Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World – Vol. 10 Ch. 3

Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World. Volume. 10.

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‘Chapter 3:- A LONG-AWAITED REUNION.’

 
Sub-chapter 1.

“I have been thoroughly molested. Where, exactly, should I direct my anger?!”

“Oh, shut up, coachman. It’s just a little bump, so whatever. I apologized, right?”

“When did you apologize? Surely, you cannot mean your earlier statement of ‘Sorry for smackin’ ya, I got ahead o’ myself’? That was more abuse, not an apology. Am I wrong?”

With the dragon carriage resuming its trot, Otto stubbornly vented at Garfiel from the driver’s seat. Perhaps Otto’s change in demeanor after having undergone such a painful experience so recently revealed he was surprisingly tough.

Though Subaru was deeply impressed, Otto disregarded this as he gazed up at the heavens and lamented.

“There was a flash of light inside the dragon carriage, and Lady Emilia collapsed, with Mr. Natsuki nowhere to be found! Do you understand how terrible I felt when I was at the end of my wits?! And then to be captured by a man dressed like a brigand!”

“I’m really sorry about that. You were a huge help. Emilia’s safe thanks to you. I’m really thankful.”

“R-right… Ah, well, if you feel properly thankful, all is well, really…”

“Super easy to please, wow…”

With Otto telling his tale of woe from right after they were separated, Subaru spoke respect infused with pure thankfulness.

In point of fact, it wasn’t hard at all to imagine Otto’s panic at being attacked. That he had protected Emilia afterward, keeping her safe pending Subaru’s meeting up with them again, had earned Subaru’s thanks—and enormous gratitude.

“Waaait, what’s this brigand thing, you don’t mean me, do ya?”

“Whom else could I be referring to?! You forced the dragon carriage to a stop, bullied me with your claws, and forced us to proceed with you until we reached Mr. Natsuki…”

“Right, I was wondering about that. How the heck did you end up where I was?”

Considering how he had been teleported via the power of the crystal, Subaru had assumed it was difficult to discern where he was located. Subaru didn’t remember sending up any smoke signals, so how had they met up with him at the ruin?

Subaru’s question made Garfiel, riding in the dragon carriage with them, rub his own nose with a finger.

“Me, I just caught the scent of an outsider. Didn’t think you’d snuck in all the way to the tomb, though. I’m tellin’ ya, I was pretty nervous.”

“—My scent, you reached me following your nose? A special scent?”

Subaru lowered his voice a little, unable to let the remark slip by.

Subaru had a special scent wafting around him—the strange physical condition that had been pegged as the lingering scent of the Witch. Rem and the Witch Cultists had been able to sense it, so if Garfiel could sense it as well…

However, Subaru’s suspicions were belied by Garfiel’s shaking his head and the words that followed.

“It ain’t good or bad. The scent comin’ from ya is just plain normal. I found ya ’cause it ain’t a scent I’ve smelled before, that’s all. It’s like, ‘Sometimes, even Meimei is busy.’”

“…Sorry, I think there’s a bug in the translation between you and me from time to time.”

Subaru tilted his head as the enigmatic phrase flew right over it, his nose crinkling as he wondered just what Garfiel was saying. There’d always been words that didn’t mesh well from both sides, but he felt like he’d suddenly hit the limits of otherworldly translation.

Either way, Garfiel’s nose apparently had not caught what Subaru suspected. That being the case, his next question would have concerned either the ruin or the teleportation—but then something changed inside the carriage.

“—a, huu—”

With a faint exhalation, the girl sleeping on the simplified bed awoke.

“Ah…Emilia!”

Emilia sat up in bed, velvet eyes blinking. Subaru hastened to her side and took her hand, as if to check Emilia’s body temperature to make sure she was real.

“I’m glad you’re all right. Man, you really had me going for a while there…”

“Su…baru…? Er…”

Emilia looked up at the relieved Subaru, looking like she had no idea what had happened. But when she looked around the interior of the dragon carriage, she noticed the presence of an unfamiliar man and leaped to her feet.

Then she stood opposite Garfiel, shielding Subaru behind her.

“—Who?! I’ll say this once, you won’t lay a single finger on Subaru!”

“Wait, wait, Emilia-tan! I’m happy, but it’s really complicated, everything’s all right, so just…!”

“Hah, quite some lip for someone who was sleepin’ all this time. Interestin’…!”

“Hey, don’t you get all worked up, too! Calm down! Let’s talk this through!”

Emilia, taking an unusually aggressive, worked-up stance, triggered Garfiel’s combative spirit in turn. Subaru wedged himself between them, grasping Emilia’s shoulders.

“Please, Emilia-tan, just relax. Some stuff happened while you were asleep, but it’s been worked out already. He’s Garfiel. You get it now, right?”

“Garfiel… Wait, you mean the one Frederica talked about?”

Blinking several times over at the name, Emilia looked at Garfiel. When she did so, he puffed out his chest and answered.

“Yeah, that’s me—Garfiel. The world’s strongest man.”

“Right, right, the world’s strongest… Huh? What did you say just now? You said world’s strongest? With a straight face?”

“I said it, yeah. What’s so strange about that…?”

He meant it as an explanation to Emilia, but the unexpectedly grandiose statement surprised even Subaru. Garfiel crinkled his nose, seemingly offended by their reactions.

“You’ve heard my name, so you heard about all that from Roswaal, right…?”

“I heard your name with the nuance that you were a powerful person, but…that didn’t mean physical power, did it…?”

If it meant martial might, the term powerful was being used in an unusual way. But, given the present circumstances, the chances of that seemed rather high, and they still had no certain proof he was an ally.

Subaru had never thought Frederica’s telling them to be wary of him would come to fruition like that.

“I’ll ask this again, but you’re Garfiel who lives in the Sanctuary. You’ve got a relationship to Roswaal, and right now Ram and the people from Earlham Village are here, too. We can believe you on that?”

“You’re free to doubt me, but either way, you’ve crossed the barrier. It’s not like you can turn back now, right?”

“Eh? We crossed the barrier? Since when?”

Emilia’s eyes widened in shock at the surreal fact. Incidentally, Subaru was just as surprised as she was. “Hey, hey,” said Garfiel toward them, and continued his words:

“Gimme a break. In the first place, didn’t you fall asleep when you got close to the barrier?”

“I slept because of the barrier…? Now that you mention it, the crystal got bright then, too…”

“The timing was the same. Meaning they were both reactions to the barrier!”

Subaru snapped his fingers. The crystal’s radiating light inside the dragon carriage matched up with the facts. Subaru got the crystal out of his pocket and rolled it on his palm; Emilia nodded deeply as well. Then—

“—? What is it, Garfiel?”

Hearing Emilia pose the question all of a sudden, Subaru followed suit, lifting his face. When he did, he followed her gaze to find Garfiel staring at the crystal with a conflicted look on his face.

He looked like the blue glow made him recall some kind of painful memory.

“Something about this? You probably went through some scary stuff on account of this rock. Besides, I’m kinda wondering why the barrier that made Emilia-tan collapse didn’t do anything to Otto or me.”

“The rock’s nothin’ to me. And of course the barrier reacted to Lady Emilia. The barrier’s a test that reacts to dirty blood.”

“—!”

“Hey, Garfiel. What’s this business about dirty blood?”

Garfiel’s statement sent pain running across Emilia’s cheeks. Angry at that fact, Subaru probed to determine the true meaning behind Garfiel’s words.

“Don’t make me repeat myself. She’s a half-elf. Get it into your…”

“Hah, don’t get bent out of shape about it. I’m not tryin’ to single out Lady Emilia by sayin’ it. Dirty blood don’t mean just half-elves. It applies to me, the others… She ain’t no exception… She’s mixed, just like we are.”

“Mixed…mixed blood, you mean?”

Without a word, Garfiel indicated yes to Emilia’s question. Receiving his answer, Subaru realized just why he’d heard the Sanctuary was special beforehand—and what was meant by “particular” demi-humans.

“In other words, the Sanctuary is where demi-human people with mixed blood live…”

“Correct… Gotta say, though, you came to the Sanctuary without Frederica even tellin’ you that much…?”

“She kept saying she couldn’t tell us the details. Within what she could say, she kept saying to watch out, but…because of some vow, she couldn’t say much more than your name.”

“Vow this, vow that… Huh? Ha, excuses from head to toe. Just like her master, huh?”

Clicking his tongue, Garfiel gave an answer that was closer to a cursing than an expression of malice.

There was no doubting he was related by blood to Frederica, but it was no atmosphere for asking anything him about it. Maybe Frederica refused to speak of him because—

“You don’t really get along well with Frederica?”

“Emilia-tan?!”

“If you’re gonna ask if we get along well or not, we don’t. Besides, everythin’ from here on don’t concern her. Everythin’ from here is about us, and you people who came through the barrier, nothin’ else.”

Emilia’s straight-to-the-point question took Subaru by surprise, but Garfiel replied in a surprisingly calm fashion, sinking his hips deeper into his seat as he indicated the outside of the dragon carriage with his chin.

Subaru understood what his gesture meant: They would soon arrive at their destination, the Sanctuary.

“We welcome you, Lady Emilia and her two servants.”

The words of welcome had a title of respect attached, but there was not a shred of respect or warmth in them. Having spoken them, Garfiel replied to Subaru’s and Emilia’s suspicious gazes with an audible clenching of his fangs.

With that, he spread his arms very wide, indicating the entire area.

“For whatever reason, Roswaal calls this the Sanctuary, but…it ain’t a place suited for pretty-sounding words like that. It’s a place where rejects gather and live together, a dead-end laboratory.”

“Laboratory…?”

“Rejects.”

Subaru and Emilia knit their brows as different words tugged at their respective minds. For his part, Garfiel laughed, not concealing his mouth like Frederica did.

“As for me, I think it’s more accurate to call it the tomb of the Witch of Greed!”

“The Witch of Greed?!”

As Garfiel continued, Subaru tilted his head at the never-before-heard statement; in his stead, it was Otto, overhearing the discussion inside the dragon carriage, who had an exaggerated reaction.

In a fierce panic, Otto peered into the carriage from the driver’s seat and said, “Um, ah, er, excuse me… You don’t mean to say this is genuinely related to the Witch of Greed, yes…?”

“Wait, wait, WAIT! ’Cause you got super surprised I’m reacting late, but what’s the Witch of Greed to begin with? When people say Witch, they mean the Witch of Jealousy, right…?”

The Witch of Jealousy had plunged the world into the lowest depths of terror; even in the present, she was feared as the most awful of calamities.

Subaru knew only of the Witch bearing the title of Jealousy. He’d never heard of any others. Despite that, the term beyond his expectations sailed overhead, bringing the worst of possibilities rushing to the forefront of his mind.

“Don’t tell me the Witch Cult has one Witch for each of them? Seven Witches, so seven archbishops in total?! How hard do you think it was defeating even one of them?!” Subaru exclaimed.

“Having to defeat all of them would be an especially harrowing prospect, but there is fortunately no concern about that. It is just that for a Witch besides Jealousy to become an issue is a very, very great problem in itself…”

Subaru was relieved to have his worst imagination rebutted, but Otto’s concern had not been wiped away. Subaru found himself suspicious when Emilia, sitting beside him, took up where Otto had left off.

“Well, you see, a reeeally long time ago, and this would be four hundred years ago…there were six Witches other than the Witch of Jealousy. But the Witch of Jealousy killed them all, supposedly…”

“Seems like she ate ’em. Matter of fact, there ain’t much for records left of the Witches the Witch of Jealousy killed. But there’s exceptions to that.”

“So you’re saying this is one exception? There’s something odd about the names of other Witches?”

With Garfiel bolstering Emilia’s words, Subaru pulled what was left of his question back toward Otto, who sighed as he continued, seeming to detest even speaking the words.

“It is not a topic I enjoy speaking of, but it concerns the traits of Witch Cultists. As you already know, they are adherents of the Witch of Jealousy, but…they do not acknowledge the existence of other Witches. Even merely hearing the name of one is enough to drive them into terrible rampages.”

“That’s awfully oversensitive…”

“In the Volakia Empire to the south, rumors spread of the name of a Witch besides the Witch of Jealousy. A metia supposedly related to the Witch emerged, but there is no telling whether it was true or false.”

The empire to the south, and the Witch Cult—those two elements coalesced in Subaru’s memory. He remembered a story Julius had relayed to him while they were traveling together at the height of the campaign to subdue Petelgeuse.

“You mean the story that a single Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins wiped out a city?”

“That is the one. Perhaps the rumor of a metia was fact, or perhaps it was merely a convenient scapegoat after the fact… Either way, the cost was the downfall of an entire city. Speaking about Witches has been strictly prohibited everywhere since.”

With Otto concluding his harrowing tale, Subaru nodded in sympathy. Subaru hated the Witch Cult and everything surrounding it, but the current conversation had added one more reason to hate it.

“Isn’t it dangerous to spread around scary trivia like that?”

“It’s not like it’s gonna leak outside. But the old hag says it’s the tomb of the Witch of Greed, so there ain’t no mistake. It’s just like, ‘Peromio festered from the point he heard it.’”

“Not that I’m really interested in what was festering, but I take it you don’t know the fine details?”

“If you wanna know details, pry ’em outta Roswaal— At the moment, I ain’t sure you even could, though.”

“—? What do you mean by that? Has something happened to Roswa—”

“I’m sorry. We seem to have arrived at the vill—is this a village? The settlement. Shall we enter?”

Emilia probed deeper to discern Garfiel’s meaning, but before she could get anywhere, Otto announced from the driver’s seat that they had arrived at their destination. His words made her look outside, whereupon she said…

“So this is the Sanctuary…”

Emilia’s whisper-like tone made Subaru let out a similar breath as he narrowed his eyes.

There, after taking so long to cut through deep forest, was cleared space, with a lonely settlement lying within. When it was compared to the image given by the name Sanctuary, it was impossible to wipe away the impression of an undignified, dirt-poor habitation.

Stone towers at the settlement’s entrance lay fallen and mossed over. They could see stonework pillars in the distance, all of great age, covered in moss and vines so far as they could tell.

The impression was much like that given off by the ruin, but the settlement gave off a fragment of that only, something Subaru could only call…

“Feels like a pretty run-down place…”

“Just to say it, the people are pretty run-down, too, okay? They’re all wrinkled hags and old men. It’s got that ‘Man or Kegelmo, we all grow old’ feel to it.”

“That’s the first time I understand what one of your sayings means, but man, you aren’t pulling any punches.”

Garfiel’s words about the settlement he himself lived in were absolutely merciless. Some people liked to talk poorly of their homelands out of modesty, but Subaru didn’t sense a shred of that from his voice.

It seemed to be a fact that he was alienated from this place, the Sanctuary. Either way—

“Let’s keep going until we find a good spot to park the dragon carriage…”

“I see you’re back, Garf. You certainly took your sweet time.”

“Yeah.”

Putting everyone’s impressions of the Sanctuary on the back burner, they made the dragon carriage run to the center of the settlement, where Subaru was surprised to hear a familiar voice.

It was tossed their way from the center of the settlement, right along the route the dragon carriage was following.

There, a lone girl revealed herself, her demeanor cool as she stood tall. The sight of the girl made Garfiel dash right out of the dragon carriage; he leaped down, waving a hand with a smile.

“Yo. Pretty rare for you to come out and welcome me back like this. Did the bastard finally kick the bucket?”

“If that were the case, Ram would be turning this entire place into a sea of flames. You should be most grateful to Master Roswaal that it is not so.”

“I don’t know what ya mean, but geez, that’s some thinkin’!”

Garfiel approached her, seeming very amused by the abuse from the girl in the familiar-looking servant’s outfit. As he watched from a distance, Subaru’s lips slackened in visible relief.

“Hmmm, so that is the older sister of the girl whom you were speaking of. I see… It is quite obvious, but she looks just like the sleeping Miss Rem, yes.”

Otto, laying eyes upon the girl for the first time, was deeply moved as he murmured. Just as he’d said, in appearance she and Rem were two peas in a pod, but the individuals on the inside were completely different.

Subaru was reuniting with Ram, the nonworking servant of Roswaal Manor, after several days of separation.

“Ram!”

Ram noticed Subaru leaning out of the dragon carriage and waving toward her. Her pink eyes narrowed slightly, followed by an easy-to-understand sinking of her shoulders.

“I know not where you were, Barusu, but I am disappointed at your late arrival. If only you had noticed something was wrong and come running… Ah, I was a fool to expect such a thing.”

“If you don’t know where I’ve been, then follow that part to the end, damn it! Also, this goes mainly for Roswaal, but it’s hard to figure out what you people are up to. Also, I need to talk to the man himself face-to-face!”

When Subaru rebutted, Ram replied with a “Ha!” that was the same as it had ever been. From there, her gaze turned toward Emilia, who was right at Subaru’s side.

“Lady Emilia, I bid you a warm welcome. As Master Roswaal is awaiting you within, I shall escort you to him. Garf, please guide the dragon carriage and coachman to a suitable place.”

“Man, you’re rough with people! That’s fine, though. Hey, driver bastard. Come with me, I’ll show ya in.”

“Do you mean me by that?! That is the worst thing you have called me to date, you know!”

Even though he’d introduced himself by name, it was “driver bastard” now. On top of that, the prospect of being all alone with Garfiel made Otto look toward Subaru and Emilia in search of salvation.

Subaru responded to his clingy gaze with a deep, knowing nod.

“I’ll bury your bones later!”

“Those are not words ever used with a good connotation, are they?!”

Leaving that lament behind, Otto was led off by the overbearing Garfiel, dragon carriage and all.

Upon their separation, Subaru gave Patlash a concerned rub of her nose, but Otto was no doubt safe under her protection. Perhaps it was strange to entrust a human being to a land dragon, but oh well.

“That Patlash, she’s reeeally trustworthy and dependable, isn’t she?”

“Plus, where Otto’s concerned, I feel like there’ll always be uncertain elements no matter how much I’d worry about him.”

Watching driver and dragon carriage depart, Subaru said, “Well, then,” and turned Ram’s way. Having gazed in silence at the previous exchange, she turned her face away from Subaru’s gaze with a neutral look and said, “What?”

“…Nothing, I’ve just been wondering if you were all right. I mean, given how we parted ways, and not being in touch with you at all after, to be honest, I was really nervous.”

“I suppose you were. As you can see, today Ram is as robust and adorable as ever. No harm has come to pass for the villagers evacuating to the Sanctuary with me. You may rest easy about that.”

“That so? That’s, yeah, I’m relieved to hear it… That’s comforting.”

“—?”

Subaru’s shoulders sank with relief, but the odd wording at the end of Subaru’s sentence made Ram look at him suspiciously. Her reaction made Subaru grit his teeth, locking down the emotions that had surged as far as his throat before he made them into words.

“…”

“Ah, Ram. It’s odd for us to just stand here and talk like this, right? Could you show us in?”

With Subaru sinking into silence, unable to immediately speak, Emilia spoke those words to Ram in his place. Ram slightly knitted her brows at the words, but she immediately said, “As you wish,” bowed, and turned her back.

Not probing any further and immediately marching off was very Ram-like, but…

“Subaru, are you all right? You’re not angry I butted in?”

“Nah, it’s fine. I was just being pathetic… I was just scared of asking Ram about Rem right this moment, you see.”

Subaru listlessly shook his head, giving a pained smile at Emilia’s consideration for him.

He was afraid to be certain. Several times over, he’d already experienced a sense of loss through Emilia, Petra, and others—but it wasn’t something he’d gotten used to. For that matter, hearing it from Ram would probably have the greatest weight of all.

The fact she hadn’t asked about Rem’s whereabouts under those circumstances was more than enough proof that she had forgotten her younger sister.

“Emilia?”

“It’s natural for you to be afraid. I don’t think that is pathetic at all, so…”

As Subaru hung his head, Emilia took hold of Subaru’s hand, meeting his eyes as she spoke those words in a sincere voice. Floating in her purple eyes were deep worry and a great deal of affection—those feelings gave him some consolation.

Gathering the scraps of his nearly lost courage, he thought he just might be able to find the words to ask her next time.

“Let’s go and make everything better. Rem, and lots of other things, too.”

“…Roger that. Whatever happens, I’ll protect you as your meat shield, Emilia-tan.”

Subaru and Emilia were still holding hands as they walked behind Ram, going deeper into the Sanctuary.

—Subaru did not realize that it was he alone who gained courage from it.

Sub-chapter 2.

The house was the most intact structure in the Sanctuary.

The residence formed of stone material was about the same size as an average stand-alone house from Subaru’s world. The interior was divided into simple corridors and rooms, feeling like a reasonably comfortable place to live.

Between Roswaal Manor and the Nobles’ District in the capital, Subaru had seen extravagant structures, but one of this size felt much closer to home. But ignoring Subaru’s impressions—

“Myyy, Lady Emilia and our good Subaru. It feeeels like it has been quite a loooong time since I have seen you.”

Roswaal waved to the pair with a fishy smile, something that felt out of place to the extreme.

His eccentric clown makeup, his exaggerated words and gestures, and the very aura of his presence were so unbefitting an ordinary person, it simply felt wrong for him to be inside an ordinary house such as that.

However, now that they were before him, feelings of things being wrong or out of place were trifling affairs.

“First, it is good that you are saaaafe and sound, Lady Emilia. I heard the circumstances from Ram, but it would be difficult to liiiive with myself if anything should have happened to you.”

“If you really think so, you could cough up a more proper reaction to… No, more importantly, what the heck happened to you?”

Roswaal expressed relief at Emilia’s safety, but Subaru and Emilia were left as perplexed as before.

As for why, Roswaal was a painful sight while greeting the pair, lying in bed and wrapped in bandages stained with blood coming from his own body. His unclothed upper body lacked a single space unwrapped by bandages; he had multiple deep wounds and was in a grave condition. That the makeup on his face was unmarred felt like a sign less of robustness than of a bizarre level of obsession.

But he did not give off the slightest hint of being injured, acting completely normal.

“My myyyy, you ask me that? I, too, am but a man. It truly pains me to be seen in such a shameful state. I suppose you are not so geeentle as to refrain from asking why?”

“As if I could! Truly, Roswaal, what happened? To get hurt this badly… And on top of that, you’re…”

His flippant tone about something impossible to gloss over put the genuinely angry Emilia in a bind. Indeed, the wounds were so grave she hesitated to press the point. She wanted to ask, but she didn’t want to force the issue.

Roswaal responded to the discord with Emilia by closing one of his differently colored eyes, specifically the blue one.

“I wonder where I should begin the taaale? In regards to my wounds…perhaps I should call them a baaadge of honor, or the unavoidable consequences of my actions.”

“Please do not paper over things like that. I am asking a serious question. I want a serious answer from you.”

“Hmmm… It would seem Lady Emilia is not in good humor, either. Considering the place, I do not believe that can be…helped.”

It felt wrong to Subaru that Emilia was taking an interrogatory tone. When Roswaal, apparently agreeing with him, pointed out that very thing, Emilia exhaled with an air of resignation.

“Since I came here—no, since I came in contact with the barrier, I think—my chest has been astir. I can’t calm down. What is this place? Even though it’s called the Sanctuary, it doesn’t feel like any such thing to me. If anything, it’s the opposite…”

“Perhaps you can accept that the tombs of Witches have aaaalways been referred to thus?”

“—!!”

Emilia’s breath caught strongly when Roswaal invoked the other name of the Sanctuary.

Hearing the term from a mouth other than Garfiel’s lent it greater weight. However, since that only added to the information they needed to ask him about—

“Wait, let’s put what we want to ask about in proper order. I feel like we’re just gonna be running around in circles at this rate. We need to get to a conclusion.”

“Myyyy, a most sound suggestion. It seems that our good Subaru’s mental state has changed since last I saw him.”

“That story’s gonna get seriously long, so I’ll brag properly about it later… Ah, one thing, though.”

As Roswaal prodded him, trying to make light of the matter, Subaru stared straight at him before continuing.

“I succeeded in forming an alliance with Crusch. Satisfied with the results of leaving me there now?”

“Ahh, I am most saaatisfied. Truly, truly, you have acquired something difficult and long yearned for.”

“…That so.”

The affirmation felt more sincere than Subaru had expected. While surprised, he accepted it in good grace.

He’d expected as much for a while, but Roswaal really had left Subaru in the royal capital with the expectation that he’d fight hard. Roswaal’s having used that to his own advantage wasn’t amusing to Subaru.

The fact that his countermeasures against the Witch Cult had been conspicuously inadequate amused him even less.

Setting aside that dissatisfaction for the moment, Subaru ordered the more immediate questions in his mind before starting.

“First, the people of Earlham Village. Ram said they were safe and sound, but is that really true?”

“Please rest at ease. The state of my body may make that diiiifficult to believe, but I aaaam a lord, after all. I negotiated earnestly upon their behalf and had the cathedral opened to give them shelter.”

“Cathedral, huh? I’ll ask for more details about that later. Next…”

“Tell us what you meant by ‘Witch’s Tomb’ earlier.”

As Subaru moved ahead, Emilia intervened, choosing the next topic for herself.

It was one of the issues on Subaru’s list, so he had no objection. But Subaru didn’t think the hard voice and the way she asked felt very Emilia-like.

Roswaal responded to the tense Emilia’s question with a wry smile and closed one eye.

“It means exactly what it says. This is the final resting place of the Witch named Echidna, once known as the Witch of Greed—and to me, these grounds are holy.”

“The Witch Echidna…”

The tone with which Roswaal replied to the question, and put the name to his lips, made Subaru’s breath catch.

His reply was quiet and gentle, yet filled with sharpness that clawed at the mind. There was no echo of his normal clownish demeanor; what filled his voice was emotion that pounded hard into Subaru’s chest.

The instant Roswaal invoked Echidna’s name, his expression looked softer for what might have been the very first time.

“…”

Seeing the side of his face, Ram, attending at his bedside, gently lowered her eyes. Subaru did not notice her reaction; rather, he touched a hand to his own chest.

For some reason, the name Echidna—a name he shouldn’t have known—strangely churned within him.

“Subaru, are you all right? Is something wrong?”

“Nah, I’m fine… More importantly, we know this is the place a Witch died. But, Roswaal, why are you safekeeping a place with a history like that? Do you have some kind of connection with this Witch?”

“The reason is simple. This land has been under the care of the Mathers family, passed down from generation to generation. It began under the lord of this house at the time…the Roswaal from which I inherit this name. In other words, it is from this Roswaal in history that this Sanctuary has been passed down.”

When Subaru broached the issue of his relationship to the Witch, Roswaal followed suit, filling in the blanks. The explanation left Emilia touching her own lips, knitting her refined eyebrows.

“‘In history’… Then the Mathers family has been involved with the Witch of Greed since long…”

“—Echidna.”

“Eh?”

Emilia’s eyes opened wide when the name alone was abruptly slipped in. Roswaal trained his eyes toward Emilia. “Echidna,” he repeated, making certain she heard him.

“Pleaaaase, employ her name when referring to her. Calling her the Witch of Greed implies all sorts of nefaaarious things, does it not? And it is somewhat looooong.”

“Errr, I understand. Then can I take this to mean…this is Echidna’s final resting place, and the Mathers family has taken care of it because it was involved with her for a reeeally long time?”

“Yes, that is correct. Having said that, ‘taken care of it’ is somewhat exaggerated. Echidna’s barrier means that outsiders cannot pass through the Lost Woods without the proper formalities. On top of that, the barrier has a special effect on those whose blood fulfills a particular condition. You have experienced this as well, Lady Emilia?”

“It’s true, I lost consciousness when I came into contact with the barrier. But, according to Garfiel, the barrier only causes trouble when half-bloods like me come into contact with it. It didn’t do anything to Subaru, right?”

“Er, actually, I can’t really say it did nothing to me…”

“Eh? What do you mean by that?”

When Subaru scratched his cheek and murmured, Emilia lifted her face in surprise.

She didn’t know that once the barrier had knocked her out, Subaru had been teleported while she slept. Along the way, Subaru hadn’t found a good time to bring it up, but also, he had hesitated greatly to do so.

After all, he couldn’t discuss it without discussing its connection to Frederica’s crystal.

If Frederica had conveyed that Garfiel was a dangerous person, entrusted Emilia with the crystal, and on top of that, plotted to have that crystal teleport her, he wondered what objective Frederica had in doing so.

“Subaru, if something happened, tell me. We decided we’d discuss important things, didn’t we?”

“We did, but this is…”

“Subaru.”

The earnest gaze and the plea of her voice made Subaru’s shoulders sink in resignation. From there, he took the blue crystal out of his pocket and explained the circumstances to all present.

He explained that the crystal had reacted to the barrier, teleporting Subaru alone to a different location in the Sanctuary. There he’d met a girl, been led to the ruin, and lost consciousness while inside. Later, he’d been caught by Garfiel and brought along, bringing them back to the present.

“Frederica handed over this crystal before we left the mansion. There’s no question it reacted to the barrier and made the teleport happen. Emilia was the one carrying the crystal to begin with, so…”

“Barusu, what you are trying to say is that Lady Emilia must have been the target?”

As Subaru spoke of the circumstances, Ram summarized the last part in his stead. Her assertion made Subaru draw in his chin. The image of the young girl he’d met in the forest came back to him.

The girl had been emotionless, doll-like. She had done Subaru no harm, leading him to the ruin and running away—and he had to wonder, had that been intended for Emilia instead?

“If that is true, it was Lady Emilia who would have been teleported by the crystal during the time the barrier had robbed her of consciousness. If so, it is most fortuuuitous it was Subaru who was sent in her place.”

“And then I hooked back up safe and sound. Body doesn’t have…anything special wrong with it.”

Subaru rotated a wrist, smiling at Emilia as he asserted his robustness of health. But, as he smiled at Emilia, she lowered her head and gingerly posed a question to Roswaal.

“Frederica said the crystal was necessary to pass through the barrier, and why she was giving it to me… Was that true?”

“…Unfortunately, the proper formalities for passing through the barrier do not involve an object. I suppose that is proof Frederica was up to some kind of scheeeeme.”

Roswaal’s reply made Emilia’s words catch in her throat as her listless shoulders sank. Of course they did. The talk just then had established Frederica’s infidelity as a virtual certainty.

“Frederica’s worked for you a long time, right? Over ten years is what I heard.”

“…Yes, that girl was still veeeery young when I first employed her. She is a very capable girl, and not once has she acted in defiiiiance of my will…”

When Subaru posed a question in Emilia’s stead, Roswaal shook his head in apparent dismay. Then he glanced meaningfully toward the edge of his vision, whereupon Ram accepted his gaze with a solemn nod.

“And so Frederica’s scheme has ended in tears… That just now was a joke.”

“Was it really a joke? It sounded pretty serious to me…”

“It was. But the punishment will not be—now we know that Frederica is deeply related to the present circumstance here in the Sanctuary.”

To Ram, Frederica was a coworker of particularly long standing. Knowing her coworker had been unfaithful, she nonetheless spoke calmly, her face betraying no unrest concerning that fact.

“What do you mean by the circumstances in the Sanctuary? What is happening here right now?”

“Lady Emilia, did you not think it strange? That Ram and I, and the villagers fleeing to the Sanctuary, remained in this place rather than return to the mansion?” he asked.

“Eh? That’s… I thought it must be because of your wounds, Roswaal,” she answered.

In point of fact, Roswaal, lying on the bed, bore wounds that were quite deep. Even if he was to return to the mansion for treatment, he couldn’t be moved without having recovered to at least some minimal degree.

But Roswaal shook his head, seemingly telling her that was not the reason.

And then—

“Currently, all present fiiiiind ourselves imprisoned in the Sanctuary… Ram, the villagers, and myself… Ah, now that you have entered, that includes the two of you as well.”

“Huh?”

Subaru and Emilia were both dumbstruck at the casual yet explosive statement.

Sub-chapter 3.

“…Imprisoned? That doesn’t, well, have a very nice ring to it.”

Somehow, Subaru managed to recover from the initial shock and wring out those words. Emilia managed to swallow down her own surprise, giving the injured Roswaal a painful stare as she said, “Then, Roswaal, don’t tell me that those wounds were from…”

Emilia was in shock as she combined the sight of him wounded with his earlier statement. Neither could Subaru, having arrived at the same thought, conceal his own shock.

“There’s someone in this village who can overpower Roswaal, hurt him this much, and keep him captive? That’s no laughing matter.”

Subaru touched a hand to his chin, nervously pondering a foe powerful far beyond his expectations.

Roswaal was the kingdom’s preeminent magic user; the demon beast disturbance had proven that in earnest. Subaru could not believe that anyone could easily put Roswaal through this much pain and suffering.

Who in the world had done this to—

“Wha—? You’re still doin’ chitchat? You shouldn’t push a wounded guy too much. ‘Make a mottled Kuchibashi run and it turns black,’ you know?”

“—!”

Surprised by the sudden voice, Subaru turned around in a hurry. At the end of his gaze was Garfiel, who’d appeared at the entrance to the room. He took a look around the room and whistled toward Emilia.

“Hey now, what’s this greeting all of a sudden? Wha—? Are you that ticked off with me?”

“I’m being on the safe side, since the earlier conversation made me think the most dangerous person here is you.”

Garfiel audibly clenched his teeth in amusement. Emilia stood on guard with Subaru and Roswaal at her back, seemingly to shield them from him.

Being shielded by Emilia was a thing in itself, but Subaru blinked hard at a separate issue. Namely—

“Hey, what’d you do with Otto? He was with you, right?”

“Ahh? What, that noisy guy? Him, well… You get it, don’t ya?”

Garfiel nodded defiantly, and his sharp gaze turned even sharper. Subaru, sensing bottomless hostility from his statement, felt the hairs on his back stand up.

Emilia lowered her stance, as if she had the same sense from Garfiel as he.

—The atmosphere grew strained. At the drop of a pin, combat between the two would become unavoidable.

“Ha! Fine, if you want a piece of me, I’ll be happy to… Daaah?!”

“It is not fine at all. Know your place, stupid Garf.”

But the atmosphere primed to explode was smashed apart by the powerful impact sound of an iron tray.

Circling around his back during the exchange, it was Ram who had brought Garfiel down with a single, merciless blow. As Garfiel writhed in agony, Ram looked down at him, sighing as she addressed the others.

“Lady Emilia, Subaru, it is equally unsightly of you to jump to conclusions so quickly. Garf has nothing to do with Master Roswaal’s injuries… He may look like a simpleton, but he is not quite that thoughtless.”

“…Is that so?”

“Yes, Lady Emilia, he had nooothing to do with it. I was about to say so that very moment.”

Roswaal’s utterly shameless exaggeration left Emilia lowering her arms, astonished. Then she rushed over to Garfiel, kneeling upon the floor, in great haste.

“I-I’m very sorry! I completely misunderstood… I was certain you’d eaten Otto or something…!”

“Wow, Emilia-tan, your ideas are really something! Even I didn’t think he’d gone that far!”

Though it was certainly true Subaru suspected Otto’s life had been in danger, he hadn’t suspected Garfiel of doing such a thing.

Following in the flustered Emilia’s footsteps, Subaru checked to see how Garfiel was doing. Garfiel, shaking the head Ram had struck with that hearty blow, opened his mouth wide at the pair’s assertions.

“As if I’d munch on a guy like that. He’s noisy, and he says stuff a guy ain’t emotionally prepared for, so I ditched him back at the dragon carriage.”

“You’re being pretty vague there, and you kick up a ruckus even without Otto…”

His suggestive demeanor had caused a misunderstanding that had nearly led to a great disaster. That disaster had been averted by Ram.

“Thanks a bundle, Ram. Don’t want any unnecessary bloodshe— Hold on, your tray’s all bent out of shape!”

“A necessary loss to stop Garf. Next time, it would seem I should use the corner, not the flat of the tray.”

Ram took inspiration from the bent tray for how she would deal with him next time.

Setting Ram’s demeanor aside, Garfiel, the victim of her pummeling, plopped himself into a chair in a corner of the room. Then he rubbed his head as he looked at Ram and said, “Ram, if you feel sorry ’bout that at all, how ’bout some tea?”

“Please wait while I head out briefly to gather fallen leaves.”

Making a sound from her nose at the grandiose request, Ram really did head out of the house. Subaru had to wonder just what she intended to do with fallen leaves. Though that tugged at his mind, what also tugged at it was the ardor with which Garfiel watched Ram’s back as she departed.

“I was wondering this from the exchange at the village entrance too…but what? You have a thing for Ram?”

“She’s a fine woman, ain’t she? Ain’t exactly weird for males to be attracted to strong, capable females.”

“We’re not dividing chicks by male and female, so stop chirping about that, sheesh…”

Garfiel had replied openly to Subaru’s question, but his road to romance was treacherous. Ram’s affection for Roswaal ran deep, hanging over his prospects almost like a curse—

That was an unmistakable side of romance in any world, but—

“Well, then. Based on that reaction, you don’t look like ya talked about the important stuff yet. You’re free to turn into pieces of garbage if ya want, but…you should talk ’bout it to Lady Emilia, at least.”

“To me?”

With Ram absent from the room, Garfiel tapped his foot as he refocused the conversation.

Emilia was surprised that her own name was in his statement, but Garfiel paid her surprise no heed, sending his dangerous look stabbing right through Roswaal.

“The fact she got past the barrier means she’s wrapped up in our business. What the hell’s with this peaceful, pleasant conversation? You people playin’ around or somethin’?!”

“I’m not sure why you have a bee in your bonnet, but…this business we’re wrapped up in doesn’t sound unrelated to this whole imprisoned business.”

Garfiel, as snippy as ever, narrowed his eyes at Subaru’s assertion. Feeling as if he was facing off against a fierce, overbearing beast, Subaru put the conversation to that point in order in his head and said:

“According to Roswaal, this isn’t imprisonment by brute force. Regardless of how you look and act, you can’t be short-tempered and violent enough to…”

For an instant, being hurled by Garfiel reemerged in his memories.

“…to do that kind of thing.”

“Subaru, you seemed reeeally unsure just now…”

Subaru, on the receiving end of a rare quip from Emilia, looked straight at Garfiel. Receiving his gaze, Garfiel said, “Go on,” urging Subaru to continue. “I’ll listen. If you ain’t the dirt stuck to a half-demon’s foot, that is.”

“Half-elf. Next time I’ll get Roswaal to light your butt on fire.”

Garfiel lowered his head as Subaru shamelessly proclaimed he would borrow another’s power for his retribution. At his reaction, Subaru lifted a finger, turning that finger to indicate the Sanctuary outside.

“I’ll continue. Now that imprisonment by force has been crossed off the list, what other way can I think of? To be honest, I don’t have much information to go on…but there’s one thing that sticks out in my mind.”

“…You mean the barrier?”

“That’s right. You’re so smart, Emilia-tan.”

Coming up with the answer on her own, Emilia had sounded unsure in her answer, but her view was in line with Subaru’s own.

If neither Garfiel’s brawn nor Roswaal’s injuries was responsible for the imprisonment in the Sanctuary, it left the barrier as the only possibility—the barrier with a special effect originally meant to protect the Sanctuary.

If it had been a simple barrier, Subaru might not have come to such a farfetched idea, but at any rate…

“When she came in contact with the barrier, Emilia fainted. According to Garfiel, that’s not an effect limited to Emilia—it’s like that for most of the people living in this Sanctuary, he said.”

“In other words, Subaru…you think that it’s the barrier’s effect that’s keeping Roswaal and the others in here and preventing them from returning to the mansion?”

“There you go again! Exactly. Wow, Emilia-tan and I are in perfect sync today!”

Elated that they were thinking along the same lines, Subaru went for a high five. But, when Emilia tilted her head rather than play along, Subaru gently eased his hand down and looked at Garfiel.

“So, that’s what I was thinking, but…am I right?”

“…Sorry, I’ve gotta drop my assessment of ya. Three steps down from a piece of mud.”

“That assessment is pretty out there, but, mm, I’ll aim to gradually raise it back up.”

Taking that as a roundabout way of saying yes, Subaru nodded and looked over to Roswaal. As he did so, Roswaal closed one eye at Subaru’s and Emilia’s thought processes, amusement resting in his yellow eye.

“My myyyy, there truly has been quite a change in the span of several days. The optimism in both Subaru and Lady Emilia is quite reassuring. It was well worth making my heart that of an Oni and letting matters be.”

“I have a mountain of things to say to you later about that ‘letting matters be’ part. Keep in mind, if you weren’t wounded, the iron fist of my anger wouldn’t be a soft thing.”

“Myyyy, how frightening.”

With Roswaal in such high spirits, Subaru brandished a clenched fist. Whether he’d have seriously let Roswaal have it was another matter, but his irritation at the previous statement was no act.

He’d give the man a tongue-lashing later for his lack of countermeasures against the Witch Cult’s attack during his absence.

“But right now, talking about the barrier comes first. Is that reaction the cause of the imprisonment?”

“I cannot call it correct in the strictest sense. However, it is not far off from the truth. It is a fact that the cause of our being hindered here in the Sanctuary is a circumstance involving that barrier.”

The barrier had the power to rob mixed people of their consciousness and make intruders get lost in the forest. But it did no harm to those of mixed blood already inside—it lacked the power to hinder Roswaal and the others on its own.

“So the fact you’ve been stuck here anyway means…”

“That’s ’cause the people under the barrier’s effect are gettin’ in their way.”

The answer to his question was bluntly revealed from the mouth of one of the people concerned. When he turned toward the speaker of that ferocious declaration, the sharp, green eyes of the golden-haired man of mixed blood glared back at Subaru and the others.

“Garfiel…”

“Way I see it, it’s a simple story. As long as the barrier’s up, we can’t get out of the Sanctuary. The barrier’s got nothing to do with ya…but that ain’t very fair, is it?”

“…Then because you want to get out but can’t, you’re holding Roswaal and the others captive? Even to the point someone gets hurt like this?”

Subaru, feeling like the issue had just become very petty, felt anger toward the short-tempered act. However, when he pressed the issue, Garfiel grimaced unpleasantly.

“Say whatever you want about it. But it’s not like it don’t have anything to do with ya?”

“…So, for the same reason, you don’t intend to let us go, either?”

“No, no! It ain’t that, it’s way simpler! Your precious little princess can’t get out of the Sanctuary for the same reason me and the grannies can’t, damn it!!”

“Ah…”

Subaru gaped when Garfiel laughed loudly and pointed at Emilia as he made the statement.

Truly, he was fed up with himself for not having realized such an obvious possibility. It was exactly as Garfiel had said. It was already proven beyond doubt the barrier’s effect was active upon Emilia; she, too, was a prisoner of the Sanctuary.

“Can’t anything be done about that? Like… Right! If the barrier knocks people out when they touch it, how about having them carried out by people not under its effect…”

“Ah, Subaru, amazing! We could use that method to get people o—”

“An amusing suggestion, but ’tis best avoided. If you do not seek to leave us as soulless husks, at least.”

Yet again, a third party intervened in Subaru’s conversation that day.

The intervention of an unfamiliar voice caused Subaru to turn toward the entrance. Just like Garfiel had done earlier, a small figure was standing there—whereupon Subaru let out an “Eh?”

She had long, pink hair, doll-like beauty, and pointed ears, all things he had seen before. The features were without doubt those of the elfin girl Subaru had encountered in the forest—

“You’re that… Agh—hot-hot-hot-hot-hot?!”

“Here, Barusu. Tea, as requested.”

Subaru, surprised by their reunion, instantly began to speak, but the sudden feeling of a hot, steaming drink pressed against his cheek made Subaru yell from the burning pain, tumbling onto the room’s floor.

The clumsy servant having returned, Ram gazed down at Subaru’s state with a look of scorn.

“Such a big fuss. How unsightly for a man.”

“That has nothing to do with being a man or not! You burned my cheek, you know?! What were you thinking?”

Sitting up in the face of heartless, merciless abuse, Subaru vented his grudges with tearful eyes. It was hardly Ram’s first act of violence toward him, but this was the least logical of them all.

Subaru was enraged at the high-handedness toward him. “Goodness,” said Ram, and pressed a damp cloth to Subaru’s cheek as she said, “Please keep quiet about the elf from before.”

“Huh?” Subaru said, dumbfounded and wide-eyed as Ram was so close that she was practically touching his ear.

However, Ram said nothing about that and handed a different steaming cup to Garfiel and said, “The very essence of crude tea.”

“Ain’t that usually said with more, oh, modesty?”

“It is the juice from fallen leaves. You should be grateful it was poured by Ram’s hands and drink it to the bottom.”

Subaru put his own thoughts aside as he watched the terrible treatment she gave the man.

“Subaru, are you all right? Should I cool your cheek with ice?”

“A-ahh, it’s okay, I’m all right. I’m used to Ram doing crazy stuff. It’s like an everyday ritual.”

“I-is that so… When did things become like that while my back was turned?”

That prompted Subaru to reminisce about the tragedies of his life as a servant. But it was not that upon which Subaru’s mind was focused; rather, it was Ram’s whisper into his ear.

She’d told him to keep quiet about the elf. But his questions about that were soon answered.

“I’d heard Young Gar brought in humans from the outside again… Quite a rambunctious youngster.”

Speaking those words, the elf concerned lowered her eyelids. The voice, the expression, the emotions lacking from the earlier individual—they felt as if they came from someone very old, something that threw Subaru off.

“Err, and you are…?”

“I apologize for my late introduction, Lady Emilia. I am Ryuzu Bilma. I suppose you might call me this village’s representative. As you can see, I am a tottering old woman.”

“R-right… You are as old as you look…”

When the girl calling herself Ryuzu bowed and named herself, her declaration made Emilia seem conflicted.

Subaru’s reaction was the same as hers. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one thrown for a loop at Ryuzu, who looked like a young girl, declaring herself a tottering old woman.

On the outside, she looked like an adorable early teen. She was dressed only in a white robe, one that made it impossible to see her limbs past her cuffs and hem. Furthermore, her words and actions from her years of maturity clashed with her appearance—

“It’s a loli hag in the flesh…! I thought I might see that stereotype here someday…”

“To think I would be called ‘hag’ upon a first meeting. The youngster is ruder than even Young Gar and Young Ros…”

“When you add loli to the pejorative hag, it goes from an insult to a badge of honor. It is a status highly esteemed back in my homeland. No, I’m serious.”

Replying with appropriate flippancy, Subaru tried to somehow put a lid on the chaos inside his own mind.

Ryuzu was the spitting image of the girl in the forest, but the air she gave off was clearly different. And Ram had forbidden him from speaking of the other girl’s existence.

Something’s goin’ on here, said Subaru’s instincts, ringing like an alarm bell, but…

“Hmm… Very well, then. So you must be Barusu… Young Su, in other words.”

“Paired with the ‘Young Gar’ thing, calling me that makes it sound like we’ll start getting treated as brothers, but that’s fine. Just please at least remember that my proper name is Subaru Natsuki.”

Subaru introduced himself to nip the mistaken name, obtained via Rem, in the bud. His line caused Ryuzu to slap her hip, saying, “I get it, I get it,” in an elderly fashion before she said, “Now, Young Gar, would you be a sensible boy and yield your chair to me?”

“Ya get ticked off when I treat ya like a hag, but you turn into a totterin’ old woman when it’s convenient, damn it…”

“Did you say something?”

“Nuttin’…”

Garfiel clicked his tongue and yielded the chair in which he sat to Ryuzu. As he did, he brushed some dust off the chair and, in deeply devoted fashion, lent Ryuzu a hand so that she could sit in it more easily.

“Somehow you seem like some hick from the countryside whose rudeness is all mouth…”

“Oh, shut up, third rate! What are you comparin’ me t—? Whoa! This tea’s awful! It tastes like grass!!” Garfiel grimaced spectacularly at the fallen leaf tea Ram had poured for him.

Subaru took advantage of that interlude to get the topic back on track again as he said, “So, now that Ryuzu is with us, let’s get back to the earlier topic… What’s your basis for saying my idea’s bad?”

“Earlier, Miss Ryuzu said something reeeally scary sounding, but…”

Emilia glanced sidelong at Ryuzu. Subaru nodded at her words.

“She said ‘soulless husks,’ right? What did you mean by that?”

“I meant exactly what I said. When the mixed come into contact with the barrier, they lose consciousness. But I cannot call that impression quite correct. The souls of the mixed are repelled by the barrier, it is more correct to say.”

“The souls are repelled…? Err?”

Emilia didn’t seem to quite get that explanation for the mechanism by which the barrier knocked people out. Subaru gawked at Ryuzu, somehow managing to digest her words.

“In other words, if the mixed force their way across the barrier, body and soul will be separated from each other? And that’ll leave the soul inside the barrier without a body… That’s how I should interpret ‘husk’?”

“Ho-ho, the boy understands rather quickly. That is the long and short of it.”

When Subaru replied with his own interpretation, the impressed Ryuzu smiled. After she saw that smile, Emilia’s eyes were still wide with surprise when she looked at Roswaal.

“B-but how is that related to Roswaal’s injuries? If the barrier’s power does not function for anyone except those of mixed blood, someone else inflicted those wounds on Roswaal…and it wasn’t Garfiel, right?” Emilia asked.

Roswaal’s shoulders sank. “As Ram said earlier, he is not quite thaaat thoughtless of a man— Though I do not denyyy that Garfiel is capable of inflicting such pain upon me.”

“Serious…?” Subaru was aghast.

“He is serious.”

Ram’s brief words affirmed they were true. It meant a great deal coming from Ram, both a realist and someone placing Roswaal at the summit of her mental pyramid. Apparently, Garfiel had the might to back up his claim to the title of world’s strongest man.

The exchange was another way of saying, There is no escaping this imprisonment by force.

“Me, I feel like I should be kind of insulted by the way you’re talkin’, th— Ram, don’t make a scary face like that! Anyway, it wasn’t me. He got hurt like that ’cause the trial rejected ’im.”

Whether he knew the depth of their surprise or not, Garfiel violently dragged the conversation forward. Subaru gaped and gulped, calming his mind down somewhat as he voiced his thoughts.

“…First the Sanctuary has a barrier from a Witch, and now there’s a trial. Just gets better and better.”

New problems only added to the number of topics. When Subaru scowled at that fact, Roswaal replied, “I suppose soooo,” and stroked the bandages over his chest as he continued. “Howeeeever, this is most likely the final piece of information to be added. Those who are qualified obtain the right to take the trial to lift the barrier. My wounds are proof of what happens when that precondition is disregaaarded.”

“Disregarded the precondition? For the trial…?”

“The precondition is to have blood affected by the barrier—in other words, to have mixed blood. If anyone else undertakes the trial, their flesh is repelled and shredded.”

“—!”

Subaru and Emilia simultaneously gasped in surprise. So that was the cause of Roswaal’s own body being bandaged to such an extent. Were it not for the bloodstained bandages, Roswaal’s wounded body would be naked—such was the cruel state he was in.

Countless lacerations ran across his upper body, almost like a bomb had exploded inside him, with blood oozing out that very moment. It seemed like perhaps healing magic had little effect, or perhaps something was continuing to wound him afresh—

“So let me get straight to issuin’ ya our demands.”

Speaking those words, Garfiel pointed straight toward the shocked Subaru—no, toward Emilia. He seemed to be saying that Emilia was needed to resolve the circumstances involving the Sanctuary.

With Emilia’s breath catching as she gazed at that finger, Garfiel continued, saying, “Lift the barrier around this Sanctuary. To do that, take the trial. Until that’s lifted, no one leaves—not that you personally can leave anyway.”

Sub-chapter 4.

The instant Subaru stepped into the place called the Cathedral, he felt a change in the air.

It was not a bad change. Surprise registered where, until that moment, a quiet atmosphere without conversation had reigned, followed by a cascade of attention—and the onrush of joy.

“Master Subaru!” “Ohh, thank goodness you are safe!” “Is everyone else all right?!”

The ones welcoming Subaru when he showed himself were the people lodging in the Cathedral—the people of Earlham Village who had evacuated, fleeing from the Witch Cult to the Sanctuary together with Ram.

They looked happy to see Subaru, but their situation was little different from when they had left the village. Subaru was relieved that they had not been treated poorly in the Sanctuary, though.

“I’m the one who told you to take refuge here, after all. I’m glad you’re all safe.”

“Master Subaru, it is we who are glad you are safe… How is the village, and the others?”

“Yeah, relax about that, okay? We drove off the dangerous folks, and the people evacuating to the royal capital are back in the village. No one’s hurt, they’re all in great shape.”

“Ohh—!”

When Subaru pounded his chest, giving the villagers his metaphorical stamp of approval, all the villagers’ faces brightened.

Subaru responded to their reactions with a smile as he finally took a look around the Cathedral. The stonework structure had a high ceiling, and was filled with a solemn, serene air that lived up to the name.

So far as Subaru knew, the atmosphere was probably close to that of the chapel of a church. Because the temple site was fairly large, it was able to comfortably accommodate the fifty-odd residents who had evacuated.

Put frankly, there had to be many inconveniences involved, and they did raise such dissatisfactions with Subaru as they said, “We’re worried about the fields and livestock we left behind. Besides, we’re separated from our children, too, so…”

“But are the lord’s injuries all right? Such terrible wounds, for our sakes…”

Their statements, showing less concern about the disorder in their daily lives than pure concern for the future, hurt Subaru’s heart.

Here they were, far from their families, with their own lord bearing wounds. The seeds of their anxieties were inexhaustible. But Subaru’s feet had brought him there to bring an end to their situation.

For that reason, among others, Subaru loudly cleared his throat, drawing all eyes of the villagers upon him.

“Err, listen to me, everyone! As you know, the dangerous elements threatening the village have been driven off! The other group that evacuated has returned to the village, and they’re waiting for you to return as we speak!”

The moment Subaru reached “waiting for you to return,” shadows of anxiety came over the villagers’ faces. Naturally, they too knew why they remained in the Sanctuary.

They also knew Roswaal had sustained his wounds with the aim of liberating them.

However—

“Looks like you all know that getting out of here won’t be easy. But it’s all right! After all, there’s a girl right here to undertake the trial to free everyone!”

“Master Subaru…you can’t mean?!”

“Whoa, whoa… Nah, it isn’t me. If I could, I’d do it in a heartbeat, but…”

Subaru scratched his head with a pained smile at the reaction from the freshly enthused villagers.

His words were no lie. If he could be the challenger, he’d take the trial without a moment’s hesitation. But Subaru did not fulfill the conditions to challenge the barrier. Accordingly, the one who would undertake the trial would be—

“I’m sure you all know her—the royal candidate, Emilia. She’s facing the trial.”

“”

Subaru’s declaration sent the villagers gasping once more. Nodding back at their reactions, Subaru reached a beckoning hand toward the entrance to the temple—and the girl waiting there for him.

After a moment’s hesitation, Emilia slowly revealed herself, silver hair flowing behind her. Her cheeks were stiff from tension as Subaru stood at her side and surveyed the villagers.

Those gazes had rejected her once before. Now, she had the courage to face them without the “identification scrambler” robe. Even so, Emilia bit her lip, bowing her head deeply then and there.

“I—I am sorry to have made you wait. In place of your lord, Roswaal L. Mathers, I shall undertake the trial of this Sanctuary. I may not seem very formidable…but I’m sure I will overcome and liberate everyone from this barrier.”

At first, she was timid, with little confidence, but by the end, she was speaking more quickly and fluently.

Emilia’s proclamation left the villagers perplexed as they looked at one another’s faces. Once before, Emilia had extended her hand to them only to be rebuffed. That rupture had hardly been repaired. All Subaru had done was slam a lid on top of it so that you couldn’t see the cracks and punt the can down the road. As far as the villagers were concerned, Emilia was stuck in their stereotypes of half-elves.

“…”

Emilia kept her head lowered as she awaited the villagers’ response. Her lips were tightly pursed, and on her face, Subaru saw resolve, and a hint of fear, about the prospect of rejection.

But a figure walked closer to Emilia—the old woman who was both the head of Earlham Village and someone who had often touched Subaru’s butt. Sensing her presence, Emilia lifted her head; the old woman nodded and spoke.

“A few days ago, you lowered your head to us, and we rejected your assistance. In spite of this, you reach your hand out to us once more. Why? For the sake of the royal selection?”

“…”

“To maintain the support of the populace, you lower your head and say that you shall save us. That is natural. I have no complaint about this, if that is indeed the case. But what we find frightening…is that we do not understand the reason why.”

“You don’t understand the reason why…?” Emilia asked, eyes shaking in bewilderment at the old woman.

“We rejected you because you are a half-elf. We do not understand the reason why you, a half-elf, would do this again despite that. That is what we wish to know.”

“And that you are not a Witch beyond our ability to comprehend.”

Emilia was surprised. She was being compared to a Witch to her face, and yet, she’d been asked to deny she was one. It was probably something she was experiencing for the first time. No doubt Emilia had been always tormented by discrimination that permitted no rebuttal, the conclusion simply forced upon her.

“…”

For an instant, Emilia shifted her eyes toward Subaru, who was standing by her side. Her gaze clung to him, apparently in search of an answer. Subaru tucked in his chin, nudging her forward without a word.

It was Emilia’s own words they were seeking. Borrowed words would be meaningless.

“I…have no confidence that I can give an eloquent reply to your question. Right now, I do not have any reeeally convincing words to make you all accept what I say.”

Reluctantly, and with Subaru’s affirming nod pressing her onward, Emilia began to speak. With her own clumsy words, she sought to explain why she wanted to do this.

“It’s just… It may have been a short time, but I spent the last several days with the family members who aren’t here with you. So I thought all over again…families need to be together.”

Emilia touched her own chest as if looking for something, stroking the dim crystal hanging from her neck. Inside it was surely sleeping family of her own, family she could not speak with at the moment for reasons unclear.

However, believing that her feelings about family were not different from theirs, Emilia surveyed everyone’s face.

“I want to return you to your families. That is…not a promise I made in that village, but it is something I swore to myself. That is what I want to fulfill. That’s all.”

“…”

“I haven’t really thought much about…maintaining your support and so on. But, if possible, I’d like everyone to…no, err, rather, I want to…get along with all of you.”

At the very, very end, Emilia’s words weakened, and the pace of her speech slowed. Once she had spoken her piece, she and the villagers were mutually silent. The silence continued for seconds, perhaps tens of seconds…

“Lady Emilia.”

“…Y-yes?”

“We know this is very selfish of us to say—however, please take good care of us.”

For a moment, Emilia looked like her thought process had ground to a halt, unable to digest the meaning of those words. But when she saw the old woman’s head bowing before her, she finally grasped their meaning.

“Ah…I—I may be a greenhorn, but please bear with me!”

“No one says greenhorn anymore.”

Subaru gave a pained smile, instantly tossing his own quip on top of the obsolete language sailing out. Emilia had no time to deal with it, for she was busy dealing with other villagers’ follow-up comments, engaging in scattered conversation.

Satisfied at the turn of events, Subaru distanced himself from the throng and headed to the entrance of the Cathedral. And there stood—

“Lady Emilia seems to have…changed somewhat. Did you put her up to this, Barusu?”

“This is something she came up with on her own. You shouldn’t go crediting someone’s determination to someone else, you know.”

“…I suppose not. Ram is at fault this time.”

Ram apologized for the somewhat cold impression she gave from the entrance concerning the exchanges taking place at that moment. The apology, rare coming from her, surprised Subaru, which made Ram narrow her pink eyes.

“What? Even Ram apologizes when she feels she has done wrong. It simply does not happen very often.”

“From time to time, I’m seriously envious of that brimming-with-confidence attitude you have.”

“It is not a matter of confidence whatsoever. It is natural providence that Ram is correct so often.”

The way Ram crossed her arms in self-affirmation grander than mere overconfidence ever could be made Subaru’s shoulders sink.

“With this, Lady Emilia shall undertake the trial. She has received voices of support from the villagers…just as Master Roswaal wished.”

“Hey, stop saying it like that. Emilia doesn’t calculate things like that, you know.”

“And you intend to shoulder the burden of the dirty work yourself, Barusu? How heroic.”

Ram’s slender lips eased up a little as she bantered with Subaru in sarcastic fashion. But Subaru didn’t feel genuine scorn for him from either her eyes or the tenor of her voice. Perhaps what he sensed was distress.

He couldn’t say That’s not like her. Ram’s kindness just happened to be difficult to see on the surface.

“So you’re worried about Emilia, too, huh? I’m a little surprised.”

“…Ram is the epitome of kindness and benevolence. Besides, if Lady Emilia can perform as Master Roswaal hopes, there will be meaning to his body’s having been whittled down like that. Of course I am concerned.”

“Roswaal went pretty far, putting his own body on the line…”

Ram’s morose statement put a pained face on Subaru as he let those words trickle out. As to what Roswaal’s true intentions regarding the Sanctuary were, Subaru could only sigh.

Roswaal, lacking the proper qualifications, had undertaken the trial only to be rejected by the enchantment, suffering grave wounds that left him at death’s door. Such a reckless challenge could only have calculations bordering on madness behind it, things no normal person could even conceive of.

Passing the trial was unavoidable if the barrier of the Sanctuary was to be lifted—and, faced with this fact, Roswaal had taken the initiative, sustaining wounds as a result. That even Roswaal, in an attempt to fulfill his duties as lord, was unable to succeed in the trial had established to all his people the difficulty of the matter.

He had acted without hesitation before his people, wounding his name, reputation, and even body in the process—

“And here comes Emilia out of the blue, galloping in to undertake the trial and liberate the Sanctuary…”

“The residents of this Sanctuary and the refugees held captive… Either way, they shall have a great deal for which to thank Lady Emilia. It would be good if they thought of her being a half-elf as a trifling matter…”

“People’s hearts don’t dance in your palm that much… Besides, Emilia doesn’t weigh things like that. You and I both need to have that fact sink in.”

Subaru watched from a distance as the villagers interacted with Emilia at the center of the Cathedral with hard, smiling faces.

He understood Roswaal’s thinking. This was a necessary challenge if she was to make it to the end of the royal selection ahead. He could appreciate the true intent behind Roswaal’s telling Emilia this place would, at some point, be necessary to her.

But he could not raise both hands high in approval. This was Subaru’s stubbornness at work.

“Incidentally, Barusu…there really is nothing wrong with your body?”

“Ah, yeah, no problem. I wasn’t lying when I said as much when I talked about the teleport. Even though Roswaal got all beat up like that, I only fainted… Dunno what to say.”

“I suppose you should be grateful to have such a puny Gate.”

“It’s the truth, so I can’t argue, but geez…!”

Raising his voice at the very blunt remark, Subaru gave his hips a big twist on the spot before continuing.

“Um, I was surprised that the ruin I teleported to was the place for the trial. Plus, there’s the thing about bad stuff happening to unqualified people trying to get in… Totally a trap that kills on first sight.”

“You saw from Master Roswaal’s wounds, right? Even someone blessed with only an average Gate should receive a rather stiff punishment. There is no telling what would have happened to Lady Emilia if she’d entered unawares, either.”

“…You think Frederica planned it like that?” Subaru lowered his voice and aired the suspicion he’d been harboring for a while.

Ram sank into thought for a brief moment, then closed one eye as she said, “I wonder. The circumstantial evidence suggests Frederica planned something. In point of fact, Lady Emilia only avoided such a fate by a hairbreadth, escaping by Barusu’s noble…relatively noble sacrifice.”

“Hey, don’t correct that. Well, I don’t mind you correcting the ‘sacrifice’ part because I got through it fine, but if I had sacrificed myself, call it noble even if it’s a lie!”

“I shall take it under advisement. In regards to Frederica, there is something I ought to tell you, Barusu.”

Following that preamble, Ram confirmed the state of the area around her with a sharp gaze. It was as if she wanted to be careful that no one overheard their conversation— No, it was not “as if” at all.

Ram approached a half-step closer to Subaru, her voice a whisper as she spoke.

“Not everyone living in the Sanctuary supports being liberated from it.”

“—! What do you mean by that?”

“There is also the matter of the elf being hidden from Miss Ryuzu and Garf, as well as Frederica’s actions…but Miss Ryuzu is only the titular leader, guiding the militants like Garf. Among the residents, there are also those who do not desire liberation from the Sanctuary and who choose to remain sheltered within the barrier.”

“Sheltered inside the barrier… What’s up with that?”

Subaru, knitting his brows at Ram’s warning, indicated incomprehension toward the behind-the-scenes maneuvering. If all was according to Garfiel’s explanation, everyone living in the Sanctuary was of mixed blood. Naturally, that meant they were affected by the barrier and unable to leave…so long as the barrier existed, at least.

“They’re fine with this. To those who wish to stay, the current state, with minimal interaction with the outside, is ideal. And thus, to break this state is…highly troublesome to them.”

“You think Frederica’s working with folks like that?”

“It is possible. At present, it is mere supposition based on the available information.”

With Ram’s subtext sounding like Do not even suggest I am being emotional, Subaru backed off and dropped the subject. However, the words left Subaru twisting his lips, his internal nervousness undiminished.

Reflexively, his hand touched the white handkerchief tied around his own neck.

“And that is? A rather old-fashioned protective charm, yes?”

“Petra… Ah, a cute girl in the village. She gave this to me before I left. She was hired as a new maid to help Frederica out at the mansion… That’s why I’m worried.”

If Frederica was operating from a position of malice, it was quite possible she’d take Petra hostage. He’d never forgive himself if something happened to the girl who’d offered her cooperation in such good faith.

Even more than that, Rem was back at the mansion. He’d spoken exhaustively to Frederica about just how important the girl was, both to him and to the other people at the mansion.

But Ram exhaled and said, “Ah, that,” in reply to Subaru’s misgivings, then continued. “Rest at ease. Frederica would never do ill to a new worker at the mansion. She has surely not fallen into heresy such as that. You need not be concerned for the girl.”

“…Do you trust Frederica, or do you not trust Frederica? Which is it…?”

“I know not what she schemes. But that Frederica is indeed Frederica, I do not doubt.”

Having asserted the point with such force, Ram averted her gaze from Subaru’s face. She folded her slender arms and motioned with her chin—indicating Emilia at the center of the Cathedral.

“Be careful, Barusu. The most certain means for those opposed to liberating the Sanctuary to achieve their aims is to cause Lady Emilia harm. We do not know who our enemies are. Remain ever vigilant.”

“So this is secret from Ryuzu and Garfiel, too, huh…? Those two being opposed to liberation is too far-fetched, I suppose?”

“Even if those two are not involved, someone related to them might be. It is best that as few people know as possible…even if one of them has very loose lips, yes?”

Subaru couldn’t even manage a groan as she drove the implication in like a nail, making it painfully clear just whom she meant.

Either way, now that he was in the Sanctuary, Ram’s warning was exceptionally important. In particular, he’d never have known there was an antiliberation faction if she hadn’t told him.

“Man, that girl really did look just like Ryuzu…”

Ryuzu herself might disagree, but he couldn’t imagine they were unrelated. There was a mountain of things he wanted to ask her about, not least of which was her own lineage.

However, this was not the time to question her about his various misgivings.

“Master Roswaal made time for you this evening. Be satisfied with that.”

“After seeing those wounds I’m not gonna complain… I still feel like suspecting that was part of his scheme, though.”

“That is even more farfetched. Garf came to see how Master Roswaal was doing… Does he look like the kind of man who would cooperate with Master Roswaal’s plans?”

“You’re pretty harsh with the guy who’s fallen for you!”

“Even though he knows it is hopeless.”

That last comment was the harshest of all, enough to make Subaru sympathize with the absent Garfiel.

“This evening, huh?”

Once his sympathy ran its course, he murmured to himself about the time pledged to them for conversation.

Unlike during the day, when they had been able to ask little about the circumstances surrounding the Sanctuary, Roswaal had set time aside so that they could speak about those matters.

However, the time promised to them would come after Emilia undertook the trial.

“It would seem the sun is finally setting.”

Ram murmured as she turned her head outside the temple, looking up as the sky of the setting sun was repainted in the colors of the night.

Night was coming.

A night when people would be tested by the trial so as to set the Sanctuary free.

Sub-chapter 5.

The atmosphere of the Sanctuary underwent a great change after sunset.

The settlement had been little more than a lonely, destitute village to begin with. It had only the minimum lighting necessary to ward off the darkness of the night; except for the weak lighting coming from houses, there was no aid for a nighttime stroll save the light of the stars.

That was why a bonfire had been lit in the center of the settlement to illuminate the path toward the tomb, making that night an exception.

“Thanks to that, we were able to hook up safe and sound. Thank goodness for fire! Right, Otto?”

“Look me in the eye once and try saying that one more time! Damn it all!”

There in the Sanctuary, in the clearing illuminated by the bonfire, Otto’s face was red with anger as his outraged voice echoed. He stamped the ground with his foot, thrusting a shaking finger at Subaru as he ranted.

“Do you think this is something that can be papered over with a little light conversation?! You completely left me behind at the dragon carriage, unable to move away from it, since morning, you understand?!”

“Having said that, you’re the one who told Garfiel you’d stay with the dragon carriage, right? Patlash, my fave dragon, was here, too, so you shouldn’t have been lonely… Well, it’s a fact that I forgot you, though.”

“That fact sinks deeply into my empty stomach!”

Subaru’s brazen reply left Otto fuming amid the bonfire light breaching the darkness of night.

After arriving in the Sanctuary, he’d been on the same page when stabling the dragon carriage was left to him, but, having been completely forgotten over the course of furious conversation, had only just reunited with Subaru under his own power.

Incidentally, it was already the dead of night, with supper at the Cathedral long over.

“I can’t really call it an awesome-tasting meal, but beggars can’t be choosers.”

“So I am not only a chooser, but a beggar as well?! I really am holding a grudge over this!”

“My bad, my bad. I’ll apologize properly later… Right now, I’ve gotta focus over here.”

When Otto drew close, Subaru nudged his forehead back, giving a pained smile as his gaze shifted elsewhere. When Otto followed suit, he narrowed his eyes, gazing at the girl at the center of the clearing surrounded by faint points of light.

“Lady Emilia and minor spirits, yes? Just how many difficult issues arose while I was unaware?”

“‘Difficult issues’… Don’t say it like anything and everything’s all troublesome stuff we’ve got on our shoulders.”

“Am I wrong to call these issues difficult, then?”

“They’re difficult issues. Ultradifficult. On top of that, Emilia has to take ’em on all by herself.”

Humphing at the knowing look on Otto’s face, Subaru proceeded to walk over to Emilia. With her eyes closed as she received the blessings of the minor spirits, she sensed his presence, lifting her face and pursing her lips.

“Get enough cheers of support from the minor spirits to satisfy you?”

“Mm, it’s all right. But I suppose I do want one final push.”

“May I?”

“If you want to, Subaru. Please.”

“Good luck, don’t lose! E M D—!!”

Emilia let out a little laugh at Subaru’s enthusiastic cheer, briefly adding “Thank you” before shifting her gaze toward the tomb she was to challenge.

Standing beside her, Subaru licked his lips and looked up at the ruin, which gave off a very different impression compared to during the day.

“It is a tomb, so it’s waaaaay creepier at night than daytime. You’re all right, Emilia-tan?”

“I’m a little worried, but it’s nothing. This is something I have to do.”

Clenching a pale fist, Emilia took a deep breath infused with plenty of vigor. At the same time, Subaru began to worry that she looked a little too worked up.

“Hah! Well, she’s full of pep. Ya’d better be, not that I’m expectin’ anything from ya!”

“Garfiel and Ryuzu.”

Turning toward the voice, Subaru saw two short figures walking through the entrance to the clearing—one a young-looking girl, and the other a teenage boy. Though very different people, the pair without doubt represented the Sanctuary.

In addition, Ram came in, following in Garfiel and Ryuzu’s footsteps. It seemed they were the only ones who would be watching Emilia undertake the trial.

“It’s a little lonely having this be the entire audience.”

“The humans of Earlham Village have been forbidden from venturing out at night. There is no proper lighting for them at this hour, after all…”

“Besides, we do not want to kick up an unnecessary ruckus. The elderly are very sensitive at night.”

“Ya sure wake up bright and early in the mornin’, though!”

Ram and the others replied to Subaru’s musing in sequence as they lined up before the tomb in good order.

Ram was a proxy for the injured Roswaal; Garfiel and Ryuzu represented the interests of the Sanctuary. Subaru, Emilia’s retainer, and the outsider Otto filled out the roster.

Otto was the only one whose presence seemed tentative and not strictly necessary, but setting that aside…

“I’ll watch you take up the challenge in place of the people from the village. I’m sure they really wanted to cheer you on.”

“Mm, thank you. I’ll work hard to fulfill your expectations, those of the villagers…and everyone else watching.”

“—?”

It was only when Emilia added the part at the very end that her gaze shifted beyond the clearing. Subaru wondered what her gesture meant, but he had no time to pursue the matter.

Emilia exhaled briefly and turned back toward the tomb, walking toward the stairway at the entrance.

The next moment, there was—

“A light, from the tomb…”

It was Otto who murmured it, but his surprise was shared by everyone present.

The five watched as the surface of the ruin Emilia was to challenge glowed with a faint light, seemingly welcoming the challenger, illuminating the Witch’s final resting place with a green, phosphorescent glow that seemed to sink into the darkness.

“This is proof that the tomb recognizes Lady Emilia as being qualified to undertake the trial.”

Ryuzu looked up at the phosphorescent light surrounding the tomb, putting into words the reason for the beautiful scene. Subaru and the others were speechless as they stared at it, with only Emilia unhesitant as she climbed the stairs.

Then, when she reached the top of the stairs, she was greeted by the entrance to the deep, dark ruin biding its time.

“—I am off.”

Subaru felt like he heard her speak those words in a little voice.

He watched Emilia proceed into the tomb’s corridor until he could no longer see her back. The entire ruin remained enveloped in the phosphorescent light; the trial had surely begun.

The ruin had rent Roswaal’s body into tatters and had caused Subaru to faint and lose consciousness. When Emilia stepped within, worry welled in Subaru, almost as if someone were grasping his beating heart—

“Do not be concerned, Young Su. The tomb has firmly welcomed Lady Emilia into it. The light you see is proof of that. You need not worry that she will bounce off like Young Ros.”

“The image of him bouncing off is bouncing right off of me… Er, sorry. You’re just being concerned for me…”

“Ho-ho. I do not get upset when someone apologizes. Perhaps that is why I was too soft in raising Young Gar.”

Subaru put on a strained smile, struck by the great contrast between her little-girl appearance and the elderly smiling face she presented. As Ryuzu spoke, she glanced sidelong at Garfiel, watching over the tomb some distance away.

He crossed his arms, audibly clenched his fangs, and kept scraping the ground with the tips of his toes, unable to calm down.

“I was just thinking…”

“Mm? About what?”

“The trial of this tomb—only those of mixed blood affected by the barrier can take it, right? Now that I think about it, Ryuzu, have you or Garfiel done it already?”

“Logically, it is possible to merely undergo the trial. However, we cannot liberate the Sanctuary. This is because of the never-ending pact that binds us residents to this place.”

“…Another pact, huh?”

Subaru’s distasteful tone and the bitter look on his face made Ryuzu raise an eyebrow.

“Ohh? Young Su, you dislike pacts?”

“I don’t have a good impression of them. I have bad memories of trials over the last few weeks, too. The guy I hate most in this whole world talked about them a bunch.”

“My, my, what a poor impression indeed. It must cause the spirit-user girl no small amount of trouble.”

Spirit mages took all oaths very seriously. Ryuzu’s words were proof this was a publicly known fact.

As a matter of fact, pacts and oaths were among the reasons Subaru and Emilia had once split up. It went almost without saying that Subaru had internally concluded it was his own fault. All the same—

“Accepting it and liking it are two different things. I’ll keep putting a red line through them in my lexicon going forward.”

“Obstinate, aren’t you…? Well, a little stubbornness in a young one like you is adorable, too…”

It was really hard to wrap his head around the young one part. At the same time, Subaru saw a whiff of chagrin rising onto the side of Ryuzu’s face. Perhaps it was nothing more than her having been robbed of the opportunity to challenge the trial for herself and having to rely on an outsider to lift the barrier. She might have quietly felt powerless on the inside.

Thinking along those lines, he could understand Garfiel’s irritation, too. Considering the grasp of his personality Subaru had arrived at in a short time, there was no doubt he was the type who’d rather die than leave his problems for someone else to solve.

“…”

From there, time proceeded to flow. Subaru did nothing and said nothing as he waited for Emilia to return.

There was no visible change in Garfiel. Ryuzu continued to stand beside Subaru in silence. When he shifted his gaze a little, he was surprised to see pleasant-looking conversation passing between Ram and Otto.

To Subaru, who had experienced little pleasant conversation with Ram, this was an alarming development. He was about to think fruitless things, such as I’ll have to get him to spill conversation tips for Ram later—but something happened first.

“Ah?”

When the change met the eyes of all others present, they instantly gasped as one.

Reflexively, Subaru blinked and looked back, by which time the source of light over all that time had already been lost. In other words, the almost dazzling phosphorescent glow surrounding the tomb…had been extinguished.

“The light’s gone?! Hey, is everything all right?!”

“The light of the tomb should not cease so long as the trial continues…”

“Meaning something went wrong?! Emilia!”

Raising his voice at the sudden disaster, Subaru raced toward the tomb without a first or second thought. Ryuzu reached toward his back, shouting with urgency in her voice.

“W-wait, Young Su! You are not qualified to enter the t—!”

“Aaah? What the hell?!”

Ryuzu’s voice trailed off in shock, leaving a bewildered Garfiel to send spittle flying as he picked up where she’d left off. Ram and Otto were just as surprised; even Subaru’s breath faintly caught.

The tomb lit up the instant Subaru’s foot hit the steps, beginning to radiate a green, phosphorescent light.

“The same as Lady Emilia… Er, Mr. Natsuki!”

“If I can get in, it’s the answer to my prayers! Everyone stay outside! I’ll call if anything happens!”

“Barusu!!”

Shrugging off the voices trying to stop him, Subaru raced up the stairs and dived into the tomb.

The ruin’s air was cold and dry. The corridor in which his steps echoed was enveloped by the same green, phosphorescent light covering the outer walls, giving him a pretty good view of the moss- and vine-covered interior.

The strange sensation accompanying each and every step clawed at his chest. The scene, the location somehow seemed familiar to him, the inside of his head anguished as if being violated by some unknown memory.

“Of course I know this place… I came here before, in the dayt—!!”

Deciding that his memory from that time was the culprit, he impulsively stomped on the thought in his head with a shoe as he dived deeper.

The air deep in the ruin was stagnant, invading his nostrils with a dusty scent. He felt his lungs worsen with each and every breath. He shook his head as he went deeper, deeper, deeper—

“A room?”

When he finally reached the end of the corridor, Subaru beheld a door before his eyes that led into a small room. The grimy stone door was already open, having abandoned its duty of warding off intruders, so Subaru slipped in without resistance.

“…”

He raced into the room, a cramped chamber surrounded by stone walls. Strangely, the vines and moss had not encroached upon it, and it had deteriorated only insofar as the ruin’s age would suggest. In back of the not-particularly-large stone room was another closed door that likely led deeper still, and in front of it—

“—Emilia!!”

A silver-haired girl was spread out on the floor, seemingly having sprawled her limbs when she collapsed upon it.

Unable to see her face from the entrance, Subaru desperately ran to her side.

He didn’t know what had happened. All he knew was that he had to pick her up and escape from the tomb as soon as poss—

“—First, face your past.”

The next instant, Subaru gasped when a voice seemed to whisper right into his ears.

“…”

Strength drained from him, leaving him no time to ponder what the voice might be.

His knees buckled, and Subaru’s body went down like a doll, making no move to break his fall. Since he was in midrun, he tumbled onto the floor with limbs sprawled like a snow angel, ending up right next to Emilia by pure chance.

“…”

I’ve fallen right beside her once before, haven’t I? he suddenly thought.

Before he could recall the memory, his first memory of death, Subaru’s thoughts were swallowed up by the darkness—

Sub-chapter 6.

As he always did, when Subaru awoke from slumber, he felt short of breath, as if his head were breaking the surface of the water.

The feeling was much like that of floating in a sea of unconsciousness, floating upward in search of the air called reality. Then, when his awakening lungs had breathed in enough of that reality, Subaru’s mind awo—

“GOOD MOOOOOOOORNING, SOOOOON—!!”

“Hmrabhttnn?!”

That cool, refreshing morning, his poetic rise from slumber, was smashed to pieces by an incredibly destructive impact.

From above, something heavy squeezed the air out of his body, forcing Subaru to let out a cry much like a frog being squished. He batted the top of the futon away as he hacked and coughed.

“Hey, hey, heyyy, what’s the matter? That’s just my diving press to wake you up with love! Same as usual. Really gets those carelessness-is-your-greatest-enemy fires burning, huh?”

“Koff! Koff!… That’s expecting way too…much from a guy who’s asleep… Wait, just now…”

What the heck happened? he wondered, lifting his face with tearful eyes. As Subaru brought half his body out of bed, the other party pointed a finger to the ceiling right before Subaru’s eyes.

And then—

“What is it with you? You’ve got the look of a guy looking at his father buck naked in the morning!”

It was his father—Kenichi Natsuki—as he posed half-naked there in the morning, blessing his son’s awakening with a cackling laugh.
 

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Diamond. Diamond. Diamond.

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