Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World – Vol. 17 Ch. 4

Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World. Volume. 17.

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‘Chapter 4:- GORGEOUS TIGER.’

 

 
Sub-chapter 1.

Rewinding time to the day before Garfiel raced into the shelter—

“”

As he walked along a city street at dusk, Garfiel’s breath caught when he abruptly noticed someone’s gaze on him.

Standing at a street corner on the other side of a crowd was a black silhouette of a woman. Her reflection swayed gently on the water’s surface.

She was a familiar figure whom he saw at the edges of his vision from time to time—though Garfiel knew full well this was not a real person, but the phantom of a woman who had once existed.

He could not smell her.

Given Garfiel’s nose, it was impossible for him to miss picking up the scent of someone within eyeshot—never mind the scent of blood that had hung around that woman, so poignant that it was ingrained in his nostrils, never fading no matter how much time passed.

That was why Garfiel could speak with certainty: This woman was a phantom.

Besides, he had also been the one who killed her—Elsa Gramhilde—with his very own hands.

“”

But all that time later, the woman’s phantom continued to stare at Garfiel.

Her smile had been so blackish red, like the darkest blood, that he could almost swear that he smelled the colors. Those lips made his chest ache to this day.

The first time he’d noticed the wraith was about two months after leaving the Sanctuary.

Right after an incident involving him as well as Subaru and Otto in a certain town, Garfiel started seeing her flickering into the edges of his vision every so often.

Somehow, he understood the cause—this echo reflected the weakness in Garfiel’s heart.

Garfiel had never properly put that incident behind him. Even though he saw himself as nothing but a coward, Subaru and the others kept saying over and over again that Garfiel had done well.

When he thought back on it, he realized they’d always done that. His companions always overlooked his faults.

But Garfiel had not forgotten everything he had done to the people who were now his comrades.

One wrong step, and he surely would have ripped into Subaru and Otto with the very claws that he used to protect them. Even if he lacked the courage to do so, it would have become all too easy if he had fallen into despair.

That was why Garfiel could not forgive his own weakness or his cowardice.

Accordingly, Garfiel had accepted that he was seeing Elsa—the first life he had ever taken—because she was the manifestation of his weakness.

The phantom’s blood-colored smile mocked Garfiel the instant his heart foundered—

“Hey, Garf, are you listening? Right now, Mimi’s talking about some really good things! Mimi really is!”

A bubbly grin entered his view, blocking off that blood-colored smile in the distance. If this girl brought her beaming face any closer, he’d be able to feel her breath. Garfiel recoiled.

“…Uh, right, I’m listening.”

“Good! Anyway, Hetaro and TB are such spoiled kids. It’s really hard on me as their big sister!”

Garfiel’s reply was listless, but judging by her cackling laugh, the girl hadn’t noticed.

She had orange fur and round eyes that were overflowing with innocence. For whatever reason, the cat-person Mimi, a member of a rival camp, kept hanging around Garfiel every chance she got.

At present, Garfiel and Mimi were taking an evening stroll through Pristella together.

Garfiel would have preferred to be alone, but he’d blundered by letting Mimi find him and tag along. There was no way she had the ability to pick up on subtle social cues.

Somehow, ever since arriving in Pristella— No, ever since their first meeting at Roswaal Manor, she’d been particularly fond of him. At first, he’d assumed this was a vigilant investigation of a rival candidate’s combat strength, but the way she talked and acted had made his initial suspicions fade. At this point, he assumed she’d simply taken a liking to him.

Without any idea of why she might think that, he usually agreed to go along with most of her whims.

“Grrr! Garf, you’re making a weird face! Did something funny happen?”

“Does this look like a happy face to you…? I don’t wanna talk about it, and I got no obligation to.”

“You shouldn’t use hard words like obligation and courtesy the way Joshua does, okay? Mimi thinks it’s good to use regular words. Plus, smiling like an idiot like you always do is way cooler, Garf!”

“The hell did you just say to my face?!”

Perhaps she was sincerely trying to praise him, but Garfiel just got irritated and bared his fangs at her. The girl cried out with a “Waaah!” and smiled as she broke into a run. After going a short distance, Mimi came to a stop, grinning as she waited for him to catch up—and the phantom who had surely been there earlier was nowhere to be seen.

Garfiel had rushed out of the Water Raiment that evening because of the lingering effects of his interaction with Reinhard the Sword Saint.

The current Sword Saint was known as the strongest not only in the Kingdom of Lugunica, but in all four of the great nations.

Not only had Garfiel heard the run-of-the-mill rumors, but he’d also heard about the man directly from Subaru, who had met the living legend. That was why Garfiel had been longing for a chance to meet him in person someday.

He’d firmly believed that this was a necessary rite of passage for him to become the strongest.

To Garfiel, being called the strongest held a special meaning.

He was sure that anyone who was born a man must have dreamed of being the strongest at least once. And everyone who had that dream forgot about it at some point over the course of a long life, yearning for that which they had abandoned. Garfiel did not want to forget that dream.

That title was an absolute necessity for the cowardly Garfiel to protect the things that were most important to him. With that thought in mind, he chased after it without rest.

That was why the fact that he had subconsciously backed down the instant he was face-to-face with the strongest was currently driving him to despair.

He’d lived for a scant fifteen years, yet Garfiel had spent the majority of his life in training. He poured all his effort into mastering the martial arts, proving he could uphold his oath to protect what was precious to him with his own two hands.

The instant he yielded ground in the face of real strength, it felt like he had betrayed his oath.

Before he could make the Sword Saint draw his sword, before he could make the man brush away his honed fist, Garfiel had already lost.

Garfiel, worries or not, you’re damn strong.

That was how Subaru tried to console Garfiel as he struggled in the quagmire of defeat. Those words ate at him so much that he thought it was an achievement he wasn’t wailing pathetically that very moment.

Provoked by those feelings, which were swirling in his chest with no outlet, she became visible—the woman he had slain. Unable to ignore her presence, he’d raced into the Water Gate City at dusk all by himself.

That had been the plan anyway.

“Garf! Garf! Look, look! Hey, you can really see the sunset on the water—it’s so red! That’s amazing! Look! So pretty!”

Running around all excited, Mimi tugged on Garfiel’s sleeve, pulled on his hair, and even leaped onto his back. His self-styled companion seemed not to know the meaning of thoughtfulness or mercy.

Thanks to her, he couldn’t even find a moment to wallow on his own.

“Hey, simmer down already! Don’t you get that I’m down in the dumps?!”

“Hmm, nooope!”

“Who answers right away to a question like that?!”

Grabbing onto his arm, Mimi kept on tugging him along, forcing Garfiel to accompany her wherever she pleased.

He could have flung her away and fled if he was of a mind to, but that would only end with her chasing him through the city. He wanted to avoid causing trouble for Subaru and the others.

Ram and Frederica had also given him a strict warning before the group had set off for Pristella. He was to make sure his eccentricities bothered no one save Otto, who was an expert in cleaning up other people’s messes.

“Mm? What’s with the gloomy face, Garf? Some kind of anvie…anpie…anmiety?”

“Are you tryin’ to say anxiety?”

“That’s right, anxiety! So what is it? Tell me, tell me!”

Then and there, Mimi went, “Mm! Mm-hmm!” as she thrust a fist out to emphasize her request. Seeing the girl so eager for conversation made Garfiel clack his fangs, feeling like all the bitterness had simply drained away.

Garfiel turned his gaze toward the waterway, narrowing his jade eyes.

“…I guess the scenery is nice, eh?”

“Yeah, for sure! It’s amazing! It’s super amazing! I wish the young lady could see it, too!”

He only half listened to her rambling, but the sight of the sinking red sun reflected on the waterway was undeniably beautiful.

With the sunset drenching the world in cinnabar red, its rays left vivid patches of yellow and white on the water’s surface, burning that sweet, dazzling scenery into the hearts of all who laid eyes upon it.

“”

As that scene mesmerized him, Garfiel realized that his heart had become oddly peaceful.

He should have been all alone, wallowing in the feelings of helplessness oozing out of him due to his disheartening defeat, but the sunniness of the girl by his side had kept Garfiel from sinking into a pit of despair.

“Hmm, hmm, hmm.”

Standing next to Garfiel was Mimi, the girl in question, humming in high spirits. She tugged on Garfiel’s loincloth as she swayed her head back and forth, clearly enjoying herself.

All of a sudden, he realized that her hair and tail were the color of a vivid sunset. When he unwittingly reached a hand out and stroked her head, Mimi stretched her body up in apparent delight.

“Fluffy, huh? Our lady does that a lot, too. She says it has heawing properties!”

“Ahh, the general talks about healing properties and stuff, too. I feel like I kinda get what he means now.”

“Hey, Garf. Is feeling up Mimi’s fluffiness good for you?”

“Hold on, you made it sound really wrong just now!”

Mimi only went, “Huh?” and innocently tilted her head, causing Garfiel to burst into laughter.

The exchange made what negative emotions were still swirling in his chest dissolve and go away. He could tell that his competitive spirit, presumably dampened by humiliation and a sense of defeat, had defiantly rebounded.

“…No one becomes the strongest overnight. Me, I’m still in the middle of climbin’.”

“Oooh, that hill to become the strongest sounds really, really tall!”

“Heh, you understand surprisingly well, don’t ya? Yeah, that’s right. That’s what the road to becoming the strongest is like.”

When Mimi thrust a fist upward, Garfiel touched the white scar on his brow and clacked his fangs.

He hated to admit it, but he’d regained his competitive spirit thanks to Mimi. If he’d brooded over things all by himself, who knew how long it would have taken for him to reach the same conclusion?

“—Ah! Garf, over there!”

Right as he realized he felt grateful and couldn’t bring himself to openly admit it, Mimi tugged hard on his sleeve. Her gaze was trained on a waterway that was glimmering bright red. When he looked over there, Garfiel saw it, too.

A boat was moving by itself in the Great Waterway, which cut through the city. Some rope that had been keeping it moored to the opposite shore must have come undone. But that wasn’t the real problem.

“Those kiddies!”

Mimi shouted in alarm at the vessel sitting in the path of the small boat that was running adrift. Five children were playing on the moored craft, unaware of the approaching boat.

Upon hearing Mimi’s voice, people in the vicinity of the waterway quickly recognized the danger of a collision. The nearby boat owner hastily ran toward the children, but he wouldn’t make it in time. Noticing the ruckus, the children’s faces went pale as they finally saw the approaching ship as well.

At this rate, mere seconds remained until disaster—

“—Hey, runts. You better thank that big sister over there for bein’ the first to notice.”

“Garf!”

Clearing the waterway in a single bound, Garf landed in the vessel that the children were aboard. The children’s eyes went round with amazement at how Garfiel had appeared on a vessel in the water almost without making it sway at all.

Taking advantage of their surprise, Garfiel scooped up all five children in one go, leaping once more to escape. Hardly a moment later, the two ships collided and foundered in the waterway.

“There we go!!”

Caught up in the capsizing of the two vessels, other boats began tipping over like dominoes. Having dropped the children off by the bankside, Garfiel grabbed hold of the rope connecting the remaining ships to the docks and pulled on it hard to right them by force.

“Well, that’s that!”

As the force of the waves lessened, Garfiel meticulously retied the slackened ropes and flashed a smile at the children, who were now safe and sound. Afterward, he helped recover the two capsized vessels, and the boat owner bowed his head several times over in gratitude for Garfiel’s strength and for keeping the damage to a bare minimum.

Patting the shoulder of the unlucky boat owner, Garfiel paused to take a breath. It was then that—

“M-mister, thank you very much!”

—the children he saved spoke words of thanks all at once. When Garfiel looked over, he found that their gazes no longer contained surprise—they were filled with awe.

It was as Garfiel was having his moment with those children that applause began pouring down from all around.

Enduring this with an embarrassed look, Garfiel lightly rubbed the scar on his forehead.

“Don’t even mention it. It was just coincidence I happened to… The damp evenin’ wind told me, that’s all. If someone in this Water Gate City started cryin’, these waterways would overflow!”

The sounds of applause suddenly dwindled when Garfiel responded with pride.

For some reason, the voices of acclaim became distant, and the cheering became sparse and awkward. But unlike the other people around them, the reactions of the children remained just as dramatic.

“Th-that was crazy!” “So cool!” “No retreat! No surrender!”

“Ohh, that’s a good one! Just like The holy lady’s fist splits the ground asunder!”

“Mister, what’s your name? What should we call you?”

As Garfiel puffed out his chest, one of the children posed that question.

Instantly, Garfiel bared his sharp fangs, revealing a ferocious smile.

“I’m no one important enough to be givin’ out my name. If ya gotta call me somethin’, then… Me, I’m a tiger. Yeah, a golden tiger. So people call me—Gorgeous Tiger!”

“Gorgeous!” “Tiger!!”

When Garfiel struck a pose, stretching both arms up at an angle toward the heavens, the children got even more worked up, and they all imitated Garfiel.

“Garf, that’s amazing! Super cool!!”

It was then that Mimi, running a roundabout route about the waterway, met up with Garfiel and the children at last. Her eyes glimmered like the rest of the group as she joined in, making the same mysterious pose.

“Gorgeous!” “Gorgeous!” “Gorgeous Tiger!!”

With all applause and cheering long gone, the boat owner was the only other person still on the waterway, his cheek twitching as he observed in silence.

Sub-chapter 2.

After quickly taking a shine to the children, Garfiel ended up buying them food at a nearby stall. Then he stood tall and triumphant as he strutted around the city.

“And then I said this: ‘I’ve seen through your evil deeds, third-raters. Your wickedness and wicked faces ain’t gettin’ by my general and my bro!’”

“Wow! That’s so cool!” “Whoa! I got goosebumps!”

As the fast-approaching night began to color Pristella’s sky, Mimi and a blond boy cheered Garfiel on as he spun his tale. The latter was only six or seven, and he was one of the children whom Garfiel had saved on the waterway.

The story that Garfiel was telling at the time was the cursed-goddess-statue incident, the one that had left the deepest impression upon him out of everything that had happened in the last year.

At any rate, the trio of Subaru, Otto, and Garfiel had soon gotten deeply involved, and as a matter of course, they encountered the owner of a metia. Needless to say, a great deal of trouble ensued.

Garfiel clacked his fangs cheerfully at having an audience so happy to listen to his stories. All three were currently on the way to the blond boy’s residence; they were escorting him home.

After taking the children to a food stall, Garfiel had a responsibility as the eldest person present to safely return them home. He’d already delivered the other four safe and sound. This child was the last.

“Gotta say, for little runts, you kids sure went a long way from home.”

“Errr… Actually, we went to the park in the First District to hear the Songstress…”

“The Songstress, huh? Accordin’ to the general, she’s got one hell of a singin’ voice…”

Garfiel crinkled his nose at the innocent admiration coming out of the boy’s mouth.

The boy was talking about Liliana, the famous Songstress of Pristella. It had been brief, but Garfiel had met the real deal at the Muse Company. To be blunt, she seemed like an extremely willful person, and he felt like she had fatal flaws irreconcilable with the rumors that she was a songstress of uncommon talent.

“Garf, you haven’t heard the Songstress sing? What a shame! Somehow, she’s reaaally good!”

“What, you actually got a good listen?”

“Yeah! I didn’t fall asleep till the very end! That’s a huuuge achievement! Mimi’s incredible, right? Praise me!”

When Mimi presented her head, Garfiel gave her a perfunctory pat. Mimi went, “Yaaay!” anyway, racing forward with great delight as Garfiel turned toward the boy.

“So did ya get to meet this Songstress you admire?”

“Nah, seems we were a little too late… I wonder if my sister will be upset.”

“Sister? Why would she be upset?”

“…Because I…left without telling anyone.”

“Ahh—”

From the boy’s sullen face, it appeared that the plan was to keep his promise with his friends a secret from his family. But because he would be returning home later than expected, he couldn’t help but be afraid of how his family would react, particularly this older sister of his.

Garfiel understood that feeling painfully well. Older sisters were powerful creatures. He might even go as far as to say they were formidable walls that little brothers could never surpass. That’s how it was for him when he finally reunited with his own sister even after spending ten years honing his body. One look at the young boy they were escorting home, and it was obvious that even contests of strength were hopeless. There was a despairing difference in power between older sisters and their younger brothers.

“Got it. Just leave it to me.”

Though worried, the boy blinked hard when Garfiel reassuringly patted his own chest.

“I know how scary big sisters can be, y’see. Me, I got a big sis, too, and the woman I love has a younger sister too. Kid, if your sister is upset, I’ll listen to her lecture with you.”

“Gorgeous Tiger!”

Deeply moved, the boy hugged Garfiel tightly. Garfiel hugged the boy back, only for Mimi to latch onto him from behind as well.

Thus, with cargo hanging from the front and back, Garfiel pressed on toward the boy’s house with wobbly steps and newfound resolve.

“Gorgeous Tiger, huh?”

The fact that the boy had called him that just then made Garfiel clench his fangs.

The feelings of powerlessness that had driven him from the inn had not completely vanished by any means. He still lacked the confidence that he could bump into Reinhard at the ryokan and maintain his composure.

Even so, the female phantom who was dressed in black and symbolized his sense of weakness was nowhere to be seen.

This was probably thanks to the children who now revered him as Gorgeous Tiger, and the incomprehensible energy Mimi had instilled within him—

“—Fred!”

Right as Garfiel was beginning to dive into sentimentality, his ears shuddered when he heard that sharp, high-pitched voice.

When he lifted his face, he saw a small figure racing toward him. Her long, blond hair flapped about as the stranger closed in on them like a comet.

She came straight in, charging toward the boy, who was hugging onto Garfield.

“Ah, Big Si… Gwah!”

“Just how much were you trying to make me worry about you?!!”

The boy had been clinging to Garfiel—right up until his sister’s kick sent him flying. Garfiel found himself admiring her kicking form and the impressive way she landed.

That instant, the girl swiftly turned about, driving her heel into Garfiel’s foot as she howled:

“You shady goon! What were you doing with my Fred?!”

“That hur… Well, I guess it don’t actually hurt, but could you get off my foot, runt?”

He’d already had his fill of runts, but Garfiel called the girl that nonetheless.

From her silent reaction, the girl was a little taken aback that her preemptive strike had been ineffective. Perhaps looking at Garfiel’s face up close made her suspect that she’d picked a fight with a violent person.

Garfiel was similarly taken by surprise. To think that there existed another older sister besides Frederica who’d attack her younger brother without so much as a warning the moment they were reunited.

Incidentally, Mimi leaped to catch the flying boy with a “Pwah!” and both of them ending up rolling to a stop, unharmed. All the same, Garfiel felt compelled to comment.

“Can’t really compliment a big sis kickin’ her own little bro!”

“Argh… W-well, sorry about that, but what’s your deal anyway?! Just so you know, I won’t let you lay one finger on Fred or me! I’m scary when I get angry!!”

Garfiel’s choice of words made the girl clench her teeth as she acknowledged the error of her own ways.

She may have been the boy’s older sister, but the girl was only about ten years old herself, give or take—right around the age when kids got too big for their britches. Taking Garfiel for a street punk based on appearances alone, she’d challenged him while wringing out all her courage with tears in her eyes. She was probably doing her best to divert attention away from her little brother.

However, things were not going to go according to plan.

“G-Gorgeous Tiger…please don’t eat my sister…”

The younger brother wedged himself between the tiger and his teary-eyed older sister. The pleading boy’s words made the shielding girl open her eyes wide. However, the girl clenched her teeth and stood firm at her younger brother’s side.

Garfiel wasn’t exactly sure what was happening, but this brother and sister had a beautiful, caring relationship.

“Not that I approve of ya treatin’ me like the villain here!”

“Bad, bad! Garf, you can’t be a bad guy! You’re Garf! You’re Gorgeous Tiger!”

Joining back in after a short dash, Mimi bounded up and poked Garfiel in the forehead. It didn’t hurt, but he felt like he shouldn’t just ignore it, either.

As Garfiel mulled over how to clear his name—

“—Dear? Did you find Fred?”

It was the sound of someone entirely unexpected that shattered the stalemate.

It was the soft, gentle voice of a woman. The instant he heard it, he thought the sister and brother before his eyes might glance at each other’s faces, but instead, they broke out running toward it in great haste.

“The hell?”

Right as Garfiel blinked in a daze at their sudden vigor, a new figure appeared from across the way. When the individual rounded a corner and came into sight, the siblings leaped into her arms.

“Mommy!” “Mom, there’s a scary stranger!! That Gorgeous something or other was holding Fred, and I…!”

Catching the two as they tearfully clung to her was a casually dressed woman with long, blond hair. Going by what the siblings said, this was their mother, but Garfiel dearly hoped the mother didn’t go by their words and assume he was someone suspicious. It would probably become incredibly complicated if she took her daughter at her word.

Either way, having an adult capable of rational conversation come out was a huge help. Garfiel stepped forward, wanting to explain the situation before someone called the city guards—

“—Huh?”

With the children still clinging to her, the small smile she turned toward him stopped him dead in his tracks.

“Garf?”

Garfiel’s jerky movement made Mimi look at him with a mystified face.

However, Garfiel could not respond to Mimi’s call. He was too preoccupied. His heart and eyes were filled with bewilderment.

He was a storm of emotions, and his thoughts had fallen into utter chaos. Of course that was what happened. It was only natural.

“Um, it seems that you were looking after my children. If you like, could we speak more at our house? It’s very close by.”

Gently, the woman spoke with a tone that harbored no misgivings whatsoever.

When the unguarded woman closed the distance, Garfiel widened his eyes at the sight of her. His sharp fangs refused to line up. The woman tilted her head curiously at the clattering sound of his teeth.

That expression, that demeanor, that voice—they shook Garfiel to the very core of his being.

After all, standing there was—

“—Mom?”

That raspy voice was all that he managed to spill out from his throat for a reunion that should never have happened.

Sub-chapter 3.

“I am so sorry. I didn’t think we would have guests, so I didn’t have a chance to tidy up very much.”

“Aww, don’t worry about that! It’s all right! Compared with Mimi’s room, it’s waaaay cleaner!”

“My my, you are a girl, so that simply will not do. You must keep your own room clean.”

The woman gently stroked Mimi’s head as the latter sat on a sofa, waving her feet around. Mimi purred happily and seemed to immediately relax.

Garfiel kept his mouth shut tight as he gazed at the pair.

The woman had long, luscious blond hair, fair skin, and a delicate physique. Her face was gentle, and there was softness in her jade eyes—which, up close, greatly resembled those of Garfiel’s older sister. From her youthful appearance, she looked like she was in her twenties, but her actual age had to be in the latter half of her thirties.

After all, fifteen years had already passed since then. In spite of that, her appearance had changed little since he last saw her—a fact that tore at Garfiel’s heart with frightful intensity.

“Mr., um, Gorgeous Tiger? Are you not fond of tea? I’m sorry. I went and prepared some without asking what you prefer…”

As Garfiel held his silence, the woman—a woman claiming the name of Liara Thompson—lowered her eyes with a troubled expression. Garfiel replied with “Nah, that’s not it” as he hastily raised his cup. “It ain’t anythin’ like that. I was just a little…surprised at how big this place is.”

“My, so that was it? True, our home is quite large. It is very much a chore to clean it every day and takes a fair bit of time… But it’s strange, really.”

“…What is?”

“I always ask guests what leaves they prefer, but this time, I just went ahead and picked this.”

How odd, Liara’s smile seemed to say as she pressed a hand to her cheek. Garfiel brought the cup to his lips without a word. The taste and the temperature were exactly to his liking.

Deeply disturbed by this, Garfiel searched for any disparities between Liara before him and the woman from his memories.

Liara’s attire and behavior suited someone living in a stately mansion. The woman in Garfiel’s memories was a simple person who wore simple clothes and gave off the impression of naivete, knowing little of the world around her. This was one area in which they differed immensely.

And yet everything about her presence—that smiling face, that gentle voice, the tiniest of gestures—led Garfiel astray.

“”

She had to be someone else. He was sure this was a different person. Liara treated Garfiel like she would with any acquaintance of her children. Furthermore, his mother wasn’t such a skilled actress that she could pull this off.

In his own mind, Garfiel desperately came to the conclusion that Liara Thompson was someone other than his mother—Lisha Tinzel. This woman only looked identical.

Garfiel was still nursing when he last saw his mother. The reason his memories of his mother were so vivid despite that was, regardless of how he felt about it, because the Sanctuary’s Trial had shown him the past in normally unknowable detail.

Thanks to that, Garfiel remembered his mother’s face, voice—and love.

And that was how Garfiel learned of his mother’s unfortunate death, which occurred right after she had separated from her own children.

Therefore, a reunion with his mother was a wish that Garfiel would never see granted. This was just a different person who greatly resembled her.

But if she was a different person, then why was her scent so familiar?

“Mimi, the fur around your ears looks very fluffy. I wonder… May I touch it?”

“Of course!”

When Mimi offered her head, Liara happily patted it, savoring the comforting sensation of her fur.

Her innocent, doe-like smile, the way she didn’t know how to doubt others, and the unguarded way she’d invite a suspicious-looking man and a kitty-girl into her own home were really quite something.

Everything about her behavior made Garfiel suspect that this Liara really might be his mother.

—Lisha, the mother of Garfiel and Frederica, was an unlucky woman.

When her family was suffering under a crushing debt, she’d been sold to an illegal slave trader at a young age. After this slave trader was raided by demi-human bandits, she became the slave of beast people instead.

Several years later, the bandits readily abandoned Lisha when she became pregnant with Frederica. Afterward, following one twist after another, she gave birth to Frederica while she was the captive of a different group of bandits.

Garfiel had heard from his older sister, Frederica, that her first memories were of her time with the bandits. His sister had not spoken of what happened during that time, but judging from how they up and disappeared the instant Lisha became pregnant with Garfiel, it could not have been a wholesome environment at all.

Spending her time with one misfortune rolling in after another, Lisha, with a young daughter in tow and a swelling belly, finally entered the care of Roswaal in the peaceful land of the Sanctuary.

Your mother… Lisha, was it? I had few opportunities to exchange words with her, you seeee. She was quite a mysterious woman. Or rather, should I describe her as incoooomprehensible, perhaps? She is a woman who seemed to keep happiness very close to her. I believe she motivated herself by living for tomorrow since she was very young… Ahh, yes. I must have been jealous. This is probably why I—

Those were the uncharacteristic words that Roswaal used to describe Garfiel’s mother.

It was the first night that Otto had convinced Garfiel to try alcohol. That same night, Garfiel had gone to visit Roswaal in a drunken stupor. As Garfiel snapped at him with even more venom than usual, Roswaal abruptly spoke about his impressions of the young boy’s mother.

Garfiel thought he’d die from his hangover the next morning, but he hadn’t lost the memories of the night before. Therefore, his recollection of Roswaal speaking about his mother was still fresh. Garfiel was more than a little grateful to the alcohol for leaving him with that much.

At any rate, looking at the big picture, his mother was apparently an airhead whose brain had probably been permanently set to feel happiness. Had that not been the case, why would she have ever left a place of such peace in search of Garfiel’s father, of whom Garfiel had nothing but painful memories?

In the end, she’d ended up dying almost immediately after setting off. What in the world had she been thinking?

—Even after all that time later, he’d still never found the answer to where his mother’s happiness had come from.

“Mom, I’m getting hungry.”

It was then that the siblings returned hand in hand from their room after getting a new change of clothes.

The older sister looked over the heads of their guests to call out to her mother and promptly hurried over to her side, sternly glaring at Garfiel with her jade eyes all the while.

“Hey, Mom. It’s suppertime already, so shouldn’t our guests head on home?”

“Oh, how can you say that? Mr. Gorgeous and Ms. Mimi helped Fred out, after all. He was apparently in danger of drowning while playing on a boat.”

“Hmph, are you sure about that? Wasn’t it really this Gorgeous guy who probably rocked the boat in the first place? I bet he was probably planning on coming here to try and milk us for lots of money.”

“That’s enough, young lady… But now that you mention it, he did save Fred. We should show him our thanks, so maybe offering some money would be the most proper.”

“Mom!!”

Apparently, the girl felt like she had to do everything she could to protect her family. Unfortunately, her fervent efforts weren’t quite clicking with her mother; Garfiel couldn’t help but feel that she was flailing in the air.

But the heartwarming exchange between parent and child bitterly pained Garfiel, like he was walking barefoot over a path of thorns. It was so agonizing that he could barely stand staying there any longer.

“…Seems like we ain’t all that welcome, so maybe we should head on out.”

“Ehhh, whyyy? Let’s hang out just a little bit more!”

“No way. This is like sculpting the Kokran, damn it.”

Mimi protested when Garfiel attempted to leave, but Garfiel wouldn’t brook any objections as he tried to forcibly drag the girl out with him. Liara made a sad face at Garfiel’s assertion, whereas her daughter took the opportunity to stick her tongue out at him as she watched him go. As for the little brother—

“Don’t go, Gorgeous Tiger!”

Grabbing onto Garfiel’s sleeve, he tried to bar Garfiel’s path.

Instantly, Garfiel hesitated to shake off those tiny fingers. He wasn’t sure why he paused, but…

“Sorry, kid. I got people waitin’ for me. They’ll be worried if I’m late. That’s why I’m goin’, okay?”

Still unable to figure out why he froze for a moment, Garfiel put a hand on the boy’s head as he explained.

He’d been welcomed in, yet here he was, making his escape. If this was how it was going to be, he should never have accepted the invitation to begin with.

Regret, regret, regret—the only thing left throbbing deep in his chest was regret.

“Fred, I know you’re sad, but you have to let go of Mr. Gorgeous’s clothing.”

Heeding Garfiel’s words, Liara gently removed her son’s fingers. Garfiel was relieved to have his sleeve free again.

“We must not cause our guests distress by forcing them to stay. As the saying goes, For guests, hospitality, and a Sowarie.”

And then Liara’s next words cut deep into Garfiel’s defenseless soul.

He had let his guard down after that initial wave of relief, only for that single phrase to shear through them, dredging up his memories.

His sense of defeat toward Reinhard, his sense of powerlessness at having betrayed his own dream, his shock the instant he first set eyes upon Liara—compared with that phrase, those were almost inconsequential.

It was enough that he almost thought that his body was being torn asunder—

“Garf, let’s go.”

It was then that Mimi, who had been so reluctant to leave, gently pulled on Garfiel’s arm. When she proceeded toward the door, Garfiel silently followed along.

Right as the two of them were headed to the entrance—

“I’m home… Oh, we have guests?”

—the door ahead of them opened, and a gentlemanly man sporting a full beard raised his eyebrows at the unexpected sight.

He wore finely tailored clothes and had a lively air about him. His face looked like that of a capable man who was calm inside the home. His position was clear even before the children reacted to his return.

“Errr, I don’t believe we’ve met. Who might you be?”

“Dad, this is Gorgeous Tiger!”

“A shady person!”

“Ehhh?”

The starkly contrasting descriptions delivered by his son and daughter left the man—their father—rather confused. In search of rescue, he shifted his gaze to Liara, who was standing beside the children.

The man’s warm gaze caused Liara to loosen her cheeks slightly. That was unmistakably love on her face.

Garfiel had hit his limit.

“We’re nobody. Nothin’ to worry about. Time for us to be headin’ out.”

Garfiel swiftly said his good-byes, continuing to hold Mimi’s hand as he left the room with her in tow. Pushing past the man, who hastily gave way, Garfiel raced out, fleeing the house.

“Gorgeous Tiger!”

From behind, the boy called out to Garfiel in a sad voice. However, Garfiel had nothing left in him to muster a reply— No, he just wasn’t worthy.

—When he glanced over, he saw a black phantom encroaching on the edges of his vision. Smiling at him mockingly was a woman who was surely dead.

Gorgeous? Tiger? Where was the golden tiger in him now?

A tiger was strong. A tiger was mighty. Nothing ever shook a tiger.

What part of him was a tiger just then?

Would a real tiger be broken up over something like this?!!

“Garf! Stop already!”

“!”

Just as his thoughts were clouded in a crimson haze, one voice brought him back to his senses.

When he turned, Garfiel realized that he’d been half dragging Mimi along. She had pleaded in pain. Looking closer, he could see that the girl’s slender wrist had gone blue from the grip of his hand.

“S-sorry… I didn’t mean to…”

“Garf, are you all right? You’ve been reaaally weird since earlier. Does your tummy hurt?”

When Garfiel tried to apologize in a shaky voice, Mimi peered at him with concern. This was not a look of resentment over her wrist injury, but one of pure consideration alone.

This pushed Garfiel’s already sinking heart to even lower depths.

An awkward silence fell over the two as a damp nighttime breeze blew over them. The sun had already set, and the city streets under the night sky were dotted by magic lamps. As the light of the magic fixtures reflected that of the setting sun, the waterway took on a tranquil, mysterious beauty, but Garfiel had no room left in his heart to enjoy the sight.

“Pardon me, both of you!”

It was then that the voice of an out-of-breath man drew near the pair that was standing on the street at night.

When they looked over, they saw the man from earlier illuminated under the magic lamps. With his coat stripped off, he had finally reached the pair, his breath ragged as he rested his hands on his knees.

“Haaah! Haaah! I managed to catch up with you. This really will not do… I had plenty of physical energy back in the day, but I’ve wasted away since I started doing nothing but desk work…”

“…What is it? You got business with us or somethin’?”

There was a barb in his voice when Garfiel addressed the man who’d caught up with them.

It wasn’t to the extent of Liara and the siblings, but there was no mistaking that he, too, was poison so far as Garfiel was concerned. Garfiel didn’t intend to converse for long. He wanted to get out of there as fast as he possibly could.

Seeing Garfiel’s attitude, the man seemed to pick up that he was not being welcomed with open arms.

“I heard the story from my wife. You two saved my son, didn’t you? And yet I let you leave without speaking a single word of thanks. The height of impropriety.”

“…Ain’t no big deal. Exaggeratin’ stuff like that just ends up being a pain in the butt for me.”

“Everything about my children is very important to me. Please allow me to thank you. I am Galek Thompson, one of the officials in charge of running this city. If there is anything I can do for you…”

“There really ain’t anythin’…”

When Garfiel tried to rebuff the tenacious man, Galek, his words got stuck in his throat.

Suddenly, he had a thought—he, Liara’s husband, might know who she really was.

“There’s just one thing I wanna ask ya.”

“Yes, by all means. If it is something my position allows me to answer, I shall.”

Galek nodded toward Garfiel with an amicable smile.

It was the same for Liara and for his son, Fred. Galek included, the Thompson family was far too fond of people. That daughter was the only one with a proper level of wariness in the bunch.

—That was how outside threats like Garfiel were able to take advantage of them.

“Your wife… Is Liara her real name?”

“”

Instantly, the atmosphere changed.

When Garfiel posed his question, Galek dropped the smile he’d worn to that point. Both his voice and expression were quiet as he rolled Garfiel’s question over his tongue.

“I wonder—what do you mean by that?”

“I mean what I said. Reid always faced his challengers head-on. I don’t like roundabout stuff. Your wife… Is Liara her real name or not?”

When Garfiel cut right to the point, the expression coming over Galek was one of clear consternation. He opened and closed his mouth several times, breathing hard in search of air and words.

“You… Are you saying you know something about my wife?”

“I’m the one who wants to know about her.”

Garfiel replied sincerely to Galek’s wavering question.

Detecting the genuine emotion at the core of that reply, Galek went silent, sinking into thought. As Garfiel waited for the words that would follow, he felt Mimi grasp his hand with her opposite hand from earlier.

When he shifted his gaze in her direction, Mimi simply went, “Heh-heh—” with a bubbly smile.

“…It would seem I should speak truthfully with you.”

Breaking the silence, Galek uttered those words with a sigh.

A deep weariness infused that voice, along with an unconcealable sense of guilt, causing Garfiel to narrow his brows.

Then as Garfiel maintained his silence, Galek began to speak.

“My wife, Liara…has no memories from before I met her fifteen years ago.”

“! No memories, ya say?”

“It was a stormy night. I was just another merchant returning from a business deal when I came across the site of a large landslide. My future wife was caught up in that disaster and had been buried alive.”

The terms that Galek relayed—landslide, buried alive—made Garfiel’s breath come to a halt.

Bubbling up in his mind was the glimpse into the past he’d seen in the Sanctuary. An unsalvageable past, in which his mother had left Garfiel and Frederica behind, setting off from the settlement only to become engulfed in a landslide and lose her life—

—But had his mother really died? He’d never even considered other possibilities.

“”

That terrifying concept made Garfiel clench his teeth hard so that they wouldn’t chatter.

He’d thought for certain that his mother had died. Even if his mother had been safe, if she had been tethered to life, he couldn’t possibly imagine a reason why she wouldn’t have returned to Garfiel and Frederica’s side.

“After she was rescued, she hovered on the edge of life and death, opening her eyes several days later just as I came to check on her. Then she spoke these words loud and clear— ‘Who am I?’ she asked.”

Galek lowered his eyes, shaking his head from side to side.

“Perhaps it is a side effect of her heart nearly stopping once. She didn’t remember anything. All she knew, from the name tag on the clothes she wore, was that there was a Li in either her family name or her given name. And so she took the name of a flower that blooms at night. I have called her Liara ever since.”

After that, Galek’s gaze grew distant as he spoke, but there was not a great deal to tell thereafter.

After he took her into his care, the bonds between them naturally deepened, and it was not long before they fell in love. And ever since he’d taken Liara in, Galek’s business had grown by leaps and bounds.

Galek never questioned his belief that this good fortune was from bringing Liara back with him.

Because of her, Galek had worked in this city as a man, a husband, and a father until the present day.

That was why—

“—I love my wife. I dearly love our children. Once upon a time, her past weighed upon my mind, but not anymore. No matter what happened to her before we met, she is my wife, the woman most precious to me.”

Galek spoke those words firmly and plainly with his chest out.

These were the unshakable feelings that Galek felt for his wife, carried through from the moment they’d met to the present.

“”

Listening to his tale to the end, Garfiel silently looked up at the murky night sky.

How did the waxing moon and the stars dotting the darkness feel as they gazed down at him in that moment?

As Garfiel chose to stay silent, Galek’s lips trembled more than once. He was hesitating. But then he firmly closed his eyes, brushing that hesitation aside.

“I am truly sorry to ask you this. However, I wish to inquire nonetheless.”

“”

“How…are you related to my wife, Liara?”

Just how cruel a question was that to ask someone?

Confronted by the last thing he wanted to be asked, Garfiel slowly shifted his gaze from the sky back to the ground, and then finally to Galek.

Galek looked at Garfiel with quiet, unshakable resolve in his eyes. Even Garfiel wasn’t insensitive enough to miss the significance of those words and the emotions invested in them.

More than that, he knew exactly what response he should give.

“”

He opened his mouth once, then closed it. He breathed in and out, in and out, over and over.

His pulse was racing. His eyes felt unsteady. His head throbbed with pain. The urge to vomit kept welling up.

He felt a storm of emotions raging inside as well as the ultimate sense of loss. During it all, Mimi held Garfiel’s hand.

“Me, I…”

“”

“I don’t have…any relationship with your wife.”

He did it.

He’d said it aloud.

With those words, the torrent of emotions swirling inside his chest rapidly dissipated. What remained was a yawning, cavernous loss, an emptiness that made his limbs run cold.

“I am…very sorry…”

Lowering his eyes, his shoulders trembling, Galek bowed his head to Garfiel.

But Galek’s apology was not something Garfiel wanted.

Enough. Just stop it. Don’t hurt me anymore. What went wrong? Who’s to blame? Who do I have to smash, to rip to shreds, to send flying, to get over this?

What am I supposed to do with the pain in my heart that just won’t go away?

“—Darling! Ahh, I’m so glad you’re with Mr. Gorgeous and Ms. Mimi.”

“?!”

He wanted to scream.

He was on the verge of wailing like a weak little boy.

In that moment, seeing her was more terrible than any poisoned blade for Garfiel.

“Liara, why…?”

“Because I thought you ran out in such a hurry that you would probably manage to catch them. I thought it was terrible for them to leave empty-handed, too…”

Galek was just as surprised by the sudden appearance of his wife as Liara came over in a little run, passing by her husband’s side. Then with Garfiel still rigid from shock, she gently extended a bag toward him.

“These are some Sowarie sweets I made. Perhaps it is not so great a reward, but I have confidence in their taste. Please take this.”

“Ah…”

With a perfectly innocent smile, she offered Garfiel the cruelest of gifts.

Galek agonizingly lowered his face at the exchange between Garfiel and his wife. It was too painful for anyone to intervene. No one who understood the true nature of this meeting could do more.

That was exactly why—

“Ohh! Yaaay! I love sweets! I’m gonna brag to the lady!”

Grabbing the bag from Liara’s hand, Mimi bore an outgoing, smiling demeanor that was completely out of touch.

It was so at odds with the atmosphere from a few moments ago that it took a short while for Galek to accept what was happening. But only Liara, unaware of the circumstances, greeted Mimi’s honest delight with a beaming smile.

“I am so glad to hear you say that. Please give my best regards to this lady of yours.”

“Yep, yep, uuuunderstood! Super understooood!”

Taking the sweets in her still-pallid hand, Mimi smiled as she gave a playful salute. Stuffing the bag in the satchel she carried over one shoulder, she used her long tail to thwap Garfiel on the back.

“Time to go for real! Gorgeous Tiger and Gorgeous Mimi will be leaving now!”

“Yes, do be careful. Mr. Gorgeous, take care not to fall into the waterway at night.”

When Mimi set off with a big wave of her hand, Liara gave a little wave back. With the pair trading hand-waves, the two men watched the exchange with morose faces.

“”

From there, Garfiel followed the pull of Mimi’s hand and trailed behind her. Neither Mimi nor Garfiel said anything for a while, continuing to walk as Liara and Galek receded from sight.

Finally, when Garfiel judged that they were far enough, he came to a stop.

“Hey, runt… Er, whoa?!”

“Hiyahhh!”

The next instant, Mimi jumped, stretching Garfiel’s arm. Kicking off from the ground in a flash, the pair leaped onto the roof of a nearby building.

After going up three stories in one bound, Mimi stretched her back.

“Mmm!! Amazing! It feels so good!”

“Hey, don’t gimme that! What gives all of a sudden…?”

Mimi was enjoying the bracing wind as he drew close. But when she stared back at him with her round eyes, Garfiel was at a loss for words. He was oddly uncomfortable seeing how he looked reflected in her eyes.

With Garfiel pressed into silence, Mimi abruptly tilted her head.

“Garf, you look like you’re gonna cry.”

“…Huh? What the hell are ya sayin’? No way I’m gonna do that.”

“I know you’re strong, Garf, but that doesn’t mean you have to act tough. Liara is Garf’s mom, right?”

“!”

When Mimi stepped into the crux of the matter, Garfiel drew in his breath, utterly unprepared.

“Why do you…think that she’s…?”

“I mean, Garf’s and Liara’s scents are reaaally alike. And the scents of Liara’s kids are a little like Garf’s scent, too. So I figured just maaaybe—”

She didn’t learn of Garfiel’s family from the course of the conversation. Mimi had accurately arrived at the truth based on a feral sense of smell and base instinct.

Words could be fabricated or suppressed. But Garfiel had no rebuttal for something based on a part of you that never changed.

“What the hell…?”

Garfiel sluggishly sank down then and there, leaning his listless head backward. Overhead, the stars and moon in the sky stared back down at him, their glimmering unchanged from before.

“So am I right? Is Liara Garf’s mom?”

“…I dunno. Is that person…really my mom?”

He didn’t know. Truly, that was how Garfiel felt from the bottom of his heart.

But just as Galek had told him and as demonstrated by Liara’s own behavior, she had completely forgotten her own past as Lisha.

Having forgotten everything, she’d given birth to children as Liara, living together with them as a happy family.

“Ha. Now that I think of it, doesn’t that make those two my little brother and sister?”

He hadn’t totally wrapped his head around it yet, but if they were siblings by a different father, then his relationship to them was exactly the same as what he had with Frederica. In other words, that boy and girl were his adorable younger siblings. Always the youngest child, Garfiel finally had the younger siblings he’d always wished for.

—Setting aside that no one wanted such a relationship.

“Me tellin’ her who I am ain’t gonna help at all…”

Liara had parted with her past life as Lisha.

Even if Garfiel revealed everything he knew, it would not change the fact that she had spent fifteen years as Liara or that Lisha had lost those fifteen years. It would only hoist the burden of fifteen years’ worth of guilt onto Liara and elicit a sense of loss over the time that Lisha would never get back.

Galek would have to watch his wife struggle, and her children would no doubt be unable to understand their mother’s suffering when they knew nothing of the circumstances.

—All that just for Garfiel’s self-satisfaction.

Even if Liara was recognized as Lisha then and there, the only one who would derive any closure from that was Garfiel.

There was no way that Frederica or Ryuzu could have known Lisha had survived like this. If Garfiel did not tell them, then they surely would never know.

Unless Garfiel spoke of it, there was no way for Liara’s family to find out about the past, either. Their time as a happy family would remain protected and unchanged, peaceful as ever.

If Garfiel could keep it all bottled up in his chest and just abandon his true desires, that would settle everything once and for all.

And yet—

“Why am I…?”

The resolve to cast them aside, the decision to forget, the courage to lock them away—why is this so hard?

Tiger, where have you gone? Show me the right path, the right way to be.

Show me the strength to bear anything, to carry anything, and to stand up even so.

—Oh, tiger, please tell me… Because a real tiger wouldn’t lose to anyone.

“”

Squatting down, biting back what was welling up inside, he felt an intense yearning clawing at his heart. Just when Garfiel wanted to cast everything aside, it was then that he noticed.

“Gooood boy.”

Someone was hugging his head against their tiny chest and stroking his hair.

“”

As Garfiel sat there, Mimi embraced him from behind.

Placing her chin against his crown, she gently stroked Garfiel’s head with her little palm. It almost felt like the soft sensation was lessening the pain of the raging thoughts crawling around inside his skull.

“The hell…do you think you’re doin’…?”

“Mm, I figured Garf wanted to cry, see… But you know, Mimi heard that men don’t cry unless you make a place for them to do it, and that sounds like such a pain! That’s definitely what the lady told me!”

It was something that resembled an answer, but it wasn’t quite all there.

Trying to keep his heart and his voice from trembling, Garfiel had chosen those sparse, halting words with great care.

Still embracing Garfiel, Mimi smiled teasingly at him.

“So I bet you were thinking, I’m not sure where I am anymore, but it’s probably in a woman’s arms? That’s what you figured, right? Yeah! A man can cry in the arms of the woman he loves!”

“…Who’d fall in love with a little kid like you?”

The first person who came to Garfiel’s mind didn’t behave like Mimi at all, acting cold and dismissive whenever he wanted kindness. And then she suddenly treated him nicely when he least expected it, only to punch him twice as hard later. What a dangerous woman.

The girl before his eyes didn’t have those things in common with her whatsoever—and yet Mimi continued smiling.

“Mm, but it’s all right! Even if Garf hasn’t fallen for Mimi, Mimi’s already fallen for him! And now you’re in Mimi’s arms! The arms of the girl who loves Garf! So it’s all right to cry!”

“—Ah.”

Her opinion was just too stupid.

What is this, some kind of wordplay? A kid making things up as she goes along? This is a convenient excuse—nothing more.

It’s nothing, so stop messing with me.

—Tiger, tiger, where have you gone?

Come back inside this chest right now. Let out a ferocious roar, smack this shrinking back of mine, drag me back to my feet, and do something about these unbearable feelings.

If you don’t…I won’t make it this time.

“Mom…”

Stop, stop, please stop.

I don’t wanna cry, I don’t wanna be weak, I don’t wanna talk in a tearful voice like this.

I’m a tiger. A tiger. I’m the strongest. The mightiest. A stronger, harder shield than anyone else.

That’s—

“Mom! …Mom! ……Mom…!!”

“Good boy.”

“Why?! Why did you forget me?! After all this… Meeting you after all this time!! You won’t even say my name… You won’t…f-forgive me……!!”

“It’s all right. Garf, you’re a very good boy!”

“Moooooommm… Mooommm… Mooommm…!”

—Tiger, tiger, where have you gone?

What do I look like right now? Stars, moon, sky, won’t you tell me?

What do I look like right now?

* * *

If a tiger would never howl in pain, then what do I look like right now?!!

Sub-chapter 4.

“All dry!”

“Shaddap—don’t say that over and over!”

The next day, well into Fire Time, Garfiel was wandering through the city alongside Mimi with a guilty look on his face.

Mimi cackled as she tugged at the part of her white robe over her chest that was still dirty from Garfiel’s tears, snot, and drool, though it was completely dried now.

“That’s filthy. Go wash it off at some waterin’ hole somewhere.”

“Mm, isn’t it fiiine? I’ll change when we get back to the inn… I didn’t return yesterday, so the lady’s gotta be real mad! Hetaro and TB will probably be crying!”

“…Sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry about it… Mimi told Garf he’s a good, good boy and let him cry himself dry—that’s all.”

Garfiel’s meager apology brought a naive smile to Mimi’s face. He couldn’t lift his head up at all.

He’d made a fool of himself, crying all night long, and before he realized it, he’d slumped down and fallen asleep in her arms. He was somehow remaining calm at the moment, but he couldn’t keep up with Mimi’s everyday antics at all today.

In the end, Garfiel harbored feelings of guilt and couldn’t bring himself to say proper words of thanks.

“So what are we doing this morning? Going to meet your mom?”

“Pfft…! Wh-what are you talkin’ about?! Meet her…? Like hell I am!”

Garfiel was deep in thought when that explosive suggestion made him open his eyes wide in shock. Mimi simply responded with an “Oh really?” as she tilted her head with an innocent look on her face. “But Liara is Garf’s mom, right? Don’t you have lots to talk about?”

“You really didn’t pay attention to anything that came up yesterday, did you?”

Though she had instinctually cut right to the heart of the matter, Mimi apparently hadn’t picked up on any of the finer details.

Mulling over how he ought to explain to her his difficult position in relation to that family, Garfiel quickly discarded the idea. The answer came out with his tears the night before.

“It’s fine. Mo… That person is better off not knowin’ I’m her son.”

“Garf, you’re fine with that?”

“It’s fine… Ah, haven’t thought about if I should tell Sis or Granny, though.”

If they knew the facts, Frederica and Ryuzu would probably agonize over it just like he was. If that’s really what came to pass, Garfiel might eventually end up regretting speaking to them about it.

But if the situation was reversed, Garfiel absolutely would have wanted to know the truth. After all, even if the only thing that accomplished was sharing that cruel conclusion, both women were still family to Garfiel.

“Mm, that’s so complicated! Mimi doesn’t even know for sure if she has a mother!”

“…You don’t know your own mom?”

“That’s right… Mimi and Hetaro and TB—none of us know anything about our parents. Seems like we got abandoned because it was too hard to raise triplets. So Rossi took us in, and now we’re with the lady and the captain! We’re all family!”

“…That’s a pretty big family, huh?”

He was able to glean that Mimi had lived a hard life. From the casual way she spoke, it hadn’t been all tragic, but he somehow understood that it certainly wasn’t easy.

Mimi didn’t let any of that show, however. Without any deep thought behind it, Garfiel patted her on the head.

“—Wah!”

Instantly, Mimi brushed his hand aside and hopped backward. Garfiel was surprised by her dramatic reaction. Mimi went, “Ughhhhhh,” making noises with a red face.

“For some reason, I’ve been feeling weird since yesterday. I get all mushy and tingly when I get close to Garf.”

“O-oh, I see. That sounds rough… Maybe we should walk a little farther apart, then?”

“I don’t wanna. So we should stand not too far but not too close!”

Inching slightly closer, Mimi walked alongside him, just out of arm’s reach. He felt that Mimi’s face was a little red as she made a beaming smile from that position.

“Ah, come to think of it, we have Sowarie! Let’s eat some!”

“Ahhh, right.”

Seemingly trying to distract him from the redness on her cheeks, Mimi took the bag of sweets out of the satchel slung over her shoulder. For an instant, Garfiel’s chest throbbed in pain at the sight of the bag, but he accepted the sweet that Mimi offered to him, gazing at the treat in the palm of his hand.

A Sowarie was a sweet-tasting baked pastry fashioned out of bread dough with cream and bean jam inside; it was a noontime snack that was tasty and filling. Given the time of day, they were basically having big, round Sowarie for breakfast.

“Mm-hmm! Sweet! Tasty! Yum-yum!”

“…They’re good, huh.”

Mimi’s praise was over-the-top, but Garfiel found the flavor striking as well.

It was impressive—not too sweet and incredibly soft and fluffy. They would’ve probably tasted even better fresh. If this had been his mother’s specialty, perhaps he’d had a number of chances to savor this himself—

“—Man, I’m getting too sentimental.”

Clicking his tongue at those lingering attachments, Garfiel stuffed the remaining Sowarie into his cheeks whole. Mimi opened her mouth wide in an attempt to copy him and managed to get cream all over her face.

Garfiel sank into thought once again as he helped her wipe it off. Truthfully, the previous day had been full of ups and downs. Each event had served as a trial, but one unambiguously good thing had happened.

Though he’d put on such an unsightly display the day before, the phantom was nowhere to be seen this morning.

If that phantom was a representation of weakness in Garfiel’s heart, it wouldn’t have been strange for the events of the previous night to trigger it and bring it into even sharper relief. But that hadn’t happened at all.

Just maybe, that phantom might never appear before him ever again. If so, this was an opportunity granted by the sheer presence of the girl who’d stayed beside him—

“—Ahem, ahem! Can all you meatbags hear this?”

That instant, a voice suddenly greeted Garfiel and Mimi’s eardrums.

“If you meatbags are listening to my voice, go ahead and shake in your boots, and any meatbags not listening, would you just drop dead and save me a whooole lot of trouble? Bwa-ha-ha-ha!”

After exchanging looks as that voice continued rambling, Garfiel and Mimi simultaneously turned to the sky. It was because that voice seemed to be calling out to them from there.

“What the hell’s with that stupid-soundin’ voice…?”

“Mimi knows! This voice is coming from some super-awesome metia! In this city, you can hear singing every morning thanks to it. Yesterday, I slept through it, though!”

As Garfiel questioned the source of the voice, Mimi raised a hand up and rattled off a quick explanation. Garfiel assumed she meant that they were hearing someone via the power of a special metia and not that it was simply a very loud voice.

The whole time that exchange was going on, that high-pitched voice continued pouring down from the sky.

“So, so, so—did any idiots take me up on that offer and die just now? If there aren’t any, then so be it, but it sure would put a damper on my mood after I got all excited to talk up a storm!”

The annoying voice reverberated across the Water Gate City, drawing looks of surprise and bewilderment from every pedestrian who heard it. Even they didn’t seem to have any idea who the speaker was as they, too, stared up at the sky in confusion.

According to Mimi’s explanation, the metia was normally used to send singing to every corner of the city each morning, but Garfiel was thoroughly convinced that the owner of this voice was incapable of anything so sensitive.

Her objective was unclear. Her character was vulgar. What he did know—

“Breathe in, breathe out: That’s all it takes for mongrels like you to ruin my mood. You really are pieces of trash with no redeemable value at all, aren’t ya?! If all you do is eat, go into heat, and drool without doing anything with your lives, then it’d be better if you were corpses instead! Know what? Just die already! Please just die already! Really, I’m begging you! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!”

—was that the speaker was incredibly twisted.

“Garf… This is reaaally creepy.”

With the speaker’s motive still unclear, that unpleasant voice made Garfiel clench his fist in anger. Tugging at his sleeve, Mimi’s normal sunniness had been subdued as she gazed at the sky with concern.

Seeing her like that really got to Garfiel somehow. That kind of expression didn’t belong on her face.

“Now then, all you meatbags ignoring my entirely valid opinion, have any of you ignorant slobs finally noticed the purpose of this broadcast? The reeeal purpose?”

“Hmm…? What purpose is there besides gettin’ on everyone’s nerves…?”

“—The fact that my voice is reaching you means that I…or rather, we have taken control of this city’s heart, doesn’t it? Ah, incidentally, the four control towers at the edge of the city are also in our hands!”

“!! The control towers?!”

That ominous statement dripped with malice and made Garfiel’s breath catch.

He’d heard that the four control towers in the city were crucial facilities for regulating the volume of water across the entirety of Pristella. It was said that their functions were unchanged from when the Water Gate City was used to trap a being of tremendous power so very long ago—and now they had fallen into the hands of this mysterious entity.

It was tantamount to this maniac holding the entire city hostage.

“Now this city is a miniature garden where we can go around amusing ourselves, abusing and toying with you as we please, oh my! You meatbags are just like insects in a cage, aren’t you?! No cards to play! No bright prospects! No dreams or hopes! Do you get what that means, huh?!”

Garfiel grimaced as the sadistic voice being broadcast across the city cracked. Simultaneously, the people in the surrounding area were only now beginning to belatedly comprehend the gravity of the situation; disorder and dismay were spreading.

Seemingly pleased at the mounting chaos, the announcer spoke even shriller, becoming more self-absorbed.

“Do you get it? Did you get it through your thick skulls? You’re so pathetic, every last one of you running around in a panic as you finally realize what I’ve been telling you all along! It’s too pathetic! Anyway, I, a being of profound beauty and mercy, have happy news for you irredeemable, pathetic bastards!”

“”

“My objective is the Witch’s bones kept somewhere in this city! I want them. I want them so much that it aches and keeps me up at night, so could you please put in some effort? If you deliver what I ask…I’ll probably even reconsider the control-tower thing!”

Having taken the entire city hostage, the speaker now presented her demand. The item she mentioned, the Witch’s bones, made Garfiel grimace, but the surrounding unrest only deepened.

The high-pitched voice cackled, as if the speaker had been waiting for that very moment above all others.

“Bwa-ha! Oh nooo, if I don’t finally introduce myself, people like you will start trying to escape from reality right about now, huh? That’s why I, one of the wise and marvelous, will point out what’s happening loud and clear so that even you can understand it!”

With that malicious voice leading the city by the nose and chaos beginning to swirl around them, Garfiel and Mimi drew shoulder to shoulder, girding themselves for whatever might get announced next.

It was then that the now-familiar voice declared in the broadcast with complete satisfaction—

“I am the Witch Cult’s Archbishop of Lust—

“It’s me, Capella Emerada Lugunica! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!! Revere, worship, kneel, and beg and piss and shit in your pants as you pathetically wail, meatbags! Bwa-ha-ha-ha!!”

Sub-chapter 5.

—Immediately after that malicious broadcast, the situation began to move fluidly, like flowing water.

The appearance of the Witch Cult and someone claiming to be an Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins had sown chaos and disorder, but arguably, the citizens of Pristella were still moving in an orderly manner. Even if they were unsettled, they did as the city’s everyday rehearsals trained them; the surrounding people began leading the way toward the nearest shelter.

The citizens guided any outsiders unfamiliar with the procedures. The people close to Garfiel and Mimi called out to them, too, but the pair declined, hurrying to link back up with their comrades.

If they didn’t meet up with Subaru and the others at the Water Raiment and put a stop to the Witch Cult’s tyranny—

“—Ahh, Mr. Gorgeous!”

“!”

The voice made Garfiel reflexively freeze in place.

When he looked back, running down the street behind Garfiel and Mimi was Liara, who was reassured to have found people she knew. Enduring the aching in his chest, Garfiel turned to face her.

“Ms. Mimi, I’m glad you’re safe, too. That broadcast had me worried.”

“Yep, I’m all right! Ah, the Sowarie were delicious! We had a feast!”

Since Garfiel failed to respond immediately, Mimi replied for both of them. Garfiel thought it was pathetic of him even as he rested easier knowing that Liara was unharmed.

“Glad everyone’s safe and sound. Now get movin’ toward the shelter. We’ve gotta…”

“Yes, I am all right… But, um, Mr. Gorgeous…”

Even when Garfiel bid his farewells and tried to extricate himself as quickly as possible, Liara continued still in an awkward voice. Then she clasped both hands together in front of her.

“Have you seen my children? They went out early this morning to play…but neither of them were at the nearest shelter.”

“?!! Those kids?”

Surprised by the unexpected development, Garfiel plucked out one of his own short golden locks in frustration.

“Well, shit, of course you’re worked up about that…”

“Y-yes. Also, that broadcast… The metia required to conduct it is at city hall, where my husband works… I’m worried about whether something happened to him.”

Voicing her concerns, Liara bit her lip as she looked in the direction of the building.

City hall lay at the center of Pristella, which itself was divided into four districts: north, south, east, and west. It was the place that governed all core city functions. It was also the place that Lust had declared to be under her control.

—Just what kind of damage had the perpetrator of such a cruel, deranged broadcast inflicted on the people at city hall?

Deep in his chest, Garfiel’s heartbeat sounded like an alarm bell, and his thoughts were extremely limited.

His unseen younger brother and sister, Galek left behind in a danger zone, Liara running around at that very moment out of concern for her family—where danger to this group was concerned, Garfiel couldn’t just calmly sit back and watch.

“General, Lady Emilia…”

Subaru, Emilia, Beatrice, and Otto all appeared in the back of Garfiel’s mind.

It was none other than them whom Garfiel had come to the Water Gate City to protect. What good was he if he wasn’t at their side then and there? He didn’t offer much beyond his fighting ability.

But simultaneously, his heart could not turn from his newly found younger siblings, Galek, and the sight of his mother standing before his very eyes.

—It was time to choose. A decision pressed upon Garfiel that would determine which path his fate would take.

“I am sorry for troubling you like this… Please forget everything I told you, Mr. Gorgeous.”

“…Ah.”

“I am being exceptionally unfair to you right now. It’s quite all right. Those children hear the city broadcasts every day, too, and since long ago, nothing ever slips by that man…”

Liara put on a brave smile to appease the hesitant Garfiel. But her hands, which were apparently folded in prayer, trembled. Her face had gone pale, seemingly drained of blood.

It was a desperate performance. She was trying not to saddle Garfiel and Mimi with duties they were not obligated to take on.

—Just like she’d tried to do when she left him and his older sister in the Sanctuary to search for his father in the outside world.

His heart had swayed between the two choices, but that throbbing memory made him come to a swift conclusion.

“…I’ll find your children, and your husband.”

“Mr. Gorgeous?”

Liara opened her eyes wide with surprise at his unexpected reply.

Nodding firmly in Liara’s direction, Garfiel looked down at Mimi’s hand as it gripped his own. During the time he was thinking and the time he was deciding, she’d simply waited in silence for Garfiel to choose.

She had little brothers and other people she wanted to protect, too. He couldn’t force her to go with his whims any longer.

“From this point on, it’s just me bein’ selfish. You go back and… Owww!!”

“As if!”

In the middle of saying his good-bye, Mimi dug her heel into Garfiel’s foot. Her body was light, but that kick was angled to provide maximum penetrating force. Garfiel groaned from the pain as Mimi puffed out her chest.

“Mimi’s offended that Garf thinks she’ll run away after he said something so cool! Mimi’s coming, too! Totally coming!”

“Why …? Nah, I get it—sorry.”

“—This is where you say thanks!”

“—Yeah, thanks.”

“You are very welcome! Yay!”

When a silly smile came over Mimi’s face, Garfiel smiled back, feeling like a great weight had been lifted.

As Liara watched in astonishment, the pair turned to face her once more.

“We’ll find ’em. You go stay at the nearest shelter. Better to stick with the others and wait for us to take care of this.”

“B-but…why are you going this far for me?”

—Indeed, why was he?

Liara’s shaking eyes pressed Garfiel for the true reason behind his decision. This was not out of worry or doubt. She had a simple misgiving—this was an act of benevolence without any basis that she could think of.

Garfiel clacked his fangs at her words and flashed a fiendish smile.

“Because I’m the golden tiger! I’m Gorgeous! Tiger!!”

“And because Mimi is Gorgeous Mimi!!”

Shouting those words in excessively loud voices, they glanced down at Liara, who blinked in surprise as the pair leaped away as one. With his mother far below, Garfiel turned to face the wind and make full use of his nose.

“Garf, what’ll we do?”

“Track ’em by scent. I remember how they smell just fine!!”

“All righty!”

Settling on a plan while almost yelling to be heard, Garfiel and Mimi practically flew as they raced through the Water Gate City.

Mimi was sticking with him in his moment of recklessness as he put off his duties and prioritized his personal matters—even as various factors tried to convince him to reject that choice.

Wrestling with them all, Garfiel touched the scar on his forehead. He decided he would think it through later and simply followed his heart. In the end, this was just faster. There was no reason to pick and choose when he could take everything.

This was the way of the Emilia faction—something Garfiel had picked up over the past year.

“Garf! This scent! It’s coming from over there!”

“—Yeah, no mistakin’ that! Good work!”

Garfiel belatedly confirmed that Mimi had sniffed out the scents they were searching for. They had found lingering traces of the two siblings. They were leading toward District One—he recalled the conversation he’d had with Fred the night before.

“I get it now! So those two went off to see the Songstress at that park again this mornin’?!”

Meaning the younger brother had risen early after reflecting upon his mistake the previous day, and his foulmouthed sister had ended up going with him as a result. Therefore, he reasoned that they had to be at the shelter located close by.

The park was close to the Water Raiment, and it was a place where they could quickly rendezvous with Subaru and the others—

“—City hall.”

A moment before kicking off the ground, Garfiel had caught a glimpse of city hall. There, at the center of the city, which had fallen to Lust, was the final person he was searching for— Once more, it was time to choose.

“Garf, what’ll we do?”

When Mimi asked, pressing him to decide, Garfiel asked himself that very question.

Just what kind of person should Garfiel peg Galek as?

Should Garfiel think of him as the hateful man who stole his mother away or see him as the great benefactor who saved his mother’s life? Unlike the siblings, who were linked to him through his mother’s blood, he and Garfiel were not connected in any way.

If he was basing his choices on blood connections, Garfiel had no duty to rescue Galek. But what would happen to Liara and the kids if they lost him?

A blank space in a family could never be filled—Garfiel knew that better than anyone.

“…City hall—that’s where the Archbishop who did that damn broadcast earlier is holed up.”

“Mmm, probably, yeah.”

“She shook the city all up, and between the general and your little bros, there’s lots to worry about… But a mettore’s heart is in its head. If we smash the cause of everythin’, we can settle this real fast.”

“! You mean we can save everybody! Amazing! That’s amazing!” Mimi leaped at Garfiel as he explained the logic behind his decision. But her long tail immediately rose up, its tip pointing toward city hall. “But is that really all right? I’m getting a sort of bad feeling that’s making my hair stand up.”

“Can’t underestimate intuition. My ears got tired from how many times the general told me that the Archbishops of the Seven Deadly Sins are bad news. Still…”

The only person Garfiel knew who was connected to Witches was the Witch who had a foul personality and was slumbering in the Sanctuary’s tomb.

It was a fact that she was imbued with incredible power. But Garfiel never, ever had felt like he’d lose to her in a contest of strength.

Whatever the case, the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins had to be taken down for the city to be freed.

“It’d be great if we could just shut her up. At the very least, I wanna get a good look at the enemy’s face.”

“You mean ree-con? Mm…okay! Let’s go do some ree-con!”

Though Mimi had seemed initially cautious about the dangers, she agreed with Garfiel’s plan in the end.

Mimi readied the beloved staff that she carried on her back, and Garfiel slipped his silvery shields onto both arms. After giving his gear a final check and confirming that the steel was wrapped around his thick arms, Garfiel was ready for combat.

“Let’s go.”

With that brief declaration, the two broke into a run toward city hall.

The Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins Subaru’d beaten a year earlier apparently had a considerable number of followers with him. The combat power of the disciples had been middling at best, but at any rate, there’d been a lot of them. And of course, they were good at blending into crowds.

They’d have to deal with that on the fly and take back city hall by force. Garfiel had presented it as reconnaissance to Mimi for expediency’s sake, but in his heart, he intended to overwhelm the enemy with speed and violence.

—At least, that was the plan until he picked up the exceptionally dense odor of blood seeping from city hall.

“”

As the pair stopped, that thick stench of iron was wafting over from the street right in front of them. If they went straight ahead and turned the corner, city hall would be right in front of their noses. There was no doubting from whence the scent hailed.

“Garf, don’t! Don’t…!”

The instant Garfiel tried to advance toward the scent of blood, Mimi grasped his loincloth. She shook her head in rejection, almost in tears as she repeated, “Don’t.”

But he couldn’t turn back. If he retreated, he wouldn’t be able to fulfill Liara’s—Lisha’s wish.

“If you don’t wanna go, stay here. Me, I’ll rip this asshole’s head off alone if I have to!”

“Garf!”

Shaking off Mimi’s grip, Garfiel raced down the street. Rounding the corner, his vision opened up. City hall was right before him, and when he laid eyes on the square that led to the building—a tragedy awaited him.

“?!!”

The scent of blood was so strong that it made him crinkle his nose, and a single glance was enough for him to recognize the traces of a gruesome slaughter. The square in front of city hall, which was surrounded by waterways on three sides, was overflowing with so much blood that it was almost impossible to tell what color the paving stones used to be.

A great many had already perished, their corpses tumbled into pools of their own blood—based on their equipment, these victims had been Pristellan guardsmen. They’d likely heard the broadcast and had valiantly come running in defense of their city.

Then their lives were savagely torn asunder.

The corpses numbered thirty or so, but even that grisly detail was not what attracted Garfiel’s attention most.

—Rather, it was the two figures standing side by side at the center of the square, surrounded by those corpses.

“”

The first was a huge man, large enough that Garfiel had to look up to stare at him. He was gripping large swords in both hands, calmly gazing toward Garfiel’s way. The other was a figure with a slender, feminine physique, and this one held a long, slim, single-edged blade, her stance exhibiting such beauty that it made Garfiel tremble.

Both were dressed in black outfits from head to foot. Garfiel couldn’t get a good look at their faces.

“…But judgin’ by the way you carry yourself like a warrior and that smell of blood comin’ off ya, you two are the ones who did this, right?”

Garfiel clacked his fangs as he spoke to the two standing boldly in that bloody square. But neither opponent responded to his provocations. He felt the scar on his forehead throb.

“Garf… Those two—they’re reaaally strong!”

With a pattering of footsteps, Mimi caught up with Garfiel and stood alongside him. As he had expected, she, too, was floored by the gruesome state of the square, but her tiny form was taut with caution that exceeded her surprise.

His earlier impression that their opponents had shown no reaction had been in error—the moment Garfiel and Mimi stepped into the square, they were struck by a ghastly, malevolent atmosphere and a cutting aura that seemed sharp as a blade itself.

The pair waiting in the square were so dangerous and hostile that it was immediately obvious they were exceedingly difficult foes. Garfiel felt so threatened that his throat suddenly went dry; it was as if the point of a sword was resting against his beating heart.

Their enemies were clearly masters who had stepped beyond the realm of mere mortals—and unless he surpassed these sentinels, he could not fulfill his oath.

“Ha, this is gettin’ interestin’…!”

Smiling, Garfiel banged together the shields covering his arms before his chest in an attempt to rouse himself. The screech of metal on metal and a shower of sparks illuminated the beast contained within his timid heart.

But even as Garfiel worked himself up, Mimi spread both arms wide and stood in front of him as she shouted.

“D-don’t! Garf! Not these two! They’re too strong! Mimi and Garf can’t take them alone! Stop!”

“! Can’t know till we try it. Ain’t no way I’m acceptin’ absolutes as set in stone.” The words that Mimi used in an attempt to stop Garfiel stabbed at the cracks in Garfiel’s heart. Clicking his tongue at his sore insecurities, Garfiel indicated the pair with his chin. “Besides, even if we tuck our tails and run, those two ain’t gonna just let us walk outta here. Someone’s gotta do this.”

“Th-then only once! We go clang, pull back, and run. Anything else is no good! Just Mimi and Garf aren’t enough! It’s hopeless without the captain and Julius!”

Seeing that Mimi still wanted to run, Garfiel firmly dug in and refused.

Mimi’s pleas were the right call. Each of the two before them possessed superhuman might—their danger level was equal to, if not greater than, that of the Bowel Hunter. Garfiel largely agreed that facing them unprepared was suicidal.

Or at least, he agreed in theory, but accepting it as fact was a different story.

The two before his eyes were a wall. Blocking his path with overwhelming power, they represented a wall that he had to challenge and overcome. Having lost to Reinhard without a fight, could he really bear to run from his opponents twice over?

He yearned to be the strongest. He had pride in himself. He was aware that he was the shield for his precious comrades. And in a different form than he had wished, he’d reunited with his mother and her new family. To his mother, the safety or peril of the man who had saved her was—

“”

Mimi gave Garfiel a concerned stare as these bewildering emotions whirled about inside him. The sight of her waiting for his decision made him recall the night he had spent protected by her warmth.

Instantly, Garfiel shook his head as the obstinacy that held him in place had melted away.

“…All right. We’ll do like you said. Give it all we got for just one hit, then we pull out. We’ll gather our crew and then come back to mount our real attack—that’s fine, right?”

“Mm! Yeah! Let’s go and do our best-best!”

Mimi looked relieved that Garfiel had reined in his recklessness.

Now on the same page, they turned as one to face their enemies. The pair opposing them had watched their exchange in silence. It wouldn’t have been strange for them to attack during Garfiel and Mimi’s debate, but they had not, be it out of pride, mercy, or composure— Garfiel and Mimi would make them regret that.

“!!”

Without any signal, Garfiel and Mimi simultaneously launched themselves at their opponents.

Garfiel ended up matched up against the woman with his strength, and Mimi, the big man with her maneuverability.

As Garfiel drew near with the speed of an arrow, the woman remained calmly poised, not moving a muscle. The distance between them vanished in the blink of an eye, and at five to four paces out, Garfiel initiated the first attack, swinging up with a bestial claw.

—Instantly, a sword flashed with such entrancing beauty, it was enough to make anyone watching lose themselves in it.

“—Gah!”

That moment, Garfiel threw his right shield up to intercept the sword as he kicked toward the woman’s open chest. She dodged it without even the slightest wasted movement. As her body twisted away, her blade, which had been caught on his shield, was freed for a renewed attack.

Neck, shoulder, arm—the longsword twisted like a snake to defend them all as a chorus of sword meeting shield rang out. Evading a strike, Garfiel instantaneously retaliated with another kick; the woman blocked this with her scabbard as she was sent flying back.

“The hell?”

Garfiel raised an eyebrow at how light the woman felt.

To his right, Mimi ran circles around her huge opponent and slipped under his massive greatswords, waving her staff to conduct a magic attack. When a blue explosion rocked her opponent and put him on the back foot, it seemed like that was as good a time as any for them to evacuate from the square.

The huge, tottering man wouldn’t be able to catch Mimi. It shouldn’t be difficult for her to escape unscathed. As for the woman he’d driven back, she was in no position to withstand a follow-up attack from Garfiel.

“For starters, we’ll take one down!!”

Therefore, he decided it was time to strike. Garfiel bared his fangs and leaped toward the woman.

With her blade still where the shield had last deflected it, he whipped his claw toward the woman’s wide-open torso.

“You’re min—!”

He had her right where he wanted her—the instant he was certain of this, death closed in on him from behind.

“”

The distance between him and the giant vanished. That ghastly aura was the only warning Garfiel got. Curtailing his attack, he flipped his body back and leaped up. Not a moment later, a greatsword swung downward and smashed his body into the ground.

“Gah, arghhh?!”

Caught up in the shock wave, the force blew Garfiel’s thoughts away as he hacked up a clump of blood.

After bouncing off the ground, he felt another blow close in on him from the side. He was lucky that his arm made it just in time to catch the greatsword with his shield. Even with the lessened impact, he was still sent skipping across the ground and the surface of the water.

Pursuing Garfiel as he soared through the air, the giant and the woman simultaneously leaped up. Death was near.

Aiming to catch him in a merciless pincer attack, they came in from both sides, keeping Garfiel pinned in the middle.

He deflected the longsword coming from the front with a shield and evaded a savage greatsword swing from behind by kicking the weapon away at the last moment. Guessing the path the sword would take, Garfiel miraculously managed to parry it. But as a shower of sparks scorched his cheeks, Garfiel’s body was crushed by greatsword swings that came from above and below.

“Gwuh!”

His hip bones and ribs strained, then snapped. The blunt trauma alone left his vision bloodred as he was pushed to the brink of death.

Even as groans of pain and globules of blood spilled from his mouth, he never stopped searching for a path that would lead him to survival. However, these two powerful foes would permit no such thing.

Still speechless, his attackers turned their soundless slashes into heartless bloodlust as they continued to assail Garfiel.

The woman’s swordsmanship was sharp, representing the epitome of how beautiful death could be. The weight of her individual blows could not compare with that of the giant, but the skilled footwork and technique with which she wielded her long blade meant that the slightest misstep on Garfiel’s part would inevitably result in a lethal blow slipping past his guard.

The large man’s fighting style was crude and violent, but the chaos and lack of polish served to optimize its destructiveness. He swung swords that a normal person would struggle to lift up even with two arms, while he wielded them with a single hand each, raging like an implacable storm of destruction incarnate.

“Ngh! Aaaaaah!!”

On one side, there were dazzling sword slashes that flowed like water. On the other, there were destructive sword swings that would crush anything that stood in their path, like an implacable maelstrom.

Battered by these two very different styles of swordsmanship that sat at the opposite extremes of sound and motion, Garfiel’s mind was reaching its limit. He was avoiding and parrying death on pure instinct, only narrowly escaping from multiple fatal blows.

At this rate, he would inevitably be sliced to death or crushed by the sheer weight of heavy sword strokes—

It is because you will kill me that you are my first love, Garfiel Tinzel.

The instant death entered his thoughts, that sweet, dark invitation to what lay beyond life echoed loudly within him.

Instantly, his head seethed as he abandoned those clouded musings. He roared:

“Graaaaaah!!”

His explosive increase in aggression diminished the ferocity of the incoming attacks ever so slightly. The skeletal structure of Garfiel’s face audibly changed, and both of his muscular arms bulged in size as golden fur began covering all his exposed skin.

Transforming only his upper body usually lowered his ability to reason and replaced it with an animallike combativeness, but if anything, his thoughts grew clearer.

Roaring at the silent pair, he used his blessing of the earth spirit to make the ground beneath his feet explode. Sending blood and gravel flying as he flew across the gore-drenched battlefield helped interfere with the enemy’s coordination.

The sudden change in footing had caused the woman to lose her balance because of her light weight. A bestial claw, sharp as any blade, didn’t miss this opportunity. Just before the blow struck the woman’s windpipe, the giant got in between to shield her.

A single blow from the mighty tiger was about to rend that thick mass of flesh—

“?!!”

An explosive sound rang out, leaving Garfiel thunderstruck.

Garfiel’s blow had been halted by the massive man’s arms. However, these were not the same arms carrying the greatswords. Opening up his outfit, the giant had used additional, hidden arms to stop Garfiel’s attack with brute force.

All told, four arms were now out, leaving no obvious openings. This overwhelming combination of attack and defense completely stymied Garfiel’s counterattack. Instantly, the mighty tiger that should have been the epitome of aggression was brought to a standstill.

In other words, in a battlefield where life and death were decided from moment to moment, his life was unguarded and exposed.

Circling around from behind the towering man, the female attacker closed in on Garfiel from his blind spot, sword at the ready.

Her attack almost seemed like a beautiful sword dance. And in his current state, she could easily lop off Garfiel’s head like he was a scarecrow. Even as death approached from behind, Garfiel had no moves to make.

Sensing death coming from the front and the back, he caught a shadowy figure in the corner of his vision flashing him a bloody smile as she laughed—

“Choyasaaa!!”

A powerful shout interrupted, summoning a blue magic wall that blocked the woman’s sword.

The wall made a sound like ice cracking as the blade slid across the barrier’s surface and thrust harmlessly toward the ground. Mimi had returned to the field of battle, saving Garfiel in the nick of time.

“Garf, you said you’d run right away!”

As Mimi clutched her staff, her first words were a blunt criticism of Garfiel’s refusal to follow their plan.

Hearing her voice coming from behind his back in his half-transformed state, Garfiel realized what a fool he had been.

Desperate for results, he’d courted death by misjudging how formidable his opponents were. If Mimi hadn’t been there, Garfiel would have undoubtedly met a grisly end—his life cut short without ever achieving his dream of becoming the strongest.

“—Ohooooaaaaagh!!”

Pushing aside the relief that he felt at being saved, Garfiel howled and yanked his arm free from his grappling opponent. Kicking the giant in the chest, he didn’t bother to see the results as he leaped clear to rejoin Mimi.

Putting an arm around her slender waist, he poured strength into his legs. It was time to take Mimi and retreat. Following her initial suggestion, they’d gather their comrades and return in force.

“”

Right before he could jump, the woman pursued him in a low stance. Mimi turned her staff toward the approaching woman, deploying a triple-layered magical barrier surpassing what she’d summoned before and using the thick walls to bar the woman’s path.

Garfiel was glad he had Mimi here with him. She’d saved him time and again.

As that thought occurred to him, Garfiel was already flexing his legs, and—

“—Ah.”

There was a soft, strained cry and a light impact. He heard something that sounded like ice breaking.

This caught him by surprise, and he wondered what had happened as he finished leaping away. Paving stones shattered as the half-beast sailed into the sky, seemingly streaming a trail of fresh blood in his wake.

—Fresh blood… Where the hell was it coming from?

“Hey, shorty?”

The moment he called out to her, Garfiel swiftly released his half-transfiguration and returned to human form. However, the chill that ran up his spine was all that occupied him, to the point that he didn’t even notice the unsettling feeling of his fur falling out.

Mimi was limp in his arms. When he looked down, he saw that the woman was peering up at Garfiel in the sky, pulling back the longsword she had thrust at them.

He noticed that the longsword was stained in blood along half its length.

“”

He could feel something warm spreading across his stomach. The girl in his arms was not moving. Her staff…was falling to the ground.

He landed, then bounded once more. Leaping onto the roof of the nearest building, Garfiel fled without regard for anything else. There was no pursuit. The two foes simply watched as the wounded weaklings escaped.

What their enemies thought of them and their abilities wasn’t important at the moment. Jumping five more times to distance them from the square, Garfiel broke the roof of the building that he picked to land on, then set down the girl in his arms.

Mimi’s eyes were closed. A great deal of blood was still coursing out of her pierced chest.

Hastily, he stripped away her clothes around the source of bleeding and checked the wound. Fortunately, it apparently missed her vitals. Of course, she was in danger if she wasn’t treated immediately, but a user of healing magic was right there with her.

Pressing a hand to the wound, Garfiel poured magic energy into Mimi’s body.

Well aware that he wasn’t cut out for the role, he’d put his soul into learning healing magic. He wanted the power so that he could manage if something happened to anyone in the Sanctuary. That was why Garfiel had focused his efforts on studying healing magic, and in the process, he had learned a decent amount about treating the wounded in general.

It was time to put all that hard work to use. It was an opportunity to show how far he’d come. This was surely the exact situation he’d wanted to prepare for.

Even a wound this serious would close up in a flash with some healing mana. Touching his palm to the open wound, he could sense the blood coursing beneath the skin, the flesh, the innards, and the healing magic he was pouring in. He poured and poured, but—

—the wound… It wasn’t closing.

“Why won’t…?”

He heard someone speaking in a very frail voice.

He wanted to kill whoever was speaking in such a pathetic voice at a time like this. Lifting his face, he looked around. There was no one else there. He immediately realized that the voice…had been his own.

I was the one who sounded that weak? Why did I let out a voice like that?

That’s just… That’s just like…like—

“!! Close! Close, close, damn it! Heal, heal, healhealheal!!!”

He kept pouring all the mana his body could muster into the healing magic. Ignoring his own wounds, he sent waves of healing energy into Mimi’s battered body, filling it with gentle power.

And yet the wound that needed to close would not.

“…No…way.”

Unable to accept the reality before him, Garfiel spat out in a frail voice once more.

Then he slugged his own cheek, cutting his lip with his own fangs, and used the pain to rouse himself. This wasn’t the time to wallow in despair. There had to be a way. There just had to.

He knew it existed. Of course it did. He was just too stupid to realize it.

He had to think. Not knowing was no reason to give up. At any rate, he had to do something to save this girl.

She was the one who’d helped Garfiel cry.

It wasn’t right for this girl to die for his sake.

“”

Clacking his fangs, Garfiel was still in a daze as he leaped off that roof. Keeping pressure on the girl’s wound, he tried to stop the bleeding as he continued attempting his ineffective healing magic.

There was a scent of blood, and death, hanging over the city. He didn’t spot another soul as he reviewed all available information in his mind.

I’ll take anyone who can help. Please just save this girl. Someone, somewhere, please show me a miracle. Please tell me. If there’s anything that I can do, then tell me how to save this girl.

He was so desperate that he was even willing to trade his life for hers if it came to it. Garfiel focused everything on his sense of smell.

The scent of water, the scent of blood, the scent of violence fanned by emotions run amok, the scent of scorched flesh—amid those countless smells, Garfiel’s nose picked out the one he wanted.

He knew this one. And it was the one that Garfiel had been searching for.

Leaping over obstacles, racing forward, Garfiel was feverish by the time he finally reached his destination. He arrived at the same building he had visited just the day before and rushed into one of the rooms inside. A large number of people were shocked to see his bloodied form. He had no time to explain. Swiveling his head, Garfiel searched for the man he could rely on.

“Garfiel?!”

Someone called his name. Turning, he spotted the one he was looking for.

He lifted his head. Straight ahead at the back of the room, he saw Subaru. Subaru Natsuki.

To Garfiel, this man symbolized miracles; he was the personification of the ray of light that revealed hope in the direst of situations.

With tottering feet and a heavy head, he raced toward his hope while carrying an all-too-light weight in his arms. Subaru’s cheeks stiffened as he got a good look at Garfiel. He had noticed Mimi’s limp body in his arms.

“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry, General!! I’m…! I’m useless! Worthless…!!”

Dropping to his knees in front of Subaru, he held up Mimi. Then he despaired, cursing his own foolishness.

He hadn’t protected his family. He’d failed to fulfill his oath to serve as a shield. He’d challenged the enemy on his own judgment and been routed, and as a result, this kindhearted girl was now on the brink of death.

“Garfiel, what did…? No, we’ll leave that for later! Ferris!”

“I know! Quick, lay her down!”

Taking Mimi from Garfiel’s arms, Subaru set her down on the long table. Garfiel simply watched as the nearby, pretty cat-eared girl put a hand upon Mimi’s wound.

The next instant, an overwhelming amount of healing mana swelled up. This was incomparable with what Garfiel could wield. If Garfiel’s healing magic was a drop of rain, this person’s power was a thundering waterfall.

It was so great that even bringing the dead back to life seemed within reach. Garfiel felt like his soul slipped out of his body as he gazed upon such godlike healing power in a daze.

Then Subaru gently rested a hand upon his shoulder. When Garfiel slowly looked up at him, Subaru nodded. He only noticed now that Subaru’s leg was heavily bandaged.

“Not gonna sugarcoat it and call this a good situation, but you did well getting this far. With Ferris here, it’s the best place you could’ve brought her. We’ll be able to save Mimi thanks to you.”

“Thanks…to me…?”

What was Subaru saying?

Thanks to Garfiel, Mimi would be saved? What was he even talking about? Wasn’t it Garfiel’s fault that Mimi had ended up like this to begin with?

Even so, Subaru had naturally arrived at the conclusion that she’d been saved by Garfiel’s good judgment. But that was all wrong.

He felt lost. His thoughts were empty and hollow. The disgust and guilt tortured him and seemed like they would never stop. There was a persistent ringing in his ears that wouldn’t go away. He found the insistent pain of his own wounds laughable and out of place.

I want blame. I want pain. I don’t want anyone to forgive me for my stupidity.

Garfiel’s wish was one that would be granted. After all, the world was not so forgiving.

There would be a price to pay for his errors—but the bill would come in the most loathsome way possible.

“Ferris, what’s the matter…?”

Sensing that something was wrong, Subaru suddenly asked a tentative question.

In front of him, the treatment to save Mimi’s life was still underway. An incredible stream of mana was flowing. It was so awesome that even the residual energy seemed powerful enough to cure all ills.

And yet the girl employing this breathtaking power had a desperate look about her as she shook her head.

“Why…? The wound…isn’t closing! I can’t help her like this! I don’t understand!!”

As that pained report echoed through the room, Garfiel slumped against the wall and crumpled to the ground. The wall was cold. The floor was cold. He was covered in blood. The wound would not heal.

“”

As Garfiel hung his head, the phantom woman in black gazed upon him.

She said nothing. She didn’t make a sound. She didn’t even smile. Her black, hollow eyes told him nothing.

Nothing except that the price for his mistake was being repaid in blood.

 

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Diamond. Diamond. Diamond.

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