. This was not limited to Subaru, Otto, and Petra, either.
“Master Subaru—I have brought her here with me, as requested.”
Still holding Petra, Frederica turned around to show Subaru what she meant. There, firmly secured to her back with bedsheets, was a sleeping girl—Rem. Instantly, Subaru’s breath caught in his throat.
But that initial stiffness almost immediately gave way to relief.
“You did… Thank you…for getting her out safe and sound. I mean it.”
“It was the natural thing to do. More importantly, we have a pressing problem to deal with…”
Subaru brushed a finger against Rem’s cheek as she continued to sleep. While he did that, he looked intently at Frederica to convey his thanks. Then he followed her gaze to the west wing of the mansion, which was spectacularly wrecked.
The sheer extent of the damage made it seem like a giant truck had crashed right into the building. To be fair, that metaphor wasn’t that much of an exaggeration. The only difference was that instead of a truck—
“—What…is that?”
Otto stood up and brushed off his knees as he posed the question. It was something everyone present wondered, with the exception of the sleeping Rem. If Subaru had to guess…
“It looks like a really huge hippo to me.”
The creature they were staring at was enormous. The color and texture of its hide resembled a boulder, and the four limbs it boasted seemed as thick and stout as millstones. It had a dreadful, vile face, red eyes that brimmed with hostility, and a broken horn perched on the tip of its nose. Moreover, this demon beast had a tiny figure riding on its back.
“Huh. That’s amazing. I’m kinda shocked our attack just now didn’t take anybody out.”
Straddling the back of the enormous demon beast, the little girl waved her legs all about as she addressed them with an amused voice. The cruel, innocent ring to her words was familiar to Subaru—and to Petra as well.
She was clad in black clothing, while her deep-blue hair was tied up in a braid—
“—Meili!”
“Oh? None of you folks seems to be all that surprised. I’m just a little disappointed.”
When Subaru shouted her name, Meili drew her lips back, unhappy that she’d failed to surprise them with what was supposed to be her big reveal. Unfortunately, Subaru and company had no reason to humor her.
“You busting up the mansion like this is a way bigger deal! The hell you think you’re doing?!”
“Well, I couldn’t find the maids who were our target. So I had Rock Piggie pitch in. And thanks to that, I ended up finding all of you, right?”
Meili touched a finger to her cheek, showing not a single shred of guilt as she sized up her prey. While it certainly had been the fastest way to draw them out, they would have all been annihilated if Frederica had not been there.
“But you really surprised me. I mean, this job should’ve been easy. Now everything’s behind schedule.”
“That so? If you’re off schedule, you should report to your superior and await further instructions. If you use your own on-site judgment, there’s no telling what huge and terrible problems might happen.”
“Tee-hee-hee. Nooope. You can’t trick me.”
Despite the alien encounter and being cornered by demon beasts, Subaru carried on an exceedingly normal-sounding exchange with Meili.
Compared with Elsa, Meili was an improvement—she didn’t take potshots at his innards midconversation. But unsurprisingly, she was similarly immune to his attempts at persuasion. Even as they shared what seemed like a friendly chat, he could sense demon beasts gradually closing in on the yard.
The group had successfully gotten out of the building, but it’d be a mistake to call it an escape. It had not changed the fact that they were surrounded by demon beasts—if anything, their situation seemed far more precarious than before.
“I feel sorry for Elsa, but I’m going to take all the maids for myself. Ah, no need to worry. I’ll be gentle to Petra. We are friends, after all.”
“Y-yay, I’m so happy—If we’re friends, that means you’ll let us go, right—?”
“Tee-hee-hee. Of course we’re friends. That’s why we’ll get along until the veeery end, right?”
“Uh, Subaru, sorry, but I tried my best, and it still didn’t work…”
Their ways of expressing friendship were simply too different. Petra bravely attempted to negotiate, but that ended in failure.
Meili was still young, but she was already thoroughly versed in the ethos of a hired killer. Her moral values had already been deeply twisted. To her, evil and good were indistinguishable. They would not find any common ground.
“Master Subaru…”
“Frederica? What are…? Whoa!”
Suddenly, before Subaru could come up with an escape plan, the older maid stood directly in front of him with Rem still on her back. Frederica did not respond to his call and instead undid the knots, freeing Rem.
Subaru instantly moved to her to catch Rem’s sleeping body before it fell. And then—
“—I shall provide that girl, no, that assassin with the proper hospitality. During that time, all of you…”
“M-Miss Frederica! Y-you mustn’t!”
Petra clung to Frederica, who had boldly declared she would act as a rear guard for the party. Subaru had simply gone silent. Frederica gently turned her gaze toward the young maid, who refused to let go of her waist.
“Stop, Miss Frederica! This is exactly the same as before… We’ve only just met again, and…”
“No, it’s different now… After all, last time, I was resigned to death.”
“—!”
“So much has changed. After ten years, I have reunited with Garf…with my younger brother. And I have you, my unspeakably adorable junior. I have never been happier. And that’s why I refuse to be defeated here.”
Frederica spoke to Petra while gently stroking her head. Seeing the will residing in those jade eyes from up close, Petra said no more. But surely, she understood these were not empty words to make her feel better.
The woman she looked up to refused to compromise on what she believed in, and she was ready to see it through with force. Frederica was truly Garfiel’s elder sister.
“Frederica! We’ll head for Roswaal’s room!”
“Please do. I shall join you once I have given this girl a proper spanking.”
Subaru called out to her after securing Rem to his back. Offering a graceful reply in turn, Frederica readied herself for the imminent battle.
Garfiel versus Elsa; Frederica versus Meili—having the beast person siblings handle the sisters of subterfuge was probably the best outcome they could have hoped for. Now they just had to survive the attack.
“Otto! Take Petra!”
“Loud and clear!”
Grasping the barked instruction, Otto set off running with Petra in tow. With Rem on his back, Subaru raced ahead of them, guiding them to the entrance into the mansion from the yard.
“Hey, hold on a…! Don’t decide stuff on your own like that! Petraaaaa!”
“Thbpttt!”
The sight of Subaru and company fleeing at full speed made Meili cry out from atop the demon beast. Though teary-eyed, Petra gave an immediate reply, sticking out her tongue tauntingly.
With that, Subaru and the others fled into the mansion. Meili moved to pursue them, but—
“—Dear guest, from here on, I will have to insist you remain with me and enjoy the Mathers family’s hospitality!”
“Gaaah! I’ll make you regret this! Get her, Rock Piggie!!”
“—!!!”
Looking down at Frederica, who was blocking her path, Meili puffed up her cheeks as her temper flared. Heeding the command of its master, the enormous, boulder-like demon beast issued a roar that echoed across the entire grounds.
With a flutter of her skirt, Frederica’s arms creaked as they transformed.
“Now, come closer. I’ll be teaching you some harsh lessons today! Prepare yourself.”
Sub-chapter 5.
Splitting up from Frederica, Subaru and company made a beeline for the mansion’s main wing, aiming for the topmost floor.
“Otto! Anything to worry about from behind?!”
“Miss Frederica is managing somehow! However, we still have no good way to deal with demon beasts!”
As they raced down a corridor, Otto asserted the demon beasts were a pressing issue that remained unresolved. Subaru didn’t have a new plan ready yet. What could they use against demon beasts that were immune to repel stones…?
“How about we use your blessing of language and your pro bargaining skills to negotiate with the demon beasts and convince them to let us escape? You’d get all the glory!”
“Most demon beasts only go, Me swallow you whole. That does not constitute a conversation…”
“This isn’t the time for joking around!! If…if we don’t do something fast, Miss Frederica will—!”
Petra’s desperate plea made Subaru and Otto cut the banter and focus their thoughts on coming up with a plan.
At present, their goal was to reach Roswaal’s study—and the secret escape route leading outside, which was concealed behind a bookshelf in the room. That would allow them to circumvent the demon beasts surrounding the manor.
However, it was inevitable that those monsters would impede them prior to their arrival—
“Mr. Natsuki! There’s some black-winged mice in front!”
“Whoa!”
While Subaru was deep in thought, some black shadows had flown toward him in the moonlit corridor and were already right before his eyes.
These were demon beasts with round bodies, about the size of puppies, that resembled flying mice with black, bat-like wings. Two of the creatures, worthy of the name black-winged mice, aimed their sharp fangs at Subaru.
“Go away!!”
Petra raised the repel stone aloft, instantly driving off the black-winged mice.
“You saved my bacon, Petra! …But this means the stone isn’t completely ineffective, doesn’t it?”
“Against normal demon beasts, it works just fine! For the moment, it is ineffective only against a single demon beast. So long as that beast is not…”
“Meaning that one is—”
Special, he was about to say, but two things happened before he could—the sound of an impact ringing out, followed by high-pitched death cries.
From the back of the corridor, in the darkness where the moonlight did not reach, a monstrous claw flashed, drawing out screams and fresh blood simultaneously. The fearsome blow tore the wings off the black-winged mice, leaving them helplessly falling and rolling onto the carpet. Pitch-black blood coursed from their wounds as the two demon beasts convulsed. An enormous maw reached forward to snap up their bodies, chewing on them.
The murderous sounds of snapping bones and bloody flesh being consumed reverberated across the corridor. Then he saw it.
The creature had the head of a lion, a torso like that of a horse, a tail resembling a serpent, and a fearsome twisting horn protruding from its face—a sovereign among demon beasts, with the entirety of its being embodying the word danger.
—This was the demon beast that Subaru had once seen slay Petra. And its name was…
“Totally forgot it, but… So we meet again, you shitty demon beast…!”
“!!!”
As if responding to Subaru venting his rage, the black demon beast raised a roar that seemed to shake the entire mansion. Bathed in a sense of awe like being buffeted in blast winds, Subaru adjusted Rem upon his back and clenched his teeth.
“Otto! Give that bastard a taste of the repel sto—”
“No! It won’t work, Subaru! That demon beast is a…”
Petra shook her head side to side, her face pale as she pleaded with Subaru. Her words brought him to a sudden realization. He’d already guessed what Otto was about to shout.
“A Giltirau! The repel stone will not work on it! The beast is our worst enemy right now!”
Instantly, the demon beast—the Giltirau—lowered its body, aimed itself toward the group…and charged.
Its claws rent the carpet. Its roar made the very foundations tremble. With a snarling battle cry, it came barreling toward them.
—With this, three battles had erupted simultaneously. The Battle of Roswaal Manor…had begun.
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Diamond. Diamond. Diamond.
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