Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World. Volume. 18.
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‘Chapter 3:- THE NEWEST HERO AND THE OLDEST HERO.’
Sub-chapter 1.
“—Yes, that’s it exactly. As I thought, white really suits you.”
“…Thank you…”
Regulus responded cheerfully to seeing Emilia in her new white dress. After getting dressed by #184, she had been led from the changing room to Regulus’s room, where he was waiting.
“”
This room was adorned with a twisted splendor far removed from the building’s overall cold feeling. Emilia furrowed her brow slightly, chalking it up to Regulus’s tastes.
Also, he was wearing a different outfit from when she had seen him in the hallway. It was still all white, but this time it seemed more formal.
Noticing Emilia’s gaze, he lightly plucked at his collar.
“Our wedding is a special occasion, after all. I considered wearing my standard, unadorned outfit, but I would never think to embarrass you with a pointless fixation. Consideration for each other, a mutual give-and-take—that’s the ideal relationship between a husband and wife. And of course, you needn’t worry yourself about troubling me over something as minor as this. I just want you to understand the depths of my generosity and willingness to change myself to a reasonable degree for your sake.”
As usual, he talked a dizzying amount. As far as Emilia could follow, the basic content of what he was saying was entirely reasonable, but for some reason, she could not help but hesitate a bit before nodding along.
But one thing she could say for sure was that he was unmistakably one of the Witch Cult Archbishops. It was clear enough from the broadcast and what #184 had said, and understanding that and then actually standing across from him again in person, it was impossible to ignore the bizarre presence he had.
Her instincts were screaming out in her head. They were telling her that an immense threat to her life was standing there before her. And that reality caused her soul—as it would cause any person’s—to cower and want to plead for mercy. That was why he felt so abnormal.
“You look down. A sunken look does not suit your face at all… No, this complex expression is cute in its own way, but it isn’t your best look. Is there something troubling you?”
“”
Emilia froze as Regulus casually touched her cheek. She had not thought that she had looked away, but he had closed the wide gap between them in the blink of an eye. Regulus closed one eye as he examined Emilia’s still-tense expression.
“#184, did something happen while she was getting dressed?” Regulus pressed the woman standing next to Emilia when Emilia did not immediately respond.
“…Apologies, but perhaps it might be the effect of Lady Capella’s most recent broadcast,” #184 responded smoothly, as if she had already thought of the response.
“Broadcast? Ah, that. I just ignored it, since that animalistic reprobate’s voice is as grating as ever, but I see—hearing that for the first time could certainly upset a girl. That was an oversight on my part.”
Loathing and scorn crept into Regulus’s expression as he scoffed, accepting that explanation.
“You need not worry yourself about the vile slurs of that blighted, shallow-minded mass of inferiority complexes masquerading as a woman. Unlike her, utterly unworthy of any being’s love, your face is worthy of my affections. From the day you were born, you stood above that thing. Have confidence in yourself.”
“Ummm…”
“Still troubled? That reprobate really went overboard. I cannot stand seeing that hideous face, but I’ll have to lodge my complaints with her directly after this is over. Setting that aside for now, though…what should we do in order to rescue the bride’s mood with our joyous ceremony right before us?” Regulus asked, cocking his head.
Emilia thought carefully about how to respond.
She could imagine two main choices if she wanted to escape. The first was to break free from her position as essentially a hostage. Honestly, she could most likely slip away from #184 and get out of the building without too much difficulty. But if she did that, the floodgates would be opened, drowning the city. And from what she had seen of Regulus so far, if she was asked whether he would really go that far, she would be forced to say he almost certainly would. There was just too much risk involved with that gamble, so she had no choice but to scrap that plan.
There was the bank shot where she fought and beat him then and there in a surprise attack—but that was most likely impossible. Her instincts were telling her that she could not defeat him by herself.
The fundamental problem was a lack of options, so Emilia chose the other path: the bitter, painful choice of avoiding a rash decision and devoting herself to using this as a unique opportunity to gather information.
“Such a troubled expression. I was merely asking what to do in order to improve your mood, but do you not have an answer? It is true that we are not officially husband and wife until the ceremony is carried out, but in effect, we should for all intents and purposes already treat each other as such. Given that, what should a proper wife do for her husband? For the sake of our future harmonious matrimony, should you not also strive to fulfill your duty, nay, responsibility?” Regulus’s speech accelerated as he quickly grew impatient with Emilia’s silence.
“Ah, I’m sorry. Right… I may be a tad tired still. Would it perhaps be okay for me to rest a bit?”
“Tired?”
Regulus arched his brow, putting his hand to his chin, repeating the word tired several times.
“—I see. I was not attentive enough. My apologies. I shall strive to do better. It’s only natural that you would be tired with all the sudden happenings occurring all at once. In that case, there is no issue with you returning to your room and resting for a while. There is another outfit planned for you for the ceremony, so you need not worry about lying down in the dress you’re currently wearing. My wives and I will take care of the venue’s preparations.”
“The venue…”
“Yes, there’s a chapel attached to this building. It is modest, but well suited for our purposes. We are preparing for the wedding ceremony there. All my wives are here to welcome the newest member of our family. I’m sure that’s reassuring news for you. My pride and joy, my admirable, beautiful wives.”
He nodded to himself smugly as he threw open the window of the room and waved Emilia over. Standing next to him like he gestured for her to do, she could see the neighboring building by looking out the window.
It was a chapel—or more precisely, a building where weddings and other ceremonies were held. She could see the bustling activity happening inside through the open doors and the big windows lining the walls that allowed in voluminous sunlight. There were several figures moving around the building, bringing in decorations and ornaments and generally preparing for the ceremony. Every person she saw working down there was a beautiful woman, and every last one was wearing a stunning outfit.
“I have had a total of two hundred and ninety-one wives…though sadly, death has forced me to part with many of them. Currently, I have fifty-three wives with me, and that will rise to fifty-four once our ceremony is complete. It goes without saying, of course, that I love all of them equally. Twisted does not begin to describe the idea of a husband who plays favorites. I would never do something so dishonorable. I share the appropriate love in the appropriate way at the appropriate time for all—I will love you and all of them equally.”
“Th-thank you… I’ll be…sure to keep that in mind…”
Emilia was taken aback as she carefully, nervously tried to find her way to an answer that was maybe correct. She was behaving almost exactly the same way #184 reacted in her fear of Regulus.
Being constantly exposed to his violently oppressive presence was enough to wear down even the strongest hearts. That was likely the main reason his wives all had their will to resist sapped away.
“Good girl. Now head on back and rest. I’ll have someone send for you once the preparations are complete.”
Fortunately, her limp response did not seem to have hit a nerve, and he merely indicated she should return to her room out of a seemingly genuine concern for her condition. Not resisting, Emilia stepped away from him and headed for the door with #184. She could go back to her bedroom and start planning how to get out of the situation—
“I was thinking, though, it was careless of me not to notice my bride’s fatigue, but does it not strike you that the person who was by her side the most should have noticed it, too?”
“—!”
—when Regulus’s voice called out right as she was about to open the door. A chill ran down her spine, and she immediately grabbed something else with her outstretched hand.
“—Watch out!”
“Eh?”
#184 widened her eyes at suddenly being grabbed. Emilia pulled her close and leaped to the side. And immediately afterward, a breeze blew through the spot where #184 had been standing, and the wall and door exploded like they had been hit by a giant’s hand. The floor peeled away, and the destruction continued in a straight line out into the stone hallway.
“”
The wave of devastation splintered the room and crushed the entrance. Seeing that overwhelming show of force, Emilia was speechless as she clung to #184. Realizing the target of that destruction, #184 tensed and curled up, making herself smaller.
Regulus, who had only casually swung his right arm, tilted his head at the two of them.
“Ah, apologies, apologies. That was careless of me—thank goodness nothing happened to the two of you.”
“”
“Anyway, I have something to attend to, so I’ll be in the other room. Oh, and perhaps we should have your hair done up before the ceremony? I think that would really amplify your natural allure. You are lovely as is, of course, but no effort should be spared at becoming even more beautiful. Naturally, I am content with my happy and satisfied state, but I would never protest your efforts to improve yourself. Doing one’s best for someone who loves you is the most fundamental level of etiquette a person can express, after all.”
Regulus smiled at Emilia as if that earlier act of destruction was of little note, then he left behind his wife and soon-to-be wife, holding each other on the ground.
Once his white back was no longer visible down the hallway, Emilia let out a long breath.
“…What was that?”
It made no sense at all. Both the reason for the action and the way that he acted, neither of them made any sense.
“…Thank you for saving me,” #184 said before slipping free from Emilia’s dumbfounded embrace.
The agitation she had just felt disappeared from her face, and she stood up and adjusted her hair. And then she began to clean up the destruction wrought by a wave of Regulus’s hand.
“Wait! This doesn’t make sense at all! You were almost killed just now!”
Emilia took issue with how #184 accepted the violence of just a moment before and moved on to another task. Regulus’s presence was menacing, and maybe there was some logic guiding his actions and words that others could not follow, but even if that was the case—
“If I hadn’t pulled you away, that would have hit you. You were even trembling.”
“And what of it? I thanked you for saving me. Please don’t expect any more than that from me. Anything more would be overstepping bounds.”
“This isn’t about bounds or obligations! It’s more important, more precious than that!”
#184 stubbornly refused to face Emilia. And Emilia could tell that it was simple self-preservation that was keeping her heart locked away. She could understand it, but that did not mean she could accept it.
“Regulus said that everyone was equal. So does that mean that all the wives in the chapel are like this, too? Everyone is just cowering in fear of him, always watching him, trying to get by without drawing his attention? Just accepting that he tried to kill you… It doesn’t make sense at all!”
“That’s just one dynamic between husbands and wives. Once you’ve experienced it more, you will grow used to it…or if you don’t, then that will be the end of you.”
#184 did not even turn to answer Emilia’s desperate pleading. It was enough to make Emilia feel like she and #184 were living in two different worlds.
“That doesn’t make any sense at all… Isn’t getting married what people who are happy together and love each other do? But I’m not happy, you don’t look happy, and none of them look happy, either. Am I wrong?”
“…Yes, you are wrong. Being happy together is not a requirement for getting married. There is no requirement that a husband and wife love each other, either. The only requirement is being around each other all the time—you get used to being married.”
#184 did not deny that she did not want to be in her current position, and yet she still affirmed her current status. It was a twisted, misguided point of view. Marriage was something that was supposed to be desired, not just something that couples got used to.
“Please do as he said. Go back to your room and try to rest. Take the dress off if you would like. I will come by before the ceremony to do your hair.”
“”
With that, #184 focused on cleaning up the rubble and tidying the wrecked room. Emilia tried to say something to her, but her words faltered and failed to come out. No matter what words she chose, they would not have any weight to them as long as she was unable to do anything about Regulus.
She pulled back her outstretched hand, clenching her fist regretfully at her inability to reach out.
Sub-chapter 2.
“—All right, that should be good!”
Wiping her forehead with her forearm, Emilia nodded in satisfaction at her handiwork.
Rejected by #184, she had returned to her bedroom, but she had not sulked at her own powerlessness in a fit of depression or anything cute like that. She had of course been depressed at her powerlessness, but it also spurred her on.
She could not abandon #184 and the other women forced to be Regulus’s wives and constantly endure his whims. Her spirit was roiling with determination. But no matter how much she screamed or pouted, there was probably no way she could change Regulus’s mind. And if she tried to fight fire with fire, she would just lose against his overwhelming strength. So she had searched for another path forward, following Subaru’s example.
“Subaru wouldn’t just rush into things without thinking it through first. It all starts with preparation.”
She pulled the sheets over the ice sculpture shaped like her that was lying on the bed, making it look like she was obediently sleeping. No one looking in from the door would be able to notice it was not really Emilia. And having done that, she would spend the time until the ceremony—
“Here we go.”
She smoothly slipped out the window and headed out to gather more information. Raising her hands, she crafted a ledge of ice on the outside of the building and easily escaped her room. She could have simply escaped at this point, but that was out of the question, given the situation, so she started looking for useful information instead.
“This really was one of the floodgate control towers.”
Emilia had headed for the top of the building first in order to get a grasp of her surroundings and where she was being kept, and it perfectly matched the control towers she had seen earlier.
—With the cultists occupying the towers, they had control of the city’s floodgates. There was a sinister red flag hoisted from the top of the tower, emphasizing that it was being occupied. And the three other towers all sported the same red flag.
“They took all four of the towers, so the city is helpless…”
Straining her purple eyes to see the other towers in the distance, Emilia slipped into thought.
Just a single gate opening had caused that much damage, so even if she entirely froze the tower she was in to prevent it from activating, there were still three more.
“If only there were four of me…”
If there were, she could freeze all four towers at once. And also, if there were four of her, two of them could teach each other her studies while one learned how to cook and the other chatted with Subaru. It would solve a lot of different problems all at once, but unfortunately, things were not that simple.
“There’s still just one of me, no matter how much I might wish otherwise…which means I’m going to have to get someone’s help.”
Her reliable friends and the other candidates would surely be planning something to take back the city. And they were all either clearer thinkers or stronger or able to do more than Emilia.
But Emilia was probably the only one who had been caught by the enemy, which meant she was the only one who could probe the enemy position from the inside.
—I’m alone. I was separated from everyone else and now I’m in the middle of enemy territory.
Turning that hopeless situation around in her head was something she had learned from Subaru Natsuki.
“There is a chapel right next to the tower, so that means this should be the tower in the third district. With so many Archbishops here, it should be useful to know which one is in which tower.”
As best as Emilia could tell, the upper hand in the fighting would be more an issue of compatibility than one of true strength. Regulus and Sirius were powerful, too, but beating them would come down to which people were arrayed against them. And unfortunately, Emilia could not imagine how to defeat someone as powerful as Regulus.
“If they can just tell who is where, though, then they should be able to think of a way to pull it off.”
Putting a massive amount of trust in that assessment, Emilia leaped down from the roof in order to carry out her role.
The hem of her white dress fluttered in the wind as she used a scaffold of ice to clamber down. If anyone looking up happened to see her, they would almost undoubtedly think her a witch beyond human ken, but there were not many in the town with the courage to raise their heads and look to the towers where the Witch Cult’s flag flew.
Emilia flew down the control tower, enjoying that one small blessing.
Sub-chapter 3.
“—Tell me, do you think I want to be having this pointless conversation right now?”
The moment she heard that annoyed voice, Emilia landed on a larger ice foothold, leaned her back against the wall, and held her breath—Regulus’s voice was coming from a room in the chapel right behind her.
—Emilia had learned a lot in just a short time running all around the tower. First of all, there were no signs of any cultists other than Regulus at that tower—she could not see any trace of anyone other than his wives. She had struggled to believe it, but she had even carefully approached the control room for the floodgate, so it was safe to say the tower’s defense was full of holes.
It was hard for her to determine if it was from carelessness, confidence, or was just natural given Regulus’s impossible strength, but she took it as good news that they did not have to worry about anyone other than Regulus here.
But that was still not enough. She needed to get something more decisively useful. And just as she was thinking that, she heard his voice. Emilia created a foothold from ice just beneath the window to his room and hid there, listening to what was happening inside. Her nerves tensed when she realized he was talking to someone. She was afraid it was one of his wives, in case he was about to attack her like he just had #184. If that happened, she would have to stop him, even if it meant revealing her rebellious intentions.
“”
Emilia pursed her lips as she made a mirror of ice in her hand and carefully peered into the room. The cool mirror reflected a waiting room on the second floor of the chapel. Unlike the control tower, it had a majestic appearance appropriate for a building where ceremonies were held. The waiting room was not gaudy; instead, it gave off a tranquil and sublime feeling.
—Or at least, it would have if not for the ominous and dreadful white-suited figure standing in the middle of the room.
“…No one’s there?”
Tilting her ice mirror to look around the room, Emilia furrowed her brow. There were no other people visible in the room. Had it only been a loud complaint to himself? That would not have been that shocking, but straining her eyes, Emilia realized it was not that, either. He was definitely talking to someone—more specifically, he was addressing a mirror in his hand.
“How many times must I repeat myself? I only came here to find my fated bride. And having found her, I am holding a wedding. A wedding is something to be celebrated—and certainly should not be disrupted. A brute who would do such a thing betrays themself to be a petty, small-minded villain who begrudges others their happiness. Though I am well aware you all have always been filth.”
Regulus was talking to someone on the other end of the mirror. It was a conversation mirror—a metia that allowed its user to speak with whoever had the other mirror, wherever they were. Regulus was using it to talk to someone somewhere else.
“It is not as if I have any particular interest in your actions. But opening the floodgate, that is unacceptable. It is not a part of the plan. And I can only interpret your willingness to do something unplanned that upsets my bride as a desire to ruin the wedding I’m painstakingly preparing. And clouding my bride’s face, sullying the joyful occasion of my blessed marriage—what should be the most sunny and happy of stages in my life—that is an injurious infringement of my rights.”
Regulus’s annoyance was growing as he spoke. Emilia could feel a burning sensation on the back of her neck as she realized that he must be talking to another cultist, seemingly one connected to the flooding that had just hit the city—
“—!”
“You are aware, are you not, that I can see your tower quite clearly just across the city from here?” Regulus said, suddenly throwing the window open.
Just beneath the window, Emilia stifled a shout at the sudden movement. She held her breath, praying that he would not notice her below as she focused on what he was saying. Fortunately, he seemed oblivious to her presence and continued speaking from his vantage point like nothing was out of the ordinary.
“It isn’t even so far away that I can’t see it. It would be a simple matter for me to blow your tower away from here if I so desired it. A word of caution: Do not assume that you and I are equals. You’d best treat this with the imperative of an order… What?”
Judging from how Regulus was looking off into the distance, Emilia gathered that the person he was talking to was in the tower directly across the city. And that person was—
“You weren’t the one who opened the floodgate? What sort of excuse do you think that is supposed to be? You were the one who made that grandstanding threat on the broadcast, were you not? Claiming now that you were not the one who opened the floodgate is utterly unconvincing… You shouldn’t tell such pointless lies, you repulsive reprobate.”
“”
“Well, either way, I’ve conveyed my demand. And after your tactless display, at least the people in the city won’t interrupt the proceedings between my bride and me… Once the stage is properly set, I shall hold my marriage, and then I will leave the city with my wives. It is on you to achieve whatever it is you want before then.” Spitting that out, Regulus closed the cover on the mirror in his hand. Standing at the window, he narrowed his eyes as he brushed back his hair.
“What an asinine excuse. ‘Some rat sniffing around.’ Do you take me for a fool? Trying to hide your own incompetence while treating it as a word of caution. You only confess your own pettiness by clinging to such trivial pride. And assuming just because you were had that others would be, too, is the mark of a rotten character, though that is not the only thing rotten about you, I suppose.”
Regulus expressed a heartfelt loathing for someone who belonged to the same organization that he did. Sitting outside the window, Emilia was the only one who heard his muttering, and recognizing Regulus’s remoteness from others, the way he was in conflict with everyone and made no effort to change that, she felt a gloomy despair.
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
“—May I enter, sir?”
“…Come in.”
A woman stepped into the waiting room. Another woman besides #184, though she was also beautiful and similarly dressed up. It was clear at a glance from her frozen eyes and expression that she was another one of Regulus’s wives.
“The preparations for the ceremony are continuing apace. We have begun the interior decoration, however…as you requested to direct the interior design personally, I came to let you know we are ready,” the woman responded with a polite curtsy.
“Ah, it’s already time? Yes, right. Let’s get to it, then.” Regulus nodded.
He walked away from the window and left the room together with the woman. The door closed, and Regulus’s presence faded into the distance. Silence fell over the waiting room.
“Haaaah… That was close. I almost made a sound.”
Emilia patted her chest as she hopped through the window and into the room once she was sure it was safe. She still had plenty of mana in reserve, but that bit of covert movement had drained her mental reserves. Taking a deep breath at clearing the first hurdle, Emilia parsed what she had heard.
“The control tower visible straight across from here… If I’m right, this is the third district’s tower, so the one across the city is in the first district—and based on the conversation, the one there should be the Archbishop of Lust.”
Parking herself where Regulus had been standing, she looked out in the same direction he had, confirming her guess for the location. He had not mentioned a name, but he had identified the person he was talking to as the one behind the broadcast and called them a reprobate, which all but confirmed he had been talking to Lust. That meant that Lust was based in the first district, and Regulus was in the third. Even just that much should be at least a little bit useful for the others.
The only remaining problem was—
“How do I tell them?”
Emilia cocked her head in thought as she crossed her arms. Sharing the information she had gathered was the most challenging part. Even though she had managed to get something worthwhile, it would be meaningless if she could not find a way to share it.
The only thing she could think of was perhaps making a big sheet of ice on top of the tower and writing it out on that, but that would be visible to anyone and would likely fail.
She could maybe rush over to them directly to tell them and then slip back into the control tower as if nothing had happened…
“If I was out that long, it would definitely get noticed…”
The defenses seemed full of holes, but counting on that to save her was as good as acting without a plan at all. She could not endanger so many people’s lives on such a risky gamble.
“If only there was some reliable way… Huh?”
As she looked around the room, desperately trying to think of something, she arched her brows. It looked the same as when she had peeked in using the ice mirror, but there was something on the desk that caught her attention. The conversation mirror that Regulus had just been using. He had tossed it down in a fit of frustration after he was done. Picking it up, Emilia stared at it.
“If would be nice if it could just connect to any mirror…”
But unfortunately, conversation mirrors were not that convenient. They could only communicate with mirrors imbued with matching magic. There were some capable of communicating with more than just a single paired mirror, but for the most part, they only worked in fixed pairs. Even if Emilia activated it, the person on the other end would be none other than the Archbishop of Lust.
“It would be nice to try to talk with that Lust person once.”
But Emilia didn’t have it in her to hold a composed conversation at the moment, and it would only reveal that she was moving around behind Regulus’s back. Thinking about it realistically, she had no choice but to give up on using the mirror to communicate with everyone.
She could also just break it there to keep Regulus out of contact with the other cultists, but—
“It doesn’t really seem like they are working together anyway. What do I do…?”
She could not afford to take a pointless risk that would reveal the presence of a mole.
But while Emilia grappled with what to do, something happened.
—The mirror she had set on the desk activated, and a white light shone out from behind the cover.
“Ah.”
Emilia took a step back from the desk in surprise. But the light from the mirror did not stop. It meant that the person on the other end was trying to connect. All Emilia had to do was open the cover, and it would connect. But she was not sure what to do.
It went without saying that the person on the other end was almost certainly someone connected to the cultists, if not Lust herself. There was no benefit to answering, but it was also possible for things to be leaked via the mirror, as they had been when she overheard Regulus. In one sense, it was possible to justify turning a blind eye to the downsides.
After worrying and thinking about it, Emilia decided to—
“”
She flipped the mirror so it was pointing away from her before opening the cover. The two mirrors connected, but the person on the other end would not be able to see Emilia. They would surely notice something was off, but if she was lucky, they might let something slip first. That was her working theory, at least, and she ended up getting rewarded from an entirely unexpected angle.
“—Oh, there’s a response. Wait, there’s no one there. What’s going on? That ain’t how it’s supposed to work. Did I mess something up?”
“Eh?”
Unexpectedly, the voice she heard through the mirror was a man’s voice. She was caught off balance after having assumed she would be connected to Lust. But that was not the only reason for her shock. The voice was familiar. She had heard it just that morning at the Water Raiment Inn—
“—Al? Is that you, Al?”
“…Whoa, whoa, hold up, it went this route?”
Emilia flipped the mirror, blinking as she saw who was on the other end. It was Priscilla’s black-helmed retainer, Al. Naturally, he could see her, too, and even though she could not see his face through the helm, she could tell he was shocked as well.
“Um, this is unexpected. How did you happen across this conversation mirror?”
“The truth is: I’m in the middle of sneaking around investigating things. And just as I was looking around the room where this mirror happened to be, it started flashing… Oh, right!”
“Wh-what?”
“Hey, Al, can you get in contact with Subaru and the others? There was something I wanted to let them know.”
Eyes sparkling at the miracle of someone she knew having been on the other end of the mirror, Emilia decided to make the best of the situation. Caught up in her momentum, Al responded without thinking too deeply on it.
“Y-yeah…I guess so? I’ll let him know you’re safe and want him to come save you…”
“Tell him Regulus, the white-haired Archbishop, is in the control tower in the third district. And also the Archbishop of Lust is apparently in the first district’s tower. There aren’t any other cultists in the third district, but Regulus is really strong, so don’t let your guard down.”
“”
“It would be better if I could investigate the other towers, too, but I don’t know where Sirius is. But there was that broadcast, too, so tell him to make sure to protect Beatrice, too. And, um…”
“—Wait a second.”
Emilia was going through the list of things to tell Subaru when Al stopped her. Hearing that, she looked surprised as she asked, “What is it?”
“I knew you were tough and hyper-positive, but there’s gotta be some other things on your mind, too, right? Considering the situation you’re in and all.”
“This was all I could manage after thinking hard about what to do and following through… Was there a better way I missed?”
“Nah! That’s not what I mean… I mean you don’t have to be trying so hard, forcing yourself to do this and that. You’re a captured princess, after all.”
“Hmm…”
Emilia’s eyes wavered as she caught her breath, taken aback by his strong tone.
“No need to be reckless or try the impossible. It’s okay to want Bro…Subaru Natsuki to save you…”
“I’m sorry for worrying you, Al. No, I should say thank you—but it’s okay.”
“It is…?”
“I’m not forcing myself to keep going. And it might sound a little strange, but—”
Emilia naturally broke into a smile. Despite being all alone behind enemy lines, despite being so close to such a powerful being, and despite being in the most danger she had ever been in in her life.
“—I never doubted that Subaru will come save me. That’s why I want to do everything I can to make it less dangerous when he eventually does.”
“”
That was unmistakably how she truly felt. She was absolutely sure that Subaru would come save her. But she was also determined to not just sit back and leave everything to him.
“Please, Al. I’ll be sure to apologize to Priscilla later for asking for your help with such a selfish favor…”
“…You really don’t doubt that there will be a later, do you? Damn, that’s sure something.”
Touching the seam of his helm with his finger, Al heaved a deep, heavy sigh.
“Fine, I got it. I’ll let them all know what you told me. You can rest easy and just play the captured princess now. All that’s left is for you to wait for Prince Charming to save you.”
“Subaru’s the one who will save me, though, not some prince…”
“Ah, right! Bro, right! My bad! I messed that up! But seriously, just sit still and don’t do anything crazy. This isn’t a game.”
“Mm-hmm, I understand. You be careful, too, please.”
Emilia nodded at the serious warning that followed Al’s joking response.
Hearing that, Al snorted a little and then shut off the mirror. The light disappeared from Emilia’s end, and it went back to being a simple mirror.
“…Phew. Now it will at least get back to Subaru and the others.”
Blessed with an unexpected opportunity to share what she had learned, for once Emilia was grateful for her fortune.
Putting the mirror back on the desk, she left out the window again, careful not to leave any traces of her having been in the room, and then returned to the control tower and back to her room.
She judged that she had reached her time limit for wandering around gathering information. The mirror’s connecting to Al had been a coincidence, not something that would ever happen again. Considering that, she really had been blessed. It was unbelievably lucky that it had just happened to connect with someone outside the Witch Cult so she could send a message—and that that someone had been Al, of all people.
—If it was Al, he would definitely be able to get her message back.
“…Huh? Why am I so sure of that?”
Emilia was confused as to why she was so confident that her preparations were perfect after having left the rest to Al. But an answer soon started to form in her head.
Something about Al reminded her almost of Subaru. That was probably why she was so sure.
Emilia did not think about it more deeply than that as she scrambled back up the ice scaffolding.
Sub-chapter 4.
—The blushing bride is waiting for her Prince Charming to come take her away.
After claiming to be a messenger sent by Emilia, that was what Al said.
Subaru caught his breath and then slowly chewed it over.
“Don’t gimme that ‘I wouldn’t lie to you’ bullshit. There’s no way Emilia would say something that on point. Don’t make me kick your ass.”
“Sheesh, the two of you together couldn’t find a funny bone if it smacked you in the face. Got me worrying I’m losing my edge.”
“Like I give a damn about your edge! Quit screwing around, man…”
Al could not hide his disappointment, his shoulders slumping as Subaru shouted. Subaru started to approach him to seriously demand what he really meant, when—
“—General!”
“Whoa?!”
He was stopped by a bolt out of the blue that came tumbling into the room and ran straight into him. Subaru took a big step back to keep from being bowled over by the unintentional tackle. Somehow managing to stay on his feet, when he looked down at his waist, he saw a blond mop of hair clinging to him. Between the shout and the hair, he quickly realized it was the little-brother figure he had not seen for a few hours.
“Garfiel! You were all right! Where’d you come from all of a sudden…?”
“That’s my line! You were…and I…I was…!”
“Wh-whoa, are you crying…?”
From the way his voice was catching and how he was hiding his face, Subaru was worried he might be crying, but Garfiel looked up with his face all disheveled.
“I’m not crying! I was a little on edge is all…! You and Bro and Lady Emilia and Beatrice and everyone were all…”
His eyes were just barely still dry, but he was red all the way to the ears, almost failing to hold back the tears that were threatening to come bubbling up. But this was not the time or place to be teasing him. It was plain to see exactly how distraught Garfiel had been.
Everyone he had come to Pristella with had been either unconscious or missing. And on top of that, he had come as a guard, and yet he was the only one who had made it out safe. Just imagining the despair he must have been feeling was plenty uncomfortable. And in the end, he had spent the past several hours not listening to Anastasia or anyone else and constantly searching all over the city for Subaru.
“I’m sorry for worrying you. But as you can see, I’m okay. Though I came back a little darker in some places…”
“Huh? Darker? What do you…?”
“We can discuss that later. So is it just a coincidence that you showed up at almost the same time as Garfiel?” Subaru asked Al as he patted Garfiel’s head.
“I can wait if you want,” Al said, cocking his head. “This is your moving reunion with your little bro, right? Take your time.”
“A part of me is screaming that this probably can’t wait. So what is it?”
“Well, in that case… Yeah, you ain’t wrong. I agreed to deliver your princess’s message, but it’s not like I can just be casually wandering about, you know?” Al nodded in confirmation before alluding to the dangerous state of the city.
He most likely was referring to the demi-beasts prowling the streets in search of prey, and perhaps he even meant people who had lost control and were acting under the impulses of Sirius’s Authority, too.
“So you just happened to encounter Garfiel while headed here?” Julius asked.
“…I was searching for the general since he got swept up in the water, but because of the floodgate opening, the whole city got sloshed, and I couldn’t track his scent. I was still desperately lookin’ for any new scent, but just when I thought I found somethin’ similar…”
“It was me. I wish I could show you how fast he just deflated. It’s not like I did anything wrong, either, but I still felt kinda bad,” Al explained lightheartedly.
But it was no laughing matter for Garfiel, and as expected, he glared at Al angrily.
“Who asked you, coward? And I sure as hell wouldn’t be bringin’ ya here if ya didn’t claim to have a message from Lady Emilia.”
“That makes two of us. It’s not like I wanted to go out of my way and come here if she hadn’t asked me to deliver a message. I haven’t even found my own princess yet.”
Between Al’s going his own way before the city hall fight and this most recent spat, he and Garfiel did not get along well. Subaru slipped between the two of them, holding Garfiel back as he started to snap at Al.
“Quit making fun of someone not even half your age. And if you’re still looking for Priscilla, I ran into her in the fourth district. She was there with Liliana, the Songstress, going around to all the shelters looking for that Schult kid.”
“Really? Weird how we ran into each other’s masters like that. Was she all right?”
“It looked like she was doing fine. She’s a weird one.”
Subaru had originally chalked Priscilla up as unaffected by Sirius’s Authority due to some inherent inability to empathize with others, but he’d eventually realized that wasn’t really the case. Which meant either there were differences in how much it affected individuals, or else—
“We’ve gotten a little off track, but…do you really have a message from Emilia? Or was that just another one of your bad jokes?”
Growing increasingly exasperated by the aimless conversation, Anastasia finally asked Al for the message directly.
“The former,” Al said as he scratched the visor of his helmet. “I wasn’t lying about her waiting to be saved, either, but that’s not the main point. Since she was up close and personal with the enemy, she seized the chance to gather some information about their positioning and managed to get word back to us.”
“She did what? …Emilia-tan? She did something that smart?”
“You’re Lady Emilia’s knight, are you not? You should take more care when speaking of your master,” Julius scolded.
Still, Al’s message from Emilia was unexpected in any number of ways. Most importantly, the information she had passed along would be unfathomably useful.
“Lust is in the control tower in the first district, and there is a white-haired Archbishop in the third district. She also said the white-haired guy didn’t have any cultists with him. And that you have to take care of Beatrice.”
“Those are all pretty important, even that last bit…and that’s a huge help, actually.”
Emilia had somehow managed to figure out where two of the Archbishops were stationed and had successfully passed her findings to Al. Knowing how impossible Regulus was to deal with, it wasn’t hard for Subaru to imagine the dangers she must’ve braved in order to secure that information.
But—
“How did you manage to get in contact with her? There’s no way you could have just stumbled into each other out on the street.”
“Like I said before, it was just by chance. The stars were all aligned or something. I was out walking around in the city when I picked up a conversation mirror that the cultists were using. And it happened to connect to her.”
“How lucky can you be…?”
Al’s explanation was lacking, and it was clear he had no intention of being more forthcoming. But it was not an out-and-out lie, and it clearly wasn’t a joke or just him shooting the breeze, either. Subaru could sense a certain seriousness to Al’s response that made him trust it.
“I know it’s weird to say when I’m the one who brought this guy here, but are you seriously gonna take him at his word, General?”
“I believe him. The last bit about being worried for Beatrice sounds exactly like something she’d say.”
“”
“That’s not enough to be sure, but…I’d like to think Emilia would do her best and not give up, even in this crappy situation.”
If she could be that single-mindedly positive and believe in Subaru despite everything that had happened, then he would give his all and try to save her in the same way.
“Though, it would be nice if she didn’t overdo it and try anything too reckless, either…”
“I’m with you there, man. She’s way too energetic for someone stuck behind enemy lines.”
Judging from Al’s reaction after he’d actually spoken with Emilia, she was not at all acting the part of the damsel in distress, even if she seemed like she was born to play one in some theater show or movie. If anything, that unusual bravery was just like her, which made Subaru proud.
“Anyway, that was her message, so my job’s done here… So what are all you doin’ here, and what’s that huge metia for?”
“Naturally, this is the headquarters for the take-back-the-city-from-the-cultists squad. And the metia back there is a broadcast device that can carry a voice to the entire city… It’s our trump card for turning this thing around.”
“You don’t say.” Al chuckled at Subaru’s self-assured response.
On the other hand, Garfiel was shocked enough for the both of them. His sharp fangs were trembling as he looked at Subaru.
“Did you think of something that can turn everything around, General?”
“Yeah, something that might have a decent shot— Do you know how to use this metia, Anastasia? Or if not you, does anyone else?” Subaru asked as he looked over at it.
“…Something like this wouldn’t be too hard for me to get going,” Anastasia responded.
Subaru nodded to himself as he continued looking around the room. Garfiel and Al, plus Julius and Anastasia—four people who were well suited for sounding out his idea.
“As you all know, Wrath’s Authority is currently putting everyone inside the shelters around the city on edge, and these places are ready to blow. It’s okay as long as they’re still just smoldering, but there’s no telling when they might go off.”
“Yeah, you’ve got that right. I checked in on a bunch of them while lookin’ for you, but…”
Garfiel’s expression clouded. He must have seen something unsettling in the short time that he’d been running around. It looked like he was struggling to stay calm, as if there was something bothering him besides his general concern for their friends.
Subaru noticed it but decided to keep the focus on the current topic first. If things went the way Subaru was imagining, then whatever was bothering Garfiel might be resolved in the process, too.
“Between the cultists’ broadcast and the current state of the city…it’s only expected that everyone’s worries would balloon while they’re stuck far from home and forced to hide out without any sign of things getting better. And that only gets worse when people are crammed into a small space together. The shelter system is actually stoking the fire…though, even without them, people would end up congregating anyway, I guess.”
“That is the most insidious aspect of Wrath’s ability. It makes you feel more alone, eats away at your heart, and even threatens your life. It’s absolutely unforgivable,” Julius commented with quiet anger.
Anastasia glanced over at him as she touched a hand to her fox scarf, then looked at Subaru.
“—I have a good idea what exactly it is you are thinking of doing.”
“Well, yeah. I mean, I did come all the way up here to make sure the metia was still functioning, after all,” Subaru said, grinning awkwardly as he scratched his head.
Al and Julius also caught on from their exchange and turned toward the metia in the back of the room. Garfiel alone hadn’t figured it out yet, cocking his head in confusion.
“What…? What are you planning to do, General?”
“Basically, Bro is thinking of turnin’ Wrath’s Authority on its head.”
“Huh? What does that mean…?”
“—Sirius’s ability is amplifying the unease that all the residents of the city are feeling. And Lust’s nasty broadcast was what lit the fuse. In which case…”
“We just need to inspire people’s hopes the same way that the cultists preyed on their fear.” Julius said, finishing the thought, and Subaru nodded in hearty agreement.
Sirius’s Authority shared and amplified people’s emotions—but that was all it did. While it could heighten existing emotions, it couldn’t do anything to emotions that weren’t already there.
And if that was true, then if they could just paint over the unease and fear running rampant through the city and replace it with hope…
“That hope would spread and fill the city instead.”
“—! Ohhhhh! That’s right! If you do that, no one’ll start killing one another! And all the people who’ve given up will feel better…!” Garfiel’s eyes shone as he punched his fists together in front of his chest. There was a resounding crack as they hit. “Time to make it happen!” Garfiel grinned. “We’ve got the metia right here. No point wasting time. Let’s do it now…”
“Wait. It ain’t that simple. It’s not like I didn’t consider that option, too.” Anastasia cut in, putting the brakes on the idea.
“Huh? Why are you stopping us? You know what’s happening out there right now.”
“Yes, I do, and I’ve thought about it at least as much as you have. But that’s exactly why I can’t just say do as you please… How do you think the cultists will react when they hear the broadcast?”
Garfiel gulped.
“The floodgate opened after we attacked city hall, almost like it was meant as retaliation or like they wanted to show what happens when people go against them. If that happens again, they might not close the gates next time.”
“I’m worried about that, too…but there’s something about that theory that doesn’t quite fit.”
While agreeing with her concern, Subaru glanced at Julius.
“Yes?” Julius’s eyes narrowed. “Allow me to ask, what is it that seems off to you?”
“…I was unconscious, so I can’t really say for sure, but the person who got transformed into a black dragon carried Crusch and me away from Capella, and right after that the floodgate opened, and the water interrupted the fighting. That’s when I fell into the water. Does that sound about right?”
“Yes. That matches what I remember of the events. What of it?”
“Doesn’t the order of events seem kinda off? And which floodgate was it that opened?”
“Which floodgate? If I recall, it was the one in the first quart… Ah.”
As she thought back to answer Subaru’s question, Anastasia’s eyes widened. A moment later, Julius also murmured, “Oh-ho.”
“The first district’s gate was the one that opened. But if Lady Emilia’s information is correct, then that would be…”
“But Lust wasn’t in the tower then, right? And the timing of the gate opening doesn’t make sense at all. Because the flooding was what helped us escape, and then it closed again immediately after, right? It’s true that the cultists don’t act super consistently, but there should still be some logic to what they do.”
It would be foolish to write off everything the cultists did as irrational just because they were cultists. The Archbishops all acted on thought patterns that were incomprehensible to normal people, but each still followed their own twisted logic or set of rules.
And in that context, opening the floodgate at that point just did not make any kind of sense at all. It was almost like someone else with a different goal had been behind it.
Of course, it was possible that that whole line of thought was off base, but—
“They left the metia here without breaking it. And after we were gone, they even sent out another broadcast before leaving. They had plenty of time to break this if they wanted to.”
“So are you saying that us using the metia is part of their calculations? What could they possibly get out of that…?” Anastasia’s voice trembled as she tried to understand.
“—They don’t have a reason for anything,” Al cut in with a husky voice. Then, as if regretting his unintentional remark, he clicked his tongue in annoyance. When he caught Subaru looking at him, he shook his head slowly. “They don’t care one bit about anything we do. They’ve never lost, and they’ve never even considered the possibility. A dragon doesn’t give a damn what some ants crawling around its feet are planning,” Al spat.
He sounded awfully confident in his analysis.
“”
Al looked away as if he had said something he shouldn’t have. His behavior was very unusual lately. Was it because of Wrath’s Authority? If so, what was being amplified? Anger? Sadness?
The only thing Subaru could say for sure was that Al had given them advice about the Archbishop of Sloth before they had gone to the tower before. It was clear he knew something about the Witch Cult that he wasn’t sharing. But even if he pressed Al on it, it was clear as day he wouldn’t answer.
Right as that thought crossed Subaru’s mind—
“—Let’s go for the broadcast plan, then.”
“Anastasia…”
Perhaps having reached the same conclusion as Subaru, Anastasia changed her vote.
The main strike against the plan was that they didn’t know how the cultists would react. But if she was satisfied on that point, then there was just one hurdle left.
“So who do we get to do the broadcast, and what do they say to inspire the townsfolk?”
“Who…?” Subaru furrowed his brow and looked over at the metia.
The broadcast would have to inspire hope in the people around the city and blow away the unease eating at their hearts. The person best suited for that—
“Aren’t you perfect for the job, Anastasia? You’re a royal-selection candidate and famous around these parts to boot. If you tell them we’re still fighting the good fight, then…”
“It really pains me to say this, since it’s practically admitting I’m not good enough, but I don’t think you should really expect me saying somethin’ here to have that big of an effect.”
“”
Anastasia outright rejected Subaru’s suggestion. He couldn’t understand why, though. She was one of the candidates for the throne. It had been announced all throughout the country, so the people in Pristella would all recognize her. And she was famous enough that few could claim to be as well-known as she was in the whole kingdom, let alone in Pristella.
“If all we were talking about was fame, then sure, I’d be a solid choice. If that was all it took, then I’d gladly say whatever I had to. But that just ain’t how these things go. My name doesn’t have the sway to rid people of their fear of the cultists. I’m better than someone they’ve never heard of, but only just.”
“B-but—!”
“That’s not enough, and you know it. They need hope. The kind of hope that can blow away all their fears and convince them to stand up again.”
Subaru was speechless. Honestly, he wanted to tell her she wasn’t being strong-willed enough and that she should reconsider. But it was painfully obvious that she was the one most disappointed in herself for her lack of power.
“”
Seeing her small fists white and trembling as she clenched them tight, Subaru tamped down his irritation. She hadn’t spoken up without thinking. It was the opposite. After thinking it through from every angle, she had correctly judged that she was not the right person for the job.
“If it was enough to just trick them, then it wouldn’t be impossible. I could probably convince half the people listening. But that’s not what you want to do, right? You’re the one who didn’t want to cut our losses before we even tried anything.”
“That’s… In that case, what about Crusch? She had a gravitas to her words during the ceremony at the castle and during the White Whale fight, too. If it’s her, then…”
“…Yeah, if it were her, then that might be enough. But we’re talking about the Crusch from back then. She doesn’t have that same gravitas now, and in her current state, we can’t drag her up here and stand her in front of the metia anyway.”
“”
Subaru was the only one who hadn’t been able to confirm her condition with his own eyes, so he didn’t know what was causing Anastasia’s pained expression or the pity drawn on Julius and Garfiel’s faces.
Ferris and Wilhelm’s grief from earlier flickered at the back of his mind.
“Then what about you, Julius? You could…”
“Apologies, but I cannot meet your expectations.”
“Mm-hmm… I’m proud of my knight, and he’s certainly an elite member of the Royal Guard. But how well do his personal accomplishments stack up when it comes to dealing with the Witch Cult? If we’re just talking fame, then I’m more famous, and if you wanted skill at speaking, then I’d still be more likely to succeed.”
Crusch could not fill the role, and both Julius and Anastasia shot down the possibility of putting Julius forward. In that case, the only choices left were Wilhelm and Ricardo, or maybe if they could pull Priscilla or Liliana away from their tour of all the shelters in the city—
“…Ummm…”
As Subaru struggled with all the options being shot down after they’d finally come up with a way to deal with Wrath, Garfiel raised his hand. His clear green eyes widened as he looked straight at Subaru.
“—Is there any reason you can’t do it, General?”
“…Huh?”
Subaru was completely caught off guard. He opened his mouth, not totally sure what he had just heard. He could not believe that Garfiel would joke around in a situation like this—
“”
But that thought shattered when he was faced with the gleam in the boy’s straightforward gaze. A blank formed as his thoughts crumbled. And Garfiel stepped firmly into that opening.
“There’s no one but you. Not a royal-selection candidate, not a knight from the Royal Guard, and not the famed Sword Devil. You. I mean…it’s obvious.”
“Garfiel…”
“You’re the one who has already defeated a Witch Cult Archbishop—you defeated Sloth. No one else’s got that to their name. And right now, that means more…it means more than anythin’.”
There was passion in Garfiel’s voice, and his gaze grew gradually more intense. Gritting his teeth, he looked up at Subaru pleadingly.
“Here’s a man who’s already beat one Archbishop in this town occupied by cultists. There can’t be anyone better for the job. Maybe the Sword Saint Reinhard if he were here, but there’s only Subaru Natsuki! You’re the only one, General!” Garfiel spread his arms, almost howling.
“Ngh!”
Overwhelmed by the force of his words, Subaru unconsciously took a step back, bumping into someone standing right behind him. Glancing back, he saw a tall, slender figure supporting him.
It was Julius. He looked at Subaru with the same straightforward eyes as Garfiel and nodded.
“I agree. If we’re going to do this, then you’re the only choice that makes sense, Natsuki.”
“Not you too…”
Behind Julius, Anastasia was burying her face in her scarf. There was a swirl of indignation and annoyance at herself for her own inability to play the part, but it was also colored by a silent understanding—because she wanted to protect the city whatever the cost.
Having understood that point at last, Subaru finally realized the huge burden of hope that had just landed on his shoulders.
“You too, Julius? Are you serious?”
“…Do you remember back at the castle, your outburst at the knights and when I defeated you on the training grounds?” Julius asked.
Subaru caught his breath and then slowly exhaled.
“That moment is a finalist in my top three for regret and humiliation. I’ll never forget it for as long as I live.”
“I remember it well, too. Your baseless proclamation, the disgraceful way you besmirched the knightly order…but I also remember you joining in the Battle of the White Whale after that, and when you managed to defeat Sloth as well.”
“”
“If there is anyone in this city whose voice could ease the fear and unease of the people…then I believe that person must be none other than you. I know that if you ever asked for aid, I would gladly be there to heed your call and lend my hand. And there would be many others who would answer the call as well. Garfiel would surely stand at the head, and I would of course be there, too. You would do well to remember that.”
This was an oath sworn out of an incredibly powerful sense of trust.
“”
Subaru lost his bearings, shocked to his core, and he struggled to breathe at the level of trust he’d been granted.
Swiveling his head, he saw Anastasia. She nodded.
Turning again, he looked to Garfiel. He flashed a toothy grin and held out his fist.
Julius’s eyes had never left Subaru. Turning to face Subaru head-on, he nodded elegantly.
—How badly can you overestimate someone?
“”
He had felt this way before as well, when interacting with Wilhelm and Crusch and Reinhard. They were misunderstanding who he was. They were badly mistaken. They were all far more worthy of praise. They worked far, far harder than he did. They were indescribably nobler.
And the way they all praised Subaru, reached out to him, and treated him as a friend as if it were the obvious, natural thing to do—that had always tormented him. These people he respected, people who treated him as an equal, people whom he could never hope to match… He didn’t want them to acknowledge him like that.
It made him anxious. He was sure that, at any moment, his real self would slip out and he would just end up disappointing them. He would only disappoint them and make them regret everything when they realized that the real Subaru was pathetic, weak, helpless.
He had always believed that. And yet…
“—General.”
Garfiel, Anastasia, and Julius were all expecting so much from Subaru. Even though he was always so desperate, always on the verge of being crushed under the weight of their expectations, they were adding more and more to the load, as if his desperation was not enough.
That…that was the path Subaru Natsuki walked.
The path of a boy who had once sworn to be a single girl’s hero.
Somewhere along the way, he realized that he couldn’t stay just her hero. He’d needed to—
“—If you’re not sure, then just leave it be, Bro.” Subaru’s face tensed as a gruff voice called out.
Looking up, Subaru was greeted by a gloomy gaze.
“You’re spoutin’ that crap now of all times?!” Garfiel exploded.
Rushing in, Garfiel grabbed Al’s thick neck, as if to say he could snap it at any time if he wanted, glaring daggers at him all the while.
“You shut your damn mouth! What do you know about the general?! Nobody asked you!”
“I could say the same to you. Is saying ‘General’ supposed to cast some magic spell? That the name of some superman who can solve any problem?” Al fired back coldly.
“—!”
Al touched Garfiel’s arm. Garfiel’s expression suddenly changed, and he quickly pulled away. Garfiel was clearly not sure why he had reacted that way as Al leaned into his face, headbutting Garfiel with his black helm.
“Looks like you’re leaning on him pretty hard, but is he really all that special? You could beat him in a straight-up brawl, and when it comes to smarts, he wouldn’t beat that young lady or her knight over there.”
“Who asked you? Don’t talk about the general that way! You don’t know just how much he…”
“If only he could just put the whole world on his shoulders and keep on rollin’. Now, that would be somethin’ to see. Awe-inspiring, even. Just what you’d want from the star at center stage. But your average background character can’t carry that kinda weight. I can’t, and Bro can’t, either. And now you’re forcing him to take on this massive burden…for what? You ever think about how he must feel?”
That last line caused Garfiel’s expression to tremble. He had seemingly realized something, and the powerful momentum he had been riding dissipated.
Al pulled back and looked over Garfiel’s head at Subaru.
“Hey, Bro, that girl is the most important thing to you right now, isn’t she?”
There was a hint of disappointment in Al’s voice. As if he knew the answer already and had no expectations of Subaru at all.
“”
Anastasia and Julius were silent, watching the two of them. They had already said what they had to say. All that was left was to leave it to Subaru’s judgment.
“I—I…I… Ge-gen…”
Garfiel looked up and then immediately back down again, unsure what to say. He was hesitating. He’d started to call Subaru General like always, but he could not finish saying it when he thought about the meaning it held.
And the one person there who had no expectations of Subaru at all continued.
“I’m gonna do what I have to for my princess, for Priscilla. I’m just gonna leave everything else for later. If I can just protect her and myself and Schult, then that’s enough for me.”
“Al…”
“You should do the same, Bro. Just focus on that little lady… Save Emilia, and that’ll have to be enough. The cultists are just vermin that’ll pop up again somewhere else even if you go out of your way to exterminate them here. They’re like a demon that just keeps coming back to haunt you. Getting involved with them’ll only make things worse,” Al said, his voice wavering a little uncontrollably, as if he was clinging to something.
Al’s suggestion was one possible answer. Subaru was in complete agreement with him about the cultists being vermin. There was nothing to be gained by getting too deeply involved with them. There was no denying that. But that was not the choice before him. The cultists had already gotten involved with them. Subaru was going to have to act in order to deal with the sparks they had set off.
From Al’s point of view, though, that would just lead to the question “Why?” Naturally, it was true that the situation was bad with Emilia held captive. But even if she was not involved, Subaru would not be able to choose to run away. That was because…
“I wouldn’t need a reason to pull a kid back to the sidewalk if they wandered out on a red light. I wouldn’t even think twice… It’s probably something like that.”
“”
Al caught his breath at that. Only Al, though. The meaning was lost on the other three, but Subaru was satisfied that he had gotten his point across.
“I’m not going to worry about the little things. I’m here, so I want to do the most I can to help. I know full well there are lots of things I can’t do. But still.”
It was surely something Subaru Natsuki should not do.
“—If you’re going to do this, Bro, then you’re going to be carrying the full weight of that heroic delusion.”
—Heroic delusion.
Al had said that when he had first entered the room.
He kept his eyes on Subaru to the end.
“You can’t afford to lose. You have to win. You’ll be fighting while carrying everyone’s hopes and expectations, all while leading them to some happy future. If you make that choice now, you’ll have to follow through.”
“…Not being able to afford to lose is how it’s always been for me.”
“The weight ain’t the same at all. If you lose, then it won’t just end with your loss, Bro.”
He couldn’t understand what Al was getting at.
It was always like that for Subaru. Every time he fought, losing meant risking far more than just one fight. It meant losing everything that he wanted to protect. It was like that every single time. There was never a time it had not been like that.
If he could lose without losing anything, then he would never fight in the first place. The reason he still fought was that there were things he could only protect by fighting. And right here and now, those things were many and enormous.
“That’s all? That’s how it’s always been.”
“”
Exhaling, Subaru made up his mind.
His heart, which had been pounding badly before, was calm, and his eyes were clearer than ever. Al caught his breath. Subaru could tell he was dumbfounded even without seeing his face.
“You don’t have to hold back, Garfiel. Just call me what you always do.”
“—Ah.”
“It was embarrassing at first, but at this point it just feels right. I can’t promise I’ll be able to live up to your expectations, but I’ll do everything I can.” Subaru smiled at Garfiel, who was floundering in front of him.
For some reason, it felt like he was smiling particularly naturally. Seeing that, Garfiel caught his breath.
“General… Ahh! General! You are definitely my general…!” Garfiel’s fists clenched, and his fangs trembled as he repeated the nickname like an incantation.
“You aren’t making any sense at all.”
Smiling wryly, Subaru turned back to Anastasia and Julius.
“Let’s do this, Anastasia. If you think my voice can reach the people, then I’ll do it.”
“…You sure? If you choose to be the symbol of hope all by yourself…”
“It won’t change what I’m going to do in the end. Hero has a nice ring to it. Well, actually, it’s embarrassing as hell, and calling yourself a hero is sort of…”
Subaru scratched his nose in a show of bashfulness.
“But if it’s playing the role of the hero, then I already decided to do that a year ago. If I don’t follow through now, I could never show my face to those people looking up to me. And I wouldn’t be able to keep up with the person I’m trying to catch.”
“—If you say so. No helpin’ it, I guess; boys are always tryin’ to look cool.”
Anastasia smiled hopelessly and held out her fist in front of Subaru’s chest. He answered in kind by holding out his fist and bumping it against hers. It was proof they were on the same wavelength, even though they had messed it up once downstairs.
“Don’t laugh if I screw up the lines. And don’t sigh, either. In fact, you’d be doing me a huge favor if you just don’t listen at all.”
“I won’t laugh, nor will I sigh. And I shall listen closely until the very end,” Julius shot back.
“Tch.”
Then Subaru turned his head to Al.
“Thanks for worrying about me, Al— Thanks to that I was able to find my resolve.”
He said nothing more. And Al probably did not want to hear that thanks, either. But Subaru had felt it was necessary to at least say that much, so he had.
“”
Subaru turned to face the subject of all that debate: the metia waiting in silence at the other end of the room. He thought about what he should say while standing in front of it.
Naturally, he did not have the contents of the speech in mind yet. He didn’t even know if there was a right answer. But for some reason there was no unease or confusion. It was all rather mysterious.
Perhaps because in his mind it really was the same as always.
—Because he knew that he was just going to have to try to look good, like always.
Sub-chapter 5.
—A gloomy silence had fallen over the shelter.
“”
The air was filled with faint, stifled sobs and the restless rustling of people unable to hold still.
A girl hugged her knees and looked down as she heard those noises unpleasantly breaking the silence.
She was a small girl with blond hair. Resting her chin on her white knees, she drew closer to the weight beside her—the young boy leaning against her left shoulder. He was her younger brother and had been sobbing just moments earlier. Now he was exhausted and had slipped into a fitful slumber.
She started to caress her brother’s head, but she paused, afraid of waking him up. She was sure that if he could sleep, then it would be better for him to get some rest. Staring into her brother’s tearstained face, she prayed that he could at least find peace in his dreams, because the world outside of dreams was far too cruel for her brother, who was still so young.
It had been half a day since the broadcast announcing that the control towers for Pristella’s floodgates had been captured. She and her brother had been out in the city plaza that morning when they heard the announcement. The announcement itself had been hard to believe, and the voice making the proclamation had sounded almost like it was chanting a hideous curse. Scared for their parents, the girl had taken her frightened little brother by the hand and fled to a nearby shelter with the adults in the plaza.
Faced with the unexpected, they had done as they had always been told and sought shelter. That was the result of the instructions that were broadcast every morning. If she was being honest, the little girl never really listened closely to anything in the morning broadcasts other than the Songstress’s singing, but she was astonished at the adults’ foresight and planning.
But everything that had happened after they had fled to the shelters had been too unpredictable even for the adults.
—The appearance of the Witch Cult. Occupation of the control towers. Cryptic threats and demands and then the flooding that came not long after.
The vicious woman’s voice had riled up unease and hatred in the hearts of all the people cowering in the shelters. Her unbearable voice and unsettling words had been more than powerful enough to sink the whole city into despair.
They were locked away in a gloomy shelter with no way to contact anyone outside. There were no signs of anything getting better, and one of the floodgates had even been opened for a second, forcing them to hear the sound of all that water crashing over the city.
The shelters had originally been constructed as a countermeasure against intermittent flooding, so there had not been many injuries or deaths due to the earlier flood—but that meant very little to the people still cowering in fear.
The voices that had encouraged everyone at first had gradually weakened and then started to grow uneasy and angry at the silence, and before long there had been people making no effort to hide their rage, which had spread, creating a mood of aimless disagreement and annoyance, becoming a silent madness that scratched at everyone, spreading everywhere like wildfire.
And then the flooding had snapped the last thread of their nerves, bringing on the collapse. A swelling, violent mood filled the air, a dangerous atmosphere that could quickly devolve from people glaring at one another to their yelling at one another to their hurting one another to their even killing one another, all with just a single spark.
“Agh.”
The only reason it had not exploded yet was that right as their nerves were strained to their limit, the girl’s little brother had started crying.
The seething adults had still had the good sense and pride not to be violent in front of a sobbing child.
—But even then, they had come dangerously close to the edge.
In the end, though, the explosion had been delayed by her brother’s crying. And the girl had cried softly as she patted her brother’s head, hugging him from behind. After that, there had been no more quarrels in their shelter. But that was only holding thanks to a fragile equilibrium. Everyone knew it was just a temporary respite.
If another buildup began, a child’s tears would not be enough to keep the peace. And because they knew that, the people in the shelter who should have been working together were all staying away from one another, trying to protect themselves by not provoking anyone else.
For their own sakes—for everyone else’s sake, it was best for everyone to not draw any unwanted attention, to remain apart and isolated. They waited for time to pass, desperation on their faces. Trusting themselves to the faint, fragile hope that something, anything might get better.
“”
The girl suddenly looked up, noticing an omen of that change.
Waiting quietly, eagerly for news of any development, the girl noticed a slight change in the air.
Several people around her looked up for the first time in hours, too, noticing the same thing she had. It was a familiar feeling to anyone living in Pristella. The precursor of a broadcast by the metia at city hall.
Sensing that, the girl tensed, holding back the urge to vomit welling in her throat as best she could.
She had wanted a change, but she’d meant a change for the better. A broadcast could only mean the terrifying Witch Cult was about to say something again.
What new impossibility would that earsplitting voice demand of the city while spewing so much bile?
But the girl’s—the people’s—pessimistic prediction was—
“—Um, can everyone actually hear me through this? Mic test, mic test. One, two. One, two.”
—turned on its head by the voice of a young man who sounded almost like he was playing around.
“”
Unlike in the last two broadcasts, this was the voice of a boy who sounded unsure of himself. Not the familiar, famous man from the daily broadcasts or the boisterous Songstress—this was a voice she had never heard before.
The girl’s eyes widened, and so did the adults’ as they glanced at one another, wondering what was happening.
But not noticing their reactions, the boy spoke several more times, making sure that his voice was heard by everyone across the entire city, before finally clearing his throat once he was confident it was working. And then—
“It looks like this is actually broadcasting, then. First of all, let me apologize for surprising you. I imagine a lot of you were worried or steeling yourself wondering what you would be told next. But please don’t worry. I’m not a member of the Witch Cult.”
“…It’s not the Witch Cult…”
The volume of the boy’s voice was wavering slightly as he used a metia he had never handled before. But the shock at what he was saying easily outweighed that, and no one bothered dwelling on that small point. The people’s gloomy expressions started to change as they looked up at the broadcast echoing down from on high.
“A-are we…saved?” someone murmured, as the faint seed of hope they had been holding on to started to grow.
The hope conveyed by that murmur spread to the whole shelter—to the whole city.
It was natural. If someone who was not a cultist was using the metia at city hall, then that meant that someone had to have taken back the building from the invaders. If there was someone who could reconquer city hall, then they could seize the control towers, too—
“Run all of those hooligans out of here…!”
“And I’m sorry for getting your hopes up, but the cultists are not gone yet. We’ve taken back city hall, but they still hold the control towers. Their demands have not been met yet, and there is still a danger of the city being flooded. I’m sorry, but you deserve to know the truth.”
“”
However, their fragile hope was shattered by none other than the boy on the broadcast.
The way he spoke, it was almost like he was reading the minds of the people in the shelters. It seemed a cruel thing to do, to smother the seed of a faint hope so immediately. The eyes that had been filled with hope clouded again as they were told that their belief that they would be freed from their fears was mistaken. And soon, their anger was pointed not at the cultists, who were like a natural disaster, but at the boy speaking to them.
“—I’m sorry.”
But he had also anticipated the masses’ venting at him.
“Where are you all right now? I imagine most of you are in the shelters, but there are probably some of you who didn’t go to the shelters. I’m sure you are all feeling worried and anxious. I can understand feeling scared and wanting to just curl up. And I’m sure there are some of you wondering who I think I am, going and getting everyone’s hopes up for nothing.”
“”
“I’m just a regular guy. I’ve been tossed around by this crazy situation just like all of you. I’m on the verge of being crushed by the madness of it all. Just like you. My knees are quaking in fear. Just like you. That’s all I am. I actually had a bit of an argument with the people telling me to do this before I agreed to talk to you like this. I still think this is too big, too important a job for me. If I’m being honest, I think there are probably other people who would have been more suited to talking to all of you like this. In fact, I’m sure of it.”
His voice was wavering as he spoke, as if showing that he really did understand how they all felt in a sea of fear and unease. He was open and honest, sharing his timidity, his insecurity. Everyone listening, the girl included, was past the point of suspicion or disappointment and could only feel confused.
Everyone wanted a little hope. Even if it was fake, even if it was fragile, they wanted something to hold on to. So why was he the one standing in front of the metia? He’d said it himself, hadn’t he? There must be someone else better for it. So then, why was he—?
“But right now, it’s just me. I’m the one here speaking to you. People way more special than I am told me that I should do this. That there was a meaning in me doing it… My voice is trembling, isn’t it? I’m not the sort of guy meant to be standing in front of a crowd. I don’t have the words or the charisma to lead everyone. I’m weak, pathetic, and even in a moment as important as this, I can’t help wanting to run away…”
His tone gradually sank, drawing everyone listening gradually to the depths of despair. His weak, hoarse voice grated on their hearts, which were already tortured by fear, causing their stomachs to constrict. If he had been somewhere they could reach, they would have wanted to shut him up as soon as possible.
“Sister…”
At some point, her younger brother had woken up, and he called out to her.
She hugged her brother tight and held him close. Desperately clinging to him so that the weak, penetrating voice from the metia would not reach his ears, so that he would not be crushed by that hopelessness and despair. And while she was protecting her brother, her own ears were exposed, forcibly swept along on the path of the boy’s weakness as he continued.
“…and hoping that I can just plug my ears and ignore everything while someone else takes care of everything because I don’t know what to do…”
“Nooo…”
The girl closed her eyes tight, shaking her head, trying to keep away the grief and despair.
The boy’s words described exactly what everyone in the shelters, everyone in the city cowering in fear of the cultists was feeling in the depths of their hearts. That was the weakness eating away at the girl’s heart and the cowardice that had taken root in the depths of the adults’ hearts and the fear that plagued her little brother’s mind. This was the despair that no one would be able to fix.
She could not bear the boy’s voice forcing her to face the unresolvable reality in front of her. It was so unbearable, so terrifying…
“—But even so. Even with all that, I can’t run away from this. So I’m going to fight. That’s the sort of person I am.”
She could hardly believe what he said, his voice still wavering.
“—Eh?”
She opened her eyes and looked up, sure that she had just misheard him. She could not see the voice’s owner. But she did see other faces around the room looking up with the same shock she was feeling.
There was a beat of silence as he chose his words and got his voice under control. And then—
“Let me ask you again: Where are you right now? Did you flee to a shelter? Are you hiding in your home? Are you all alone and scared? Is someone else there with you? Is that person someone precious to you? Even if you didn’t know them before, are they familiar now after all these harrowing hours together?”
“”
“I know it’s not my place to say this, and it might be difficult for you, but please try not to wall yourself off. When you are all alone, it’s easy to fill your head with all sorts of meaningless thoughts. I know, I’ve been there, too. So please try not to be by yourself. Stay together with someone else. And also—”
He inhaled, a faint hesitation in the back of his voice.
“If you can, try to look that person in the eye.”
“”
As if led on by his words, the girl slowly looked down into her arms. Her brother was looking up at her. She met his quavering, uncertain green eyes.
“Whose face did you look at? Was it someone special to you or someone you had never met before a few hours ago? Or maybe it was a friend… They probably look terrible right now. Was their face teary? Pained? I doubt anyone is smiling right now. No, maybe there are some people. Trying their best to put on a smile to keep you from worrying. If they are, then they are truly amazing people. If someone precious to you smiled for you like that, you should be proud. And then you should compare their expression now to the smile you remember.”
Her brother’s eyes were wet and weary. He was all rumpled and looked like he might burst into tears again at any moment. And seeing herself reflected in her brother’s eyes, she saw that she had become expressionless and had a vacant look on her face.
“—Are you really okay with things staying like this?”
“…No…”
A soft reply slipped from the girl’s lips.
It was weak and faint. A voice she could barely hear herself. And yet…
“I’m not. I can’t forgive it. I don’t want to accept it.”
The boy’s voice continued strongly, almost as if he had heard her.
“I have people I care about. I have comrades who mean the world to me. And I can’t forgive the people who made them suffer and feel so sad. And I don’t want them to force themselves to smile for me, either. It’s enough to make me want to scream. I’m not stupid; I know her real smile is way more beautiful than that.”
“Sister…”
“I can’t just let it end like this. I could never live it down if I just gave up now. There’s no way I can let things stay this way. They’re the ones who are wrong, and I’m not going to sit back and let the bad guys win. I don’t want to admit I lost to them.”
“Fredo…”
She gently pulled her brother closer as he called out to her, pressing her forehead to his. It was warm. The warmth of life. She could not tell whether the heat was coming from her brother or her, but she could feel it nonetheless.
“I want to run away, but I can’t. I want to cry, but I can’t just cry. The enemy is dangerous, but I don’t want to just lose. So I’ll fight. I know full well that I’m weak, that I’m not smart. But I’ll still fight. Because they are the ones who are wrong. I’ll fight to prove to the people I love that the ones who made them so sad were wrong. That’s why I’m fighting—and I want you all to fight, too.”
“—!”
Her breath caught in her throat as it became tight. She felt pathetic for her moment of weakness.
Because the tremor in his voice disappeared, and she could hear in his voice the path that he was pointing to.
She understood his feelings. The meaning of his words was painfully clear to her. That was exactly how she felt, too. She wanted to fight. She wanted to run the bad guys out of the city if she could. But she and her little brother were small and young. They couldn’t do anything.
They were powerless, ignorant, weak, so there wasn’t—
“—Please don’t misunderstand me, though.”
But the boy’s voice provided shelter as she berated herself for her weakness.
“When I say I want you to fight, I don’t mean rush out into the streets with whatever weapons you can find. In fact, please don’t do anything so rash. I don’t mean you should form a mob and go running around looking for cultists to fight. What I want is for you to keep your head up.”
“Keep my…head up…”
“Nothing changes when you stare down at your feet. You can’t burn a hole in the ground no matter how long you look at it, and even if you could, that wouldn’t help anyone… So please, keep your head up. Keep your eyes in front of you.”
Raising her head, she looked not at her knees or her brother’s blond hair but at the shelter. And as she looked around, she met the gazes of others who had also been struck by despair. They had all instinctively looked up at the boy’s urging, just like she had.
“If you look around you, I’m sure you’ll meet someone else’s gaze. They are feeling the same unease, the same desire to just run away from it all, but…they also don’t want to lose. Your loved ones, and the person whose eyes you just met, and if you count yourself, that’s already three people. And depending on where you are, it might be even more people than that.”
Like he said, when she looked up, she could see several different people’s faces. The feelings in their eyes were complicated and muddled, and her eyes probably looked the same to them. But somewhere along the way she’d stopped feeling like she was just cowering in fear.
“I hope you understand now that you are not alone. That feeling is a powerful thing even all by itself. Not wanting to see the sad face of someone you care about. Not wanting to look lame to the person whose eyes you just met. I can’t be the only one who’s that shallow and stubborn, can I?”
“”
The voice was pleading with them, calling out to them, trying to raise their spirits and inspire their courage, and yet it sounded to the girl almost like the boy was looking for something to cling to himself.
And finally, she realized. His heart had not changed at all from the very beginning of the broadcast. Even as he hated his own weakness, even as he regretted the things he lacked, he had not given up. He talked about himself—that was the only weapon he had. And he spoke to everyone about the things he was sure they all had in common.
“I want to believe. I’m weak. And pathetic. But I haven’t given up yet. Please let me believe that I’m not the only weakling who doesn’t know how to give up.”
It was a cowardly voice and a cruel request. In a situation where everyone was pleading for help, here he was, shamelessly pleading with them, begging them all to give him something to believe in—
“Or am I really the only one?”
His voice faltered and lost confidence.
No, there had never been any confidence in his voice from the start. Irritation welled. Stop it! Even if she did not know what to shout—
“…No…”
It was as soft as a gnat’s buzz, just a faint voice that barely crossed her lips.
She would not reach him with a voice that soft. Louder. She had to answer his question.
For the weak guy on the other end who was also afraid of being alone—
“Am I the only one who can still keep going…? Who still wants to fight?”
“—NO!!!”
The girl’s eyes flared as she screamed.
The voice carried through the shelter. And her voice was not the only one.
“”
She and another person who had raised their head had responded.
Their cries struggled against the sadness, the weakness, and the fear that rested in their hearts.
If that had been what the boy was planning, then they had played right into his hands. But why should she care?! If that weak, trembling voice, that unreliable rebuke, that meager encouragement, and that trust desperately clinging to faith alone had been nothing but a cheap performance, if he really had played them that perfectly, then there was no reason to feel bad about falling for it.
—But if it wasn’t an act, if that had been what he truly believed, warts and all, then they couldn’t let him stand alone.
“I’m not, right?”
“NO!”
“You can still fight, right? You won’t let the weakness consume you, right?”
“I won’t lose… I don’t want to lose!”
There was a fire in her chest now. Her jaw clenched as an emotion different from anger welled up inside her. And she was not the only one.
All around her were people swallowing that same feeling as it turned into an inferno of emotion.
Just minutes earlier, all of their hearts had been consumed by unease, but now a different, fierier emotion was uniting them.
“If the person beside you is special to you, then hold their hand and have faith. If your neighbor is someone you don’t know, then give them a nod and do your best to stand together. Do your best to fight so that neither you nor they break. And as long as you all don’t give in, I’ll keep fighting without giving up, too. I’ll fight…and I’ll win.”
“”
They were in a shelter far away from city hall, after all. No matter how much they raised their voices and shouted, there was no way their yells would reach him. And yet it sounded like there was a sense of relief in his voice, as if he had heard their cries, and his voice quivered as he made that declaration.
—I’ll fight…and I’ll win.
No one doubted he could do it. They absolutely trusted he could make it come true. Just like he had trusted that they would not give in to despair. They believed that the boy would be victorious in the most dangerous battle to come.
How could they believe that? Because his voice was sure—
“—I am Subaru Natsuki, the spirit user who defeated the Witch Cult Archbishop of Sloth.”
There was a stir when he revealed his identity.
It was a proclamation that the girl did not understand, but the people around her did. The shock was enormous, but not in a negative way. First was astonishment, and then understanding—and finally hope and trust began to spread explosively, swallowing up the girl’s heart in the swell of emotions.
“My comrades and I will take care of the cultists in the city! So please, trust us and keep fighting, too. Hold the hand of someone precious to you and give that feeling of weakness a good thrashing. And as for the rest…”
“”
“…just leave everything else to me!”
Voices cried out as a singular hope multiplied and spread.
Looking down at her brother cradled in her arms, she could see hope lighting up his green eyes, too. Confirming that, she hugged him tight. His arms timidly wrapped around her waist, too, and she looked up at the ceiling as she felt the warmth of his hug.
The boy who could not hide his own fear, his own unease, who could not hide anything from them, had sworn he would still fight, carrying the hopes and expectations of all the people in the city on his back until the very end.
She did not know his face, but in her heart, he was a picture-book hero, and she closed her eyes as if praying that he would be blessed with every good fortune she could imagine. Because he would surely break if she didn’t.
—Because he was just your average, everyday boy who was struggling against the outrageous for someone precious to him.
Sub-chapter 6.
“—Haaaaah.”
Moving away from the pipe organ–shaped metia, Subaru took a deep breath.
Wiping away the sweat on his brow, the expression of all his worries and nervousness, he suddenly realized his legs were trembling and his jaw was tensed, and he hoped that his current mess of emotions had not come out in his voice.
“Ahhh, that was rough…”
Subaru sighed as he rolled his neck at the unexpectedly heavy exhaustion.
Honestly, he had lost himself in talking partway through and could not remember the details of what he’d said. It was not all gone, but parts of it were fuzzy.
Had he actually conveyed everything that had been in the draft note that Anastasia had given him?
“Huh?”
As he contemplated what he had done, he suddenly realized that the room was awfully quiet. The people who had been watching in the room, Anastasia and everyone else, were silent.
“”
Anastasia, Garfiel, Julius, and Al had all been watching, and somewhere during the broadcast, Ricardo had joined them. They were a group not known for being short on words normally, and yet they were all silent.
Subaru could only assume he must have really badly screwed up the broadcast.
“—Natsuki.”
“Ugh! I’m sorry! I swear I’ll do better next time!”
“Huh? Why are you apologizing? You really are an oddball.”
All wound up from self-doubt, Subaru reflexively started to apologize, but Anastasia just laughed in confusion as she elegantly touched her hand to her cheek.
“It’s a bit of a strange question to ask after that, but are you by any chance—?”
“Am I what?”
“A former con artist or something?”
“Where’d that come from?! As you can see, I’m just your average, everyday schoolboy… Well, I guess in a sense, I’m not even that!”
“Ah, that’s not what I mean. I didn’t mean it as an insult. The way you wound them up was just too perfect… Bringin’ the audience down low and then liftin’ them up to a new high. You had the process down cold like you’ve been doing it for years,” Anastasia said, waving her hand as she nodded in a combination of admiration and praise.
“Huh?” Subaru cocked his head. “I don’t know anything about that. Honestly, my head went fuzzy somewhere in the middle, and I had no clue what I was saying. I only remember up to when the note started looking blurry, and I stopped trying to read from it.”
“You pretty much totally ignored my draft from that point on. And you even started going on some tangent that was totally different from what we discussed beforehand. Do you have any clue how much I was worrying watching you from over here…?”
“Ugh… I’m really sorry about that! But wasn’t it basically the gist of the draft? If it was that far off, you would have stopped me, right?”
The note that he had forgotten in the heat of the moment had been filled with Anastasia’s negotiation techniques—and the little mood-lightening jokes and witty remarks that Subaru had put in to clear away the fear the people of the city were feeling. Even if he had messed up reading it back, it should be fine as long as he had hit the high notes—
“Not much point in dwelling on it now, but you didn’t really even touch on anything we wrote down. Not even a little bit.”
“Eh?”
Anastasia breezily denied Subaru’s optimistic view.
Subaru stiffened, and he looked around the room for confirmation from the others. But the four other people all confirmed what Anastasia had said in their own ways.
“Lady Anastasia is correct, Subaru,” Julius said, stepping out and tilting his chin austerely. “Your speech was certainly not what we discussed beforehand. In particular, I was of a mind to press you on why you did not reveal that you had defeated Sloth until near the end, when that was supposed to be shared early on.”
“Wait, really?! If I didn’t even say that much, then I was just some nobody for most of that! If it was that bad, you should have stopped me! Even if it messes up the mood, if you thought it would be better to start over, then you should have stopped me!”
“Start over? That would be absurd.”
Subaru could only judge that he had screwed up badly enough to ruin the whole point of the broadcast, but Julius shook his head with a serious look on his face.
It almost seemed like he was feeling some sort of respect for Subaru.
“It was a splendid speech.”
“…Huh?” Subaru stared at him dubiously.
“Forgetting the contents of the draft was not a problem at all. You managed to come through even better than we could have hoped when you put it in your own words. I have nothing but praise for your performance. I cannot help but see in you the same Subaru I witnessed during the battles with the White Whale and Sloth.”
Julius hailed him with praise that was far more than he deserved. It was unlike him, and Subaru could sense a silent excitement radiating from the Finest of Knights. And when he realized that, it immediately felt absurd to him.
“Don’t make fun of me. For a while now, it’s felt like your jokes aren’t funny at all.”
“If it sounds like a joke to you, then it is because you think too little of yourself. But that is also part of why you were able to give the speech that you did. That was something that no one other than you could have done.”
“You really are just taunting me, aren’t you?”
Julius’s unbending stance even in such an urgent situation annoyed Subaru. He was used to Julius’s sarcastic jabs, but this was not the time for another pointless back-and-forth. If he had screwed up the speech, then they needed to do something else quickly.
“That was supposed to quell everyone’s fears, so it would be a problem if it made everyone even more unsure. Someone else should do the next one…”
“There should be limits to how self-deprecating you can be, right? It’s not like anyone else enjoys hearing it,” Anastasia cut in, annoyance blazing in the backs of her eyes as she glared sharply at Subaru. “It looks like you really don’t remember it at all, so I’ll come out and say it for you—your speech was perfect. Much better than what I thought up. You’re a natural demagogue.”
“The lady’s right! Yeaaah, that was sure somethin’! You really have a way with words! That was smooth, Bro! With a gilded tongue like that, you could get all the ladies or talk a kid out of his snack.”
“I would never take candy from a baby! And ‘demagogue’ sure doesn’t sound like a compliment, either!”
Subaru’s eyes flared at Anastasia and Ricardo’s explanations. But the two of them just glanced at each other and then shrugged, seemingly without any ill will. It half looked as if they had practiced their timing, but they also did not seem to be messing around with Subaru.
It was clear from Garfiel’s expression, too, from the way he was holding his breath and peering at Subaru’s face.
“What did you think, Garfiel? How was the broadcast?”
“…That’s why you’re my general. I wasn’t wrong to follow you out of the Sanctuary. That’s what I thought.”
“…Your expectations are always just a little bit too heavy for me…”
“But it’s ’cause of what you always do to earn them,” Garfiel said, breaking into a toothy grin.
“Then I guess I should quit trying to escape responsibility,” Subaru said, scratching his head. Everything that had happened since he started speaking into the metia still didn’t really feel real. “I sort of feel like I said something along those lines during the speech, too.”
“You did.” Anastasia laughed, rubbing her scarf. “If anything, I’m worried you inspired them too much, and people might try to do something unwise. Even we felt the effects up here, thanks to Wrath’s ability.”
“When you put it that way, it sounds more and more like a lie… If it were true, that would be some blessing of eloquence–level performance,” Subaru joked as he looked over at Al, who had started moving to the corner of the room at some point.
Noticing his gaze, Al silently looked away and made a point of slumping his shoulders. Al had been against the broadcast, so if he was reacting like that, then that had to mean Subaru really had pulled it off like everyone was saying.
“It will be a big help if the people can calm down a little bit now. Is there anything else we can do?”
“If you want anything more than that, all that’s left is to get rid of the source of all this. They’re gonna know we’re coming, after your great performance.”
“Even so, they’re still just going to do whatever they have planned out. I guess we’ll have to count on their irrational thinking when it comes to that, but we have to try to settle things as quickly as possible.”
Regardless of how well the broadcast had gone, the cultists still had the ability to destroy the city.
—We have to kick their asses for sure this time before they can do what they came to do.
“And in order to do that, we need to take down all four control towers at the same time, huh?”
“There are four Archbishops and two powerful people helping them. There’s the demi-beast problem to deal with, too, so we’re gonna have to figure out how to divide our forces to deal with ’em.”
The key to saving the city was capturing all four control towers simultaneously, which meant concentrating all their fighting power in one group like they had during the first raid on city hall would be hard. If they targeted the control towers one by one, then one of the other Archbishops could just open the floodgates.
Subaru could not imagine them managing to successfully pull off that gamble four times in a row.
There were six people on the enemy’s side. Meanwhile, Crusch was down for the count. They were low on cards and pieces to play—
“Then how about adding a trump card to the field?”
“”
As Subaru was going over the numbers they had, a voice suddenly interrupted him. Spinning around, he saw a figure standing in the doorway. Subaru’s eyebrows rose, and then he exhaled and flashed a wry smile.
“Disappear for a few hours and now you think you’re a trump card?”
“Certainly not in comparison to the man who took on the task of addressing the masses… And here I was, sure that I didn’t have any heroes for friends. I guess that was an oversight on my part.”
“I don’t think that really fits me, either.” Subaru shrugged and walked over and gave the newcomer a high five.
As he saw their lighthearted exchange, Garfiel’s eyes gleamed.
“Bro!! You were okay?!”
“I was running for dear life, but somehow I managed to get out alive.”
It was Otto Suwen, their missing friend—looking worse for wear but seemingly uninjured.
Otto held his hand up for another high five as Garfiel dashed over, but Garfiel leaped into him at full speed, wrapping his arms around Otto’s waist.
“Wah?! Wh-what?! Wh-what is it, Garfiel?! Were you really that happy to…? Owww! Ow, ow, ow! Too strong!”
“Aahhh, thank goodness… Not that I was worried about you at all, though…!”
“Y-you aren’t very convincing… Ngh…”
Just like with Subaru, Garfiel rejoiced with all his might at reuniting with Otto. After a little bit, and after Garfiel released him, Otto steadied his breath and then flashed a wry smile.
“Still, though, I’m glad to see the both of you safe. You are both far more stubborn and resilient than I am, so I wasn’t too worried.”
“You don’t say. Actually, I wasn’t that worried about you, either. I wonder why?”
“Hard to say. I guess that’s just Otto’s natural virtue?”
“Come on, it doesn’t have to be as much as Garfiel, but you should have been at least a little worried about me, Mr. Natsuki! I was running around headlong into this dangerous emergency situation all by myself!”
But there was not really much weight to what he said, either, since he actually had managed to join back up with everyone safely. Still, though, as they were enjoying their happy reunion, Anastasia broke in, clapping her hands and saying, “Yeah, yeah.”
“What a relief, what a relief. I’m glad you made it out alive, Otto. There’s a lot I’d like to ask about what you were doing during all this, but before that…” Her tone shifted as she looked Otto in the eye. “What you said earlier sounded rather important… Would you care to explain what exactly you meant by that?”
“You mean the trump card, right? It’s quite simple, really. I brought someone with me, though if he’d entered first, the celebration of my safe return would have gotten completely drowned out.” Otto explained the sad fact as he stepped aside, clearing the way.
Taking that as a sign, the person who had been patiently waiting on the other side started walking in. And when that person stepped into the room—
“—My apologies for being late.”
Just that one line was enough for them to feel like a whole army had just shown up at the gates.
“”
It almost felt like a breeze was blowing, fanning a flame that had suddenly ignited before them.
What’s more, he really was that strong. The fighting power they had been desperate for, the ultimate support, had finally arrived, and it set their hearts ablaze.
“Reinhard van Astrea of the Sword Saint lineage— It is late, but allow me to join you as well.”
Saying that, the fire burning bright, the Sword Saint announced his desire to join the battle.
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Diamond. Diamond. Diamond.
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