Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World – Vol. 2 Ch. 2

Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World. Volume. 2.

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‘Chapter 2:- THE PROMISED MORN GROWS DISTANT.’

 

 
Sub-chapter 1.

In the dining hall the twins led them to, where breakfast was to be held, the girl with curly hair said in place of a greeting, “Watching from above, I felt…dismay at seeing your considerably disappointing head, I wonder?”

Emilia had split off midway to return to her room to change clothes, so at that moment, only Subaru and the curly-haired girl were in the dining hall. Subaru made a sour face at her sarcasm.

“What’s with talking like that on a fine morning like this, loli?”

“What is that term, I wonder? I have never heard it, yet it feels distinctly…unpleasant.”

“It means you’re not on my list. I never go for girls younger than me.”

“…Perhaps I should pity you for having insulted me so?”

Deliberately ignoring the sarcastic girl’s words, Subaru looked over the dining hall.

A table covered in a white cloth was at the center; the plates had already been set. If one was set for Subaru, it was surely the lowest seat at the table.

“I don’t know anything about table manners. How about I let you give me pointers?”

“Is that arrogance, I wonder? If you do not understand, simply say so and lower your head.”

“If I could do that much, I might as well just sit in the big chair and really irritate you.”

The girl shook with anger, her face going red as Subaru waved with a palm and sat in the big chair. It’d probably be Emilia or the lord of the manor who’d sit there, with fifty-fifty odds for each.

Seeing Subaru genuinely unable to get comfortable in the chair, the curly-haired girl shook her exasperated face.

“Well, fine. More importantly, have you no words with which to thank me?”

“Thanks? I asked for help just now and you brushed me off, didn’t you? And what kind of person asks to be thanked? I’d wanna see the look on your dad’s face for that one!”

“What are you angry for, I wonder?! I should be the angry one! After all I did…!”

They kept egging each other on.

The girl, her voice flustered at Subaru’s reply, never quite finished her sentence. Mindful of the unnatural pause, Subaru prompted her to continue, but…

The door to the dining hall opened and the twin maids came in pushing a cart.

“Pardon us, Dear Guest. I shall set the meal.”

“Pardon us, Dear Guest. I shall set the tableware and the tea.”

The blue-haired girl laid out an orthodox breakfast menu consisting of salad, bread, and the like, while the pink-haired girl briskly poured and placed cups of tea. The warm scents made Subaru’s stomach grumble out of nowhere.

“Whoa, not bad at all. Now this is a breakfast fit for nobility… I was worried it was going to be some weird out-of-this-world thing.”

Subaru, worried that any strange thing could potentially be served here, was considerably relieved.

When he looked all around, he couldn’t place anything in particular that seemed to pose physical or mental danger.

His enthusiasm rising, Subaru leaned back against the chair, making it creak. The sound echoed throughout the dining room, bringing a hint of annoyance to the girl’s soothing face.

For some reason, Subaru couldn’t resist needling the curly-haired girl. Wanting to see her soothing face break down further, Subaru, full of mischief, decided to move his butt all around the chair.

However, before he could do so, a new individual entered the dining hall, his happy-sounding voice interrupting everything else.

“Ohhh my. You certainly seem raaather spry. That is good, veeery good.”

He was a tall man, at least half a head above Subaru’s height, wearing his dark blue hair long to nearly cover his entire back. But his body seemed not so much slender as delicate, with his skin color ghastly pale.

Combined with the look of his face, he somehow seemed like some sort of pretty boy. The effect was further accentuated by his left and right eyes being different colors, the first yellow, the other blue.

—Well, it might have if he wasn’t decked out in that weird outfit and makeup that made him look like a clown.

“…Man, you hired a jester to entertain us before breakfast? I’ll never get how rich folks think.”

Beatrice watched and commented.

“I have some idea what you must be thinking, but I shall not get in the way.”

“Don’t be that way, Betty. We’re friends, right? Let’s do some more small talk.”

“What kind of relationship do you and I have, I wonder? Also, do not speak my name so casually.”

The girl snubbed him with a shrug and withdrew from the conversation.

Subaru scowled at her behavior as the clown walking into the dining hall opened his eyes wide, looking at both her and Subaru.

“Oh my, it is raaare to see Beatrice here. Is it not fortuitous thaaat you decided to share a meal with me after so looong?”

“If that man over there is the only optimist, wouldn’t that already be too many, I wonder? I wait for Puckie and Puckie alone.”

Brushing off his chummy statement, the girl—Beatrice—shifted to behind the clown. The silver-haired girl, having finished changing her attire, entered the dining hall a bit after the clown.

“Puckie!”

Practically leaping from her seat, Beatrice ran over, her long skirt swaying. Seeing a smile like a flower in bloom come over her was so adorable that it made him forget how he’d pegged the girl as “cheeky.”

Her gaze was trained on Emilia, but it was not Emilia who replied.

“Heya, Betty. It’s been four days. Have you been happy and ladylike?”

Beatrice nodded at the words of the buoyant little gray kitty popping out of Emilia’s hair.

“I have been eagerly awaiting your return, Puckie. You would enjoy spending the day together, I wonder?”

“Yeah, that’d be great! Both of us can take it easy for one day.”

“That is wonderful!”

Puck leapt off Emilia’s shoulder to land upon Beatrice’s outstretched palms. As she caught Puck, Beatrice lovingly embraced him and ran around in circles then and there.

Subaru was struck senseless by the happy, carefree scene as Emilia walked over with a teasing smile.

“Tee-hee, aren’t they merry? Puck and Beatrice are very close, you see.”

“Nobody uses merry anymore…”

When Subaru gave Emilia his stock reply for when she used outdated words, Emilia went, “Mm?” and pointed Subaru’s way.

“Er, Subaru, that chair…”

“Oh, right! Uh, it’s not what you think. I mean, a cold chair really throws you off, so I figured I’d warm it up a little. It wasn’t that I just wanted to sit where you usually sit, like an indirect sit-down, really.”

“Sorry, I’m not really sure what you mean, but that’s Roswaal’s seat.”

With Subaru’s big scheme foiled, he slid off the chair in front of the wide-eyed Emilia.

“Oh, there’s no need for concern. I see, your warmth may not reach Lady Emilia, but I shall treasure it greatly.”

The clown reached out and patted Subaru’s shoulder, smiling at him in consolation. The touch to his shoulder and the gently smiling, made-up face drew a sour frown from Subaru.

“This clown’s acting real chummy. It’s not polite to touch the dancing girls, you know?”

“Since when did you become a da… Er, no, Subaru, this man is…”

“My, my, myyy, I do nooot mind, Lady Emilia. Considering how he went from being at death’s door to being in such high spirits, shooould we not be quiiite grateful?”

The clown’s tone of voice excelled at getting on one’s nerves, yet his statement was extremely sensible. The others continued to watch the clown as he slowly sat down in the chair—the very chair at the head of the table that Subaru had been seated in just before.

“Hey, now. Not that I should say this, but sitting in someone else’s chair is gonna tick people off.”

Emilia made an exasperated face at Subaru’s statement as she murmured, “No need to worry about th… You, ah, really should introduce yourself to Subaru.”

It seemed Emilia’s exasperation was also directed toward the clown.

“What do you mean?”

“In ooother words, she meeeans…this.”

The clown seated in the chair replied to Subaru’s query as he spread his arms out wide.

“’Tiiis I, lord of this manor, Roswaal L. Mathers. It is goooood that you feel so safe and comfortable under my roof, Subaru Natsuki.”

And so, the deviant noble dressed as a clown introduced himself in a lively manner thoroughly devoid of shame.

Sub-chapter 2.

Beginning with Roswaal in the seat of honor, they sat in prearranged seats and began breakfast.

“Mm…this is better than usual…”

Subaru was admiring the food before his eyes reminiscent of salad and soup. Roswaal nodded back, seeming to take personal pride in Subaru’s appraisal of the cooking as he looked at Rem.

“Mm-hmm, iiindeed, indeed. She may not look it, but Rem’s cooking is quite something.”

When Subaru looked at Rem, too, she made a fox sign with a hand. Subaru didn’t know what it meant, but it might’ve been this world’s version of making a V with your fingers.

Subaru made a frog with both hands in reply.

“So the blue-ha… Is calling you Rem fine? So you cooked this?”

“Yes, Dear Guest. Rem handles the meals in this household. Sister is not especially good at it.”

“Oh-ho, so it’s like, you twins have different specialties. So, your sister’s really good at cleaning?”

“Yes, Sister specializes in cleaning inside and doing the laundry.”

“So since you’re good at all the cooking, you’re not so good at cleaning and laundry, Remrin?”

“No, I excel at all domestic chores, including cleaning and laundry, more than Sister.”

“What’s she here for, then?!”

An older twin sister worse at everything under the sun than her little sister? This was a new one.

The older sister seemed to pay no heed to Rem’s statement. Subaru couldn’t prove it, but he guessed the words were true. So why wasn’t Ram bothered by it at all…?

“So maybe it’s different fields, huh? Ramchi does combat stuff and the other does more domestic stuff?”

“Not a baaad guess. Though Ram and Rem make a poor first impression because of their idiosyncrasies, yes?”

“Hard for that to stand out now when their master’s so unique, Rozchi.”

By Rozchi, Subaru was addressing the man in charge by a pet name, but Roswaal let the statement pass with practiced ease. Subaru had an ingrained tendency to get a rise out of people, but not so here. That said, the items on the menu vanished from the plates one after another before they knew it.

“It’d be something of a dilemma if the food wasn’t good, but it’s delicious, so no prob. Right, Emilia-tan?”

Emilia wiped her lips with a napkin, grimacing at Subaru’s carefree words. Subaru tilted his head, wondering what was up, as Emilia exhaled slightly.

“You know, Subaru, you shouldn’t speak at the dinner table. It’s rude to Ram and Rem, who prepared this all by themselves. Without proper manners, you’ll make blunders during important occasions, so…”

“No one uses blunder anymore… Table manners, huh. Kind of late to learn them now, though, right?”

Subaru delivered his cliché while motioning toward the dining hall with his hand. In spite of the spacious hall, Subaru was sitting right beside Emilia.

By rights, the two would be seated quite far apart to make full use of the dining table.

“But I moved closer because I wanted to eat with Emilia-tan. Roswaal didn’t say he minded, so what’s the big deal? I mean, you can give me any veggies you don’t like.”

“All right, you can have my green bepper— Wait, that’s not the point. I’m being an idiot.”

Subaru laughed, finding it cute how Emilia tapered her lips in a pout at being outdone in their verbal jousting.

After that, Subaru belatedly brought up an issue Emilia’s words had raised.

“Incidentally, Rozchi, I thought I heard Emilia-tan say this household has only two maids working here?”

“Ahh, yeees, such is currently the caaase. Ram and Rem are the only ones left.”

“Two people handling a place this huge? You’d think people would die from overwork no matter how good they are. That said…it doesn’t feel like you’re going to be hiring any new maids here?”

Roswaal was silent to Subaru’s question, crossing his arms at the table. Roswaal’s face displayed a smile, but the eyes with which he regarded Subaru had subtly changed.

“You truly are a mystery, having come to the house of Mathers at the far reaches of the Kingdom of Lugunica, yet you do not know the circumstances? Amazing that you made it past royal customs.”

“Well, I am kind of an undocumented immigrant in a sense…”

Subaru’s casual reply startled Emilia; she gave him a glare like she was scolding a young child.

“I can’t believe it. If you say things like that so easily, bad people will make mincemeat out of you.”

“Nobody uses mincemeat anymore.”

“Don’t joke about this. Hey, Subaru, is that really true? Is everyone where you come from like this, or is it really just you who doesn’t know?”

Subaru, feeling bad at how Emilia was genuinely worried, reflected upon his own behavior.

“Err, more like my education’s especially lacking. So if it’s no bother, I really would be grateful if you filled me in.”

“You seem an educated enough child to me from the big words you’re using, but…”

“I mean, this here’s my debut with high society. I mean, there’re things you don’t know either, Emilia-tan? Honorifics like that and extra-polite words seem to throw you off?”

“Err…you do have a point.”

Emilia seemed to shrink at Subaru’s observation. Seeing Emilia like that surprised him, but it was not the wilting Emilia who followed up but Roswaal, previously silent in the seat of honor.

“I do understand what you are saying, but Lady Emilia is cuuurrently studying such things, you seeee.”

“Studying, huh. Wait, you mean we lost her when we were talking earlier?”

“You truly do have an active mind. It is because you think so much that you can make such thoughtless-sounding statements.”

Subaru slouched from Roswaal’s apparent praise before giving his own chest a thump.

“Thinking while you live is just common sense. It’s the duty of every man to think on his feet for when the chips are down. That or your guts get spilled all over the floor.”

“I feel like your guts kind of did spill on the… Ahem. Back to the other subject… Subaru, do you know this country’s…the Kingdom of Lugunica’s situation at the moment?”

“Not the smallest, tiniest bit.”

“Hearing you say it like that, I’m shocked you’ve lived this long.”

That doesn’t sound like praise to me, Subaru thought while looking fondly at Emilia. He wasn’t trying to arouse her protective instincts, but she was certainly giving him that mother-hen feeling.

“By ‘situation’…you mean the country’s in a bad spot?”

Roswaal carefully chose his words.

“A fairly difficult situation, yes, for Lugunica currently lacks a king.”

Subaru’s breath caught as it sank in. He gave the man in performer makeup a guarded look as he sat straighter in his chair.

“There is no need for suuuch concern. The gravity of the situation is alreeeady well known to the public, you see.”

“Well, that’s good. I was thinking I’d learned a dangerous secret and would never get out alive.”

“It’s sad you’re hearing it first from us… Anyway, the nation’s highly unstable right now,” Emilia said.

I see, thought Subaru as that sank in. A kingdom without a king was in a very precarious situation. The sudden death of a king, from natural causes or otherwise, could shake a country to its core.

“But isn’t that usually dealt with by having a child of the king inherit and take over?”

“Usually, that iiis the case. Howeeever, that went awry due to an incident half a year ago when a great plague struck inside the palace walls.”

As Roswaal told it, they announced that the epidemic only affected those of a particular bloodline. And so, the king and his descendants dwelling in the castle perished.

“Can’t blame them for getting sick and dying. But what’s gonna happen to this country, then? If there’s no royal bloodline, what, start a democracy and elect a prime minister?”

“I do not cooomprehend the latter part of your statement, but presently, a Council of Elders manages the affairs of the country, formed from great families decorating the kingdom’s history. The country will continue to operate. However…”

After pausing a moment, Roswaal grew tenser.

“…a kingdom must have a king.”

“I suppose so.”

Even if just for show, you couldn’t have an organization without someone at its head, let alone a kingdom.

“I see,” reflected Subaru. “I’ve got the gist of it. In other words, the country has no king and is in a jumble while it’s trying to pick a new one. Your relations with foreign countries are deteriorating and you’re in international isolation. So a mysterious foreigner like me appearing is…super suspicious?!”

“Fuuurthermore, by making contact with Lady Emilia, you have become associated with the House of Mathers, you see… Though the evidence is circumstantial, that is all some would need to…”

Roswaal lowered his eyes and traced a line across his throat with his thumb. Though Roswaal looked like he was joking, Subaru suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.

He had a bad feeling about something. He’d picked up on it earlier, but it loomed larger and larger with each passing moment.

“Why is…the lord of the manor calling Emilia-tan lady?”

The golden rule of any household was that everyone paid respect to the person of the highest rank.

When Roswaal laughed, Subaru felt like the bud of anxiety in his chest had begun to bloom.

“Is it not naaatural to address someone of higher rank than I with proper reeespect?”

Subaru froze with his mouth open. He looked at Emilia so robotically that you could hear the gears turn in his neck. The girl, a grimace on her face, sighed with resignation.

“I don’t want you to think I was pulling the wool over your eyes, all right?”

“—Err, in other words, Emilia-tan, you’re…?”

Subaru stubbornly stuck to the nickname as she seemed to drive in the final nail.

“Currently, my title is royal candidate, one of those seeking to become the forty-second ruler of the Kingdom of Lugunica…with the backing of Roswaal’s House, that is.”

Her words made Subaru feel like he’d insulted Heaven itself.

Sub-chapter 3.

—So the pretty girl he’d stumbled upon in the other world was a queen.

That word alone firmly established that this was a true-blue fantasy world.

Technically, she was a candidate to be queen. When he remembered his time in contact with her now…

“Man, three lives aren’t enough to pay for this, are they…?”

“Sorry to surprise you this much. I really hadn’t meant to keep quiet about it, but, well…”

“Hey, I’m not upset. You truly are as kind as an angel, Emilia-tan.”

“Eh?!”

Subaru’s overly direct words made Emilia’s face look shocked, then scarlet.

“Well, you know, you’re the reason everything’s happened since I’ve been here, Emilia. You’re seriously E M T (Emilia-tan’s a Major Treasure), that’s my honest opinion!”

“…Sigh. Now I think I understand how I got involved with you. You’ll brush off anything from anyone. Let’s just get to the point, shall we?”

Traces of redness still on her face, Emilia clapped her hands to reset the scene. Though still seated, the earlier sense of distance seemed to return; Subaru was forced to go along.

“I feel like I am interruuupting, but regardless, let us indeed get to the poooint, shall we? Is that fiiine with you, Subaru?”

“Based on my head not flying off my shoulders, I’m guessing it’s nothing all that bad.”

Roswaal whistled at Subaru’s words. Emilia looked equally taken off guard, for both surely saw Subaru’s words and actions as a sign that he had a firm understanding of their intentions.

Of course, both were reading far too much into it, but that flew way over Subaru’s head.

“Well, that’s what I guessed about the ‘point’ based on your telling me Emilia-tan’s a royal candidate and why that’s important, right?”

Emilia made a belated remark.

“…Subaru, are you actually smart, or are you simply wrong in the head?”

“Those are two extreme choices, you know?!”

Subaru agonized as Emilia stuck out her tongue at him a little. She was cute, so all was forgiven.

Notwithstanding Subaru’s internal simplicity, Roswaal followed up after Emilia’s “apology.”

“Your guess is quite on target. This matter is deeply related to what shall become of you. Lady Emilia?”

“Mm, I understand.”

Emilia, nodding when called, pulled out something and set it on the table. Her white fingertips pushed it forward. Subaru raised his brows when he saw it.

“—That’s that badge from…?”

Glittering atop a white cloth, it was a badge with a dragon motif, a jewel embedded in the center of its maw. It was also the key item stolen by the light-fingered Felt, which Subaru had returned to Emilia, its proper owner, coming back from three deaths to do it.

The deep, serene twinkle of the jewel struck Subaru’s eyes, filling him with newfound awe.

“The dragon is the symbol of Lugunica, you see, enough that it is known by the rather graaand name, the Dragonfriend Kingdom of Lugunica. Castle walls and weapons are often adorned with this symbol, but this badge is particularly important.”

When Roswaal took a pregnant pause, Subaru looked at him to urge him to continue. Roswaal shifted his gaze to Emilia to suggest she proceed. Emilia closed her eyes as her lips trembled.

“It is one’s qualification as a royal candidate—a test to determine if the person is worthy of sitting on the throne of the Kingdom of Lugunica.”

Her statement, said in a strained voice, made Subaru’s eyes go wide. The badge sitting on the table, a dragon with wings outstretched on the glittering jewel, supported the proof of her claim.

“H-hold on here… You lost the badge that proves you’re a royal candidate?!”

“That’s putting it rather crudely. A light-fingered girl stole it!”

“Same difference—!!”

With that great shout, Subaru smacked his palms against the dining table as he rose to his feet. The impact threatened to make utensils fall to the floor, but Rem’s quick follow-up prevented that. Subaru paid that no heed as he spoke.

“Wait, seriously, what’d happen if you didn’t have it?! That’s, like, the type of item that’s really, really bad to throw away, right?! They can’t issue another one?!”

“Weeell, if a candidate loses it, it won’t end with just talk and excuses, yeees?”

With Subaru all flustered, Roswaal adjusted the lapel of his unnecessarily large outfit as he spoke.

“A king carries the kingdom on his shoulders. It is thought that a person who cannot protect a single small badge cannot be entrusted with a responsibility as grave as an entire land.”

“Well, that figures. If anyone knew, it’d be a huge scandal… Which means?!”

The strife in the royal capital over the stolen badge and the warm reception now—it could mean only one thing.

Subaru continued, “It’s really bad if the public finds out you lost the badge. That’s why Emilia-tan was looking for it all by herself.”

Emilia replied, “…Yes, that’s right.”

“Felt was the one who stole it, but Elsa was the client, and she said someone else put her up to it…meaning someone’s trying to stop Emilia-tan from becoming queen?”

“That wooould appear to be the case. There is no simpler way to disqualify someone than to steal the baaadge.”

Inside Subaru, everything that had taken place the day before started to come together.

How Emilia stubbornly refused his help; Felt and her client, Elsa; Subaru being murdered three times over—all of it was rooted in the value of the badge. So, too, was why Subaru was there at the manor.

“Man, looking back on it, I did a super good job! Man, I need a bigger reward, huh!”

Subaru was full of himself now that he suddenly knew the importance of his own actions. He looked down at Emilia haughtily, wagging his finger teasingly. He was waiting for the punch line. But.

“Yeah, you’re right. You’ve been a huge help to me, Subaru. So much that merely saving your life isn’t enough. That’s how much this means to me.”

The way she lifted her hand to her breast, giving Subaru a serious look, put him at a loss for words.

The stiffness of his cheeks didn’t match the tense, serious aura all around him.

—Oh man, I seriously suck at reading the mood.

Subaru’s inability to read the tension in the air clashed with the serious look on Emilia’s face. Finally, amid his great embarrassment…

—

“…What are you doing?”

“Er, my hand just kind of reached out.”

With Emilia staring at him, Subaru had gently brushed his fingertips into her hair, not so much stroking her head as simply passing his fingers through the hair and enjoying the feeling.

“I’m an easygoing guy. I was thinking this would be reward enough for me.”

“…You stroked Puck’s fur, too. Subaru, do you have some kind of hair fetish?”

Subaru let out a yell at the harsh assessment.

“Hey, wait, fur and hair aren’t the same thing at all! Your silver hair’s really pretty!”

Emilia’s silver hair truly felt smooth as silk; its soft charm bewitched Subaru in an entirely different way from Puck’s fur.

But for some reason, Subaru’s words made Emilia lower her eyes with a pained look. Subaru tilted his head, not knowing the reason for Emilia’s action. His head was still like that when he felt a gaze from behind.

“Ah, perrrhaps we are in the way? We could leave you two to yourselves?”

“Your concern’s the dictionary definition of none of your business. And it’s still my turn to ask questions.”

Subaru continued enjoying the feel of Emilia’s hair as he used his free hand to point at Roswaal.

“I understand Emilia-tan being a candidate for becoming queen, but what about this business of you backing her?”

“You really aaare rather observant. You’ve picked up the preeevious matters quite well, though this is aaall second nature to any human born and raised in the city.”

“I’m honored to have your praise, Count. Though simple anime and romance novels kind of prepared my mind for this fantasy stuff.”

Like any reader, he’d been thrust into original scenarios with confusing, hard-to-remember world-building. Stuffing this level of background info into his head was no big accomplishment.

“Well, it is not something I was trying to conceal. My title is the Kingdom of Lugunica’s…I suppose technically I am lord of the outer regions, but my role sounds better expressed as…court magician, perhaps?”

“Court magician…? So you handle magic use at the castle?”

Emilia picked up where Subaru’s words left off.

“Yes. That’s the magician of the highest rank… He’s the foremost magic user in the entire kingdom.”

She looked a little dissatisfied nonetheless. Roswaal seemed nothing but pleased with Emilia’s reply, smiling as he brought some tea to his lips.

“So continuing the earlier topic, I stand in support of Lady Emilia’s royal candidacy. I am the shield behind her, her patron, sooo to speak.”

“Patron, huh.”

A representative for those backing her. So that was the position of the man before his eyes.

Subaru looked anew at the tall man in clown makeup before gently trading a glance with Emilia.

“I don’t mean to put this the wrong way but…Emilia-tan, you sure about this guy?”

“It can’t be helped. He’s the only one in the kingdom I can ask for support. In the first place, only a meddlesome eccentric like Roswaal would help someone like me, so…”

“Ah, I see. Process of elimination.”

“Quiiite a conversation you two are having right in front of your patron, if I maaay say so…”

Perhaps feeling somewhat slandered, Roswaal gave off an adult chuckle rather than anger. Maybe he had really thick skin—that or he simply took pleasure in ignoring people.

“So, back to the point, Rozchi. I get that you’re Emilia-tan’s sponsor. It’s cute how she goes from one extreme to another to hide how she’s a bit of an airhead, but acting on her own like she did yesterday in the capital, that’s kinda rare, huh?”

“I wooould call it unprecedented. Thooough Ram should have been with her…”

Roswaal made a strained smile as he shifted the topic to Ram. When Subaru looked at her, he saw she had the same hairstyle and face as Rem, standing beside her. At least you could nicely tell them apart by their hair color.

“Man, that totally smug ‘I got away with it, just as I hoped’ look gets on my nerves.”

Whether she intended to reflect on her error or not, he had her over a barrel. However, Emilia raised a hand in her defense with an awkward look on her face.

“Um, it’s not Ram’s fault. Yesterday I split up from Ram because I…lost out to my curiosity and wandered all around.”

“What’s that doe-eyed little-girl excuse?! Emilia-tan being a big airhead doesn’t change the fact that she didn’t fulfill her lord’s commands. Is that all right…?”

With Emilia trying to cover for Ram, Subaru pointed a finger from each hand at her before he shifted them over to Roswaal.

“You dooo have a point, thoooough I share responsibility for Ram’s lack of discretion. But what are you trying to say, I wooonder?”

“Simple. You’re the ones who dropped the ball by taking your eyes off someone important like Emilia-tan. That’s where I came into the picture. I’m saying, if you had it all covered to begin with, none of this would’ve happened.”

Subaru’s little speech changed the looks on everyone’s faces.

Emilia raised her eyebrows, one of the twins looked apologetic while the other glared with hostility, Beatrice still had her heated gaze trained on Puck while Puck was precariously stuck headfirst into the egg yolk on the dish before her…and Roswaal made a pleasant smile, nodding as if he agreed.

“I seeee. Certainly Lady Emilia’s worth exceeds my considerable personal fortune. It is appropriate that you should seek a reward only from me, as her sponsor, iiis it nooot?”

“Yep. And you’re not gonna say no, are you, Rozchi? I mean, I saved Emilia-tan’s life and stopped her from dropping out of the royal selection. I’m totally her savior!”

Subaru rose from his seat and posed with a finger pointed up to the sky.

“I muuust admit that it is the truth. Now, then, would you care to elaborate?”

Roswaal, too, rose from his seat, looking down at Subaru from his superior height. Emilia looked worried as she watched Subaru and Roswaal stare each other down.

“Whaaat is it that you seek from me? I cannot refuse your request, if only to prevent this matter from becoming public knowledge. Nooow then, what is your desire?”

“Heh-heh-heh, that’s a noble for you; you really get it. Whatever reward I want! And you can’t say no, Rozchi! A man doesn’t take back his word!”

“That is quiiite a saying! I see, a man should make no excuses. No reneging on his word.”

Subaru’s petty villain behavior made him hear his popularity meter drop in his mind, but the entire effort was devoted to dragging that one statement out of him.

Roswaal’s consent made Subaru’s inner self smile.

“I want one thing and one thing only. I want you to hire me.”

Compared to the extended foreplay, Subaru’s declaration was plain and simple.

The girls behind Subaru were in shock at his statement. The looks on the twins’ faces became mildly conflicted, whereas Beatrice looked seriously perturbed. As for Emilia…

“I-it’s not for me to say, but that’s kind of…”

Her eyes were so wide that even the sublime beauty she was born with lost half its power.

“You’re cute when you’re surprised, but are you that against the idea?”

“It’s not that; you want so little!”

It was like Emilia was angry for him as she slapped the table and closed the distance with Subaru.

“It’s not just the thing with Puck, okay? It’s…like when you asked me my name back in the royal capital.”

Emilia listed the rewards Subaru had claimed to the best of her knowledge. Emilia knew what he’d done to get those rewards; she shook her head like she really didn’t understand.

“You don’t…understand how grateful I feel. I can’t…repay you at all for saving my life and more, if you ask for so little!”

Emilia’s inflection tapered off as she pressed a palm to Subaru’s chest and lowered her head.

Hearing Emilia’s lament, Subaru painfully understood his own thoughtlessness.

Emilia had always felt indebted to him. She wanted to pay him back in some suitable way.

But the same went for Subaru. Subaru had always been indebted to Emilia. And twice he had become indebted to her in a way he could never repay.

He could not repay kindness that had “never happened.”

Before him, Emilia raised up her wavering violet eyes. Seeing the serious look with her plea, Subaru abandoned all thought of kidding around or papering it over.

Subaru decided to convey to Emilia how he really felt with all the seriousness he could muster.

“You don’t understand, Emilia-tan. At the time, that was what I truly wanted from the bottom of my heart, you see?”

“—Huh?”

“At the time, I wanted to know your name. I think being in a new, uncertain land with no idea what would come the next day, if I’d stopped to think about it, there were lots of things I could’ve considered— But I’m a man who can’t lie to himself.”

It was a reward for which he’d died three times.

For nothing more than to see the smiling face of the silver-haired girl before his eyes and to learn her name.

—At that moment, there was no greater reward he could wish for.

“My request to Rozchi’s like that, too. Right now, I’m completely, totally broke. Sure, I could ask for a pile of gold, but why not set myself up so I can make a living long-term?”

“…If you wanted that, you could ask to just live here for free, not as a manservant, you know?”

“Oh, I could’ve done that?! Hey, Mr. Roswaal, could you let me live as a fr—”

Looking at Roswaal as Subaru tried to amend his wish, the man crossed his hands above his head in an X mark.

“I shall honor the first request. A man does not take back his word, dooooes he?”

“Whoa! You’re right! A man doesn’t do that, huh?!”

Subaru tearfully found his request denied because someone had to open his big mouth earlier.

“And I thought for a moment there you seemed actually serious… I must have just imagined it.”

“And then Emilia-tan lowers my rating! That’s kicking me while I’m down!”

Subaru realized he’d passed up the chance to establish the perfect easy life in a fantasy-world environment. He didn’t need to lower the beautiful girl’s opinion of him on top of that.

“Anyway…that’s how it is, so…I mean, Ramchi and Remrin must be straining to take care of this place all by themselves, so please let me work under them.”

“It iiis true that is an actual concern… Though I beeelieve it is as Lady Emilia said, it is indeeeed asking rather little?”

With Roswaal showing a strained smile for once, Subaru put up his left and right index fingers and wiggled them.

“I’m a super greedy guy, actually. I mean, living under the same roof as a super cute, beautiful girl who’s totally my type, what guy wouldn’t want that? Close in body is close to the heart, and opportunities abound!”

“…I seeee, certainly it is as you say. It is rare one gets to work by the side of girls one is interested in, iiis it not? Quiiite pleasant for you.”

“Well, besides.”

Subaru stopped wiggling his fingers and used them to scratch his unkempt hair.

“Besides, you’re not gonna let a guy you know nothing about like me just pack up and leave. And to me, the pros and cons say I should stay with Emilia-tan.”

Subaru knew a few too many inconvenient things. He was declaring his belief that nothing good would happen to him if he left the manor without any means of protecting himself.

If Roswaal had never considered any such thing, no doubt he would have taken extreme offense. But in contrast to Subaru’s awkward feelings about it, “Then it shall be as you ask—I hope we geeet along very nicely.”

Roswaal’s instant reply came with one eye closed, looking at Subaru with his yellow eye alone.

Subaru couldn’t read what he was thinking behind that suspicious twinkle.

Incidentally, Subaru was very embarrassed inside from having made such a strong public confession.

But when Subaru timidly looked at Emilia’s expression…

“Goodness, you really are a hopeless child… Did something happen?”

Her perfectly calm reply left Subaru at a loss for words.

Maybe he was overthinking it? This was just the result of his lack of experience with being around a beautiful girl.

“Man, dealing with a girl I like this much is gettin’ me all worked up…”

Emilia, watching Subaru get fired up on a tangent instead of dealing with more pressing matters, murmured in a little voice, “Which one’s more your type, I wonder…Ram or Rem?”

Emilia put a finger to her lips in a huff, taking what he’d said earlier completely the wrong way.

Sub-chapter 4.

—With the long breakfast taken care of, the matter of what to do with Subaru was largely settled.

Seeing this, the first to stand was the girl with curly hair—Beatrice.

“I see the discussion is settled, so may I take my leave with Puckie, I wonder?”

Beatrice was quick to finish her own meal so that she could leave as soon as possible. Grimacing even then, she seemed about to leave without bothering to put her plates in order when Subaru wagged a finger at her.

“Wait, there’s no need to be in that much of a hu— Hey, at least introduce yourself. I don’t know what your place is here at all. You Rozchi’s little sister?”

“Treating me as that thing’s relative? You are quite accomplished at angering me.”

Beatrice let out a sigh full of disgust as Roswaal, thoroughly bad-mouthed, smiled in amusement. Subaru slumped his shoulders as Beatrice shot him a nasty glare when Puck spoke up.

“Betty’s the librarian of the archive of forbidden books here in Roswaal’s manor!”

“Puckie?!”

Just when it seemed like an argument was about to break out, the gray cat’s statement tore it to shreds. Puck was busy nibbling on the heel of a loaf of bread glazed with sugar for a luxurious dessert.

“Sweet, tasty, meow…”

“Hate to bug you when you’re on a sugar high, but could you tell me more?”

With Puck lost in a sweet daze, Subaru touched Puck’s heavily sprinkled ear, urging him on.

Subaru was toying with it quite a bit when Puck raised his face from the plate.

“It’s because Roswaal’s a pretty accomplished magician, plus he comes from a pretty old family. There’re lots of books here that aren’t for other people to see. So, he made a pact with Betty for her to protect them.”

“Yes, that’s true. How is Puckie always so right, I wonder?”

Beatrice seemed to agree without thinking, speaking as her hand sprang out to Puck’s other ear. A lovely look came over her as her fingers felt the fur of his ears.

It was the first time Subaru had seen Beatrice with an expression that suited her loveliness.

Subaru’s breath caught. The odd girl out, Emilia tilted her head a bit as she watched.

“You two look like you’re really getting along nicely while playing with the cute kitty there.”

“Getting along nicely with this person is a little…!”

“How could I ever get along with this person, I wonder?!”

Subaru and Beatrice both shot down Emilia’s idea. For his part, Subaru was hiding a blush; for her part, Beatrice looked quite serious.

“Hee-hee. I’m so scary, making two people at odds with each other into my slaves… Meow meow meow!”

Puck was busy being the literal center of attention when Emilia’s outstretched fingers grasped him. Puck was in Emilia’s fingers, unable to move, as she sighed.

“All that said, being the guardian of an archive of forbidden books… The sound of it really tickles a guy’s mind.”

Beatrice was giving Subaru a sullen look as he tickled Puck, but Subaru’s suggestion softened her expression. She toyed with her own long rolls as she gave what was, for Beatrice, a frank reply.

“Perhaps you did not hear Puckie’s explanation? It is the room you entered earlier.”

“Oh, the one with all the books!”

Remembering the great volume of books chewing up all the floor space, Subaru could accept it being that kind of archive. On the other hand, the idea that all those volumes were somehow forbidden made him feel like it was a crime on a completely different scale.

“Don’t tell me this loli’s your unwitting partner in crime…?!”

“That word annoys me every time I hear it. And to answer your question, the very thought that I am an innocent victim annoys me enough, couldn’t I just die, I wonder?”

“Don’t be so prickly, shrimp. It takes calcium and a calm heart to get taller. If you were about as tall as Emilia-tan and me, we’d have quite a little love comedy going on here…”

He left Beatrice to stew indignantly at his comment as he gave Emilia an amorous glance. But Emilia let that comment slide and pressed a different issue with Beatrice.

“Wait a minute. Beatrice…don’t tell me you let him into the archive?”

“…I shouldn’t have to tell you. Why would I ever need to let in a stranger such as him on purpose, I wonder? No, he solved the riddle of the Passage all on his very own.”

A vein bulged on Beatrice’s forehead as she roughly stood up and pushed open the dining hall door.

Subaru, faced with the incomprehensible scene before him, asked like a complete idiot, “Ah? The hallway just…?”

Before his eyes, the open door that should have led to the manor’s hall beyond had opened to a huge room lined with bookshelves. He almost swooned when he remembered that he’d seen it once before.

“This is the Passage. You are trembling as its sublime beauty burns itself into your eyes, perhaps?—Come on, Puckie.”

Beatrice stepped into the archive of forbidden books, looking triumphantly at Subaru as she stretched out her hand. Puck leapt from Emilia to land upon her outstretched palm.

Upon this, Beatrice closed the door behind both her and the cat.

Ram didn’t say a word as she opened the shut door. Subaru’s eyes widened in total surprise.

“Whoa, that’s incredible.”

Beyond the door, closed so roughly a moment before, Subaru walked with his own feet into the hallway beyond. The scene before him a moment before was like a mirage.

“I see. In other words, magic makes it so any door here can connect to any room. Pretty neat for recluses who need to find the john in a pinch.”

Emilia seemed a bit thrown off.

“You actually look less surprised than I expected. What’s a recluse?”

“A guardian who sacrifices himself holding down the fort at home, waiting for weary family members to return.”

“Er…that sounds noble. Are you a recluse, Subaru?”

Emilia was full of concern when a puff of smoke interrupted her and Subaru, tickling his nose.

“Achoo!”

“Yes, yes, shall we continue the introductions? Ram, Rem.”

“Pleased to make your acquaintance. I am Rem, employed as chief maid by this household.”

“Nice to meet you. I am Ram, working as an ordinary maid in Master Roswaal’s mansion.”

Subaru crossed his arms.

“Wow, you sisters suddenly got nice and formal. Well, not that I’m one to talk, but…”

The twins joined hands and looked at Subaru.

“But Dear Guest…or rather, Subaru, you are our coworker now?”

“But Dear Guest…or rather, Barusu, you work under us here now?”

“Hey, Big Sis. You’re throwing my name back in my face here.”

That was the one thing you absolutely did not do at your first formal introduction. Of course, there was no way for Ram or Rem to know of that rule of Japanese society. Subaru endured the mockery as he turned toward Roswaal.

“So that’s my standing, huh? Not so much a butler as an apprentice maid?”

“In this situation, your doing odd jobs at their discretion seeems best. Dissatisfied…?”

“If I was gonna be dissatisfied I’d have only myself to blame. Well, had to be done, so no regrets. Take good care of me, my seniors. I’m gonna work super hard and break a leg!”

“Break a leg.”

“So it would seem.”

The three seemed to instantly agree on the never-before-raised term. With a yeah! Subaru raised his hands and they high-fived each other. They were already getting along.

“Harmonious relations are a beautiful thing. As your employer, I think it iiis just fine, so long as there are nooo ill feelings, yeees?”

“For some reason, we kinda get along. A lot better than that loli! Way better than with her!”

“You really don’t want to be seen as Beatrice’s friend, do you…”

Emilia’s pitying murmur signaled the end of the gathering.

Sub-chapter 5.

“Well then, shall we be off, Barusu?”

So spoke Ram, commanded by Roswaal to be Subaru’s personal tutor. Her little sister, Rem, was off to the side meticulously cleaning up the dining hall; Ram made no effort to help as she reached for the dining hall door.

“So you intend to call me that full-time, huh?”

“Yes, I do, Barusu. Master Roswaal commands it, so I shall show you around the mansion. Can you at least make sure not to wander off?”

“I’m not Emilia-tan, so I won’t let curiosity get the best of me.”

Emilia’s cheeks puffed up at being teased about getting lost in the capital.

“Su-ba-ru!”

Emilia was about to split off to continue studying various ceremonial roles, mandatory for a royal candidate. Subaru was making a point of burning Emilia’s beauty into his eyes before she left.

“Well, with minor regrets, let’s be off. Lead the way.”

“Yes, let us, Barusu. Until later, Lady Emilia.”

Ram held the hem of her skirt, bowing courteously as she left. Subaru started to follow behind her.

“Subaru. I will, too, but…try hard, okay?”

“Wow, I’m super happy to hear that. I’m really pumped for this!”

Mimicking Ram, Subaru held the collar of his track jacket as he bowed. Emilia shot him a strange look as he did so before leaving the room. Ram had a grimace on her face, waiting as he walked into the hallway.

“That’s quite a sour face, Big Sis. I was just playing around a little. I’m not so ignorant of maid culture to the point that I think a maid is the same as a manservant. Oh yeah, what about clothes?”

He didn’t think it was very likely he’d be starting life as a servant in his tracksuit.

Prompted by Subaru, Ram put a hand to her mouth and nodded.

“Certainly, clothing is very important. Let’s see, clothing in your size… Yes, we should have some.”

“Awesome. Okay, let’s get me changed, then. I think formal actually suits me pretty well. Let’s make me a refined, high-quality man!”

Subaru smiled with a thumbs-up and a twinkle of his eyes when Ram led him upstairs to take his measurements.

“The servant quarters are on the second floor, so you’ll change there. Your clothing size should be similar to Frederica’s, who quit several months ago.”

“Huh, interesting timing to quit. This Frederica…is a woman?”

“Her dimensions should be right about the same as yours.”

“But she’s not the same gender, right?”

Ram stopped walking and gave Subaru a cold look. She looked tired as she put her hand to her forehead.

“Clothing that is formal, refined, and high quality…which of these do you have a problem with?”

“How about all the above?! Emilia-tan looked like she was gonna pay me and everything, so why do I have to borrow a maid outfit?! What if people think I’m some kind of weirdo?! I don’t want that!”

A trip to a fantasy world without any special talents, save cross-dressing. Subaru would almost have rather died. But, since Subaru had a frightening ability, death was no consolation.

Guided by Ram, he continued to the west side of the manor. Roswaal Manor had a main wing in the center, with a corridor connecting it to the east and west wings. The dining hall and Roswaal’s private study were in the main wing, whereas the empty servants’ quarters were on the western side.

“An empty room on the second… Yes, any room that has no plate above it is fine. Pick whichever you wish for your private quarters and I shall drop off your change of clothes there.”

“Okay, roger that. Hmm, which one…”

Having been granted private quarters in the mansion, Subaru surveyed the candidates from the end of the corridor onward. Having said that, surely only the locations differed; the contents would remain the same. Being near the stairs was convenient, so…

“All righty, I’ll pick this room over h—”

He opened the door with no special consideration. At that moment, he spied what looked like a loli playing with a kitty cat in a library.

“Fuwaah, you’re so wonderful, Puckie. Your fur is the best fur ever…”

The girl with the long curls noticed Subaru and slowly shifted her gaze toward him. Subaru looked back at Ram, standing in the corridor, as she shook her head. Subaru gave her a big thumbs-up.

“Don’t worry, I won’t say a thing. That feeling turns all of us into blithering idiots…”

“Could you cut short the magnificently stupid statement and close the door already, I wonder?!”

“Gyaha!”

Some invisible power, likely something magical, threw Subaru back, and he flew hard into the corridor wall. The impact to the back of his head made Subaru’s eyes spin as he saw out of the corner of his eye the door slam shut with a ferocious sound.

Shaking his head, Subaru retraced his steps to complain about the violence of a moment before.

But when he opened the door, an empty room within greeted him. The Passage had done its magic.

“Once Lady Beatrice conceals her aura, one cannot know which door it is. She will not emerge unless you go opening every door in the entire mansion.”

Ram spoke like he should bluntly accept defeat. From behind, she patted his shoulder. That feeling made Subaru admit he had lost this—

“Oh man, she annoys me. She acted like I did something wrong there!”

Or not.

Brushing off Ram’s hand, Subaru turned and sprinted down the corridor full force. In front of wide-eyed Ram, he ran straight to the door at the other edge of the hallway.

“Here!!”

“—Hyah?!”

The girl yelped as the gray cat made a sound of admiration.

“Impressive, Subaru.”

This time, seeing Beatrice’s face rocked at his having broken the Passage a second time, he instantly made a roll into the archives so that she couldn’t blow him out again.

Beatrice’s eyebrows rose with anger at something one simply did not do in any library, never mind these archives.

“You are kicking up dust!”

“Well, you should’ve dusted it better, then!! And you don’t bring cats into the library anyway! You get claw marks all over the covers!”

“It’s fine, Lia trims my claws really short!”

The odd man out, Puck’s casual murmur failed to reach Subaru and Beatrice as they argued. They looked ready to shout loud enough that the echoes would carry through the entire mansion.

Ram, belatedly entering through the door leading to the archive of forbidden books, looked at the arguing parties and said in a small voice, “If not friends, you certainly are birds of a feather.”

Roswaal Manor seemed to shake from their combined shouts.

“—Absolutely not!!”

Sub-chapter 6.

And so, Subaru’s life as a servant started with a bang.

With the conclusion of the unexpected session with Beatrice, Subaru used a dressing room to put on the servant’s attire that Ram had given him. It was a white shirt with a black jacket and matching pants, doing no violence to Subaru’s preconceived image of a butler. The problem lay elsewhere.

“Hey, Ramchi, I put on the outfit, but…”

Ram, waiting outside the dressing room until he’d finished, entered when called.

“Though I’d like to say something about how I’ve been addressed, is there something wrong with…?”

Ram, complaining as she made her way in, stopped mid-sentence as she got a good look at Subaru, putting her hand to her forehead.

“Indeed there is. Your shoulders, and also, your legs are too short.”

“You mean my height?! The shirt’s fine, but the jacket’s real tight on the shoulders. I’m decently athletic, not that it gets me anywhere, but this super tight top makes me look like a macho man here.”

Just as Ram had indicated, the shoulders were stiff because the sleeves were a poor fit. In particular, the armpits were far too tight for his shoulders to move. Subaru wondered if this was a natural problem when dealing with hand-me-down servant uniforms.

“I can roll up the sleeves, but the top’s no good like this. I suppose I can handle shortening sleeves on my own, but…”

“So you have unexpected talent, Barusu… We cannot have you working in such a sorry outfit. It will bring the manor’s, and Master Roswaal’s, standards into question.”

“He dresses like that and he worries about standards?”

Though Ram had a neutral expression, the tilt of her head made plain her displeasure, so he shut up. Subaru’s “zipping” his lips with his finger brought a sigh out of Ram.

“We can do nothing for what is inside, but we can at least make you look presentable. At any rate, let’s leave the shortening of the legs for later and just fix the top.”

“Easier said than done, though? I don’t have any experience with that, either.”

Maybe I could manage anyway, voiced Subaru as he assessed the limits of his sewing skills, but Ram countered, “No need for concern. Rem, come over here.”

“Come over here…? She’s not gonna pop right in just ’cause you…”

“You called, Sister?”

“Waaaaah!”

As soon as she was casually called, Rem appeared right beside them, giving Subaru quite a fright. It was as if they were playing a joke.

The twins tilted their heads in unison as they watched Subaru’s shocked, frozen reaction.

“What are you so surprised for?”

“What are you so scared for?”

“I’m not s-scared! Just a little surprised! That Twin Power thing’s really something!”

Maybe it was some kind of twin “sympathy” they talked about on those supernatural investigation shows; that thing where they could read the other even when apart.

Seeing Subaru so shaken, Ram made a hmph sound.

“Of course it is no such thing. I spotted her happening to walk by and called out to her. Perfect timing.”

“That last part sounds like it’s rubbing it in somehow?”

Ram cut in.

“So what is it you need? I do not have much time to waste on Subaru.”

“That uncaring attitude really hurts, geez! I’m the new guy! Be gentle!”

But the truth was that Rem was indispensable for maintaining the manor. Delaying her for any real length of time was surely a bad thing, yet Ram looked at Rem, pointing to Subaru as she stated, “Rem, surely you have noted Barusu’s pathetic appearance?”

“His shoulders rotate oddly and his legs are too short. Also, his face is terrifying. And?”

“You just had to poke at two things I can’t do anything about!! It’s not like clothes; you can’t change how your face looks no matter how hard you try!”

The sisters ignored Subaru’s complaints as they continued to converse. Subaru, the odd man out despite being the subject, was left with nothing better to do than to roll up his sleeves.

“Barusu, hand Rem your jacket. You will have to do without it until tomorrow morning.”

“That’s a big help, but…sure about this? You’ve got a mountain of work, right?”

“Of course I am quite busy. However, handing it over saves time and trouble later.”

“Ahh, right. Please and thank you.”

Swayed by the sound argument, Subaru stripped off his jacket and handed it to Rem. Upon taking the jacket, Rem pointed to the dressing room and motioned with her chin for him to get in.

“I need to take your measurements. You can’t take them yourself, can you?”

“…I feel sorry for making you go through all this trouble.”

“I do not mind. Someday, you shall repay me for this. With interest.”

“That doesn’t sound quite right, but you seem dead serious. So scary!”

Subaru and Rem left the haughtier-than-thou Ram in the corridor and went into the dressing room.

The dressing room held not only servant uniforms but various changes of clothes for Roswaal as well. Everything felt like it came straight from a circus dressing room.

When his gaze left the area with lord’s attire of rather poor taste, several more flowery outfits drew him in. One of them was an outfit he’d seen at the royal capital, so these were no doubt outfits for Emilia.

“I’d love to have her model all of those, twirling around and showing them off…”

“What are you mumbling about? Get over here, please.”

Summoned by the especially sharp voice, Subaru obeyed without further kidding around. The middle of the dressing room had no booth for trying on clothes, but it did have a divider for that purpose, and there awaited Rem with a slender measuring tape. The elaborate imprint on the tape marked it as a high-quality item.

“Stand straight over there. Stretch out your arms so I can measure your arms and shoulder height.”

“Okay, roger that. Thanks.”

Turning away from Rem, Subaru reached out both arms as she had instructed. Subaru stretched his short frame as much as he could while Rem wrapped the tape around his arms and back.

Subaru’s shoulders quivered with a sensitive sound when he suddenly became aware of her soft touch and breathing.

“Please do not make strange noises, Subaru. It is unpleasant.”

“I couldn’t help that! This is tough on a guy on more than one level!”

Faced with Rem’s cold, heartless words, Subaru searched his mind for any change of subject.

“By the way, there’s Rozchi’s and Emilia-tan’s clothes in here, but I don’t see any dresses for you, Ram, or the loli. They in another room?”

“Lady Beatrice changes her clothes in her private quarters. Sister and I do not wear clothes other than these, so we do not require different outfits. We change in our own quarters.”

Subaru raised his eyebrows at Rem’s matter-of-fact reply. Then Rem, having just finished measuring him, wrote something on a nearby memo. Subaru crossed his arms and looked at her.

“You don’t have any other kinds of outfits, so what, it’s all maid outfits? What about when you go out and days off?”

“It is no hindrance to our work here at the manor or when accompanying Master Roswaal in public. I think it is a quite logical way to present our status without need of an explanation.”

“Logical ain’t the point here… I think a beautiful girl has a duty to wear pretty clothes and bring joy to others.”

“Sister may be another matter, but no one would be pleased were I to dress up.”

“Maybe I would?”

“Would pleasing you do me any good, Subaru?”

“Maybe it’ll make me work harder at the servant’s life. That’s logical, isn’t it?”

Rem had the slightest look of surprise at Subaru’s comeback. Subaru, pleased at cracking her neutral expression, twisted the corners of his lips into a grin.

“I do not know why you would go so far as to say that, Subaru.”

“Even your hairstyles and outfits are the same! Your personalities are different so at least pick different clothes! …Or something like that. I mean, the maid outfits look good on you, and it does kinda work for twins like you girls.”

In her current outfit, she was cute with room to spare, but their attire was identical down to the haircut. Precisely because they were twins, he wanted to see some individuality, the essence of human emotion.

That was how Subaru felt, but…

“—ness.”

“Eh?”

“None of your business. What is wrong with my being the same as Sister?”

It was hard to believe, but Rem’s expression was more glacial toward the wide-eyed Subaru than before. Subaru unintentionally hemmed and hawed, the exchange of small talk until just earlier seemingly long forgotten.

“…Let us go back and not speak silly things. I cannot leave Sister waiting any further, and there is a great deal you must learn, after all.”

Her demeanor permitting no dissent, Rem turned her back on Subaru and headed to the room’s entrance. Subaru, more confused than before, walked behind her as he murmured.

“That’s being a little too into your big sister…”

He sighed, concerned about where his relations with the seemingly unflappable girl would go.

Sub-chapter 7.

With the measurements done, they linked back up with Ram in the dressing room, and Rem went her separate way.

In spite of being pressed by work, Rem said, “I will re-stitch your jacket overnight and deliver it before morning once it is done.”

She shot Ram a look rich in meaning as she left. Their eye-to-eye message system made Subaru give Ram’s shoulder a soft poke.

“Hey, what did Rem say with that eye-contact thing just now?”

“She said, ‘Subaru gave me perverted glances when we were alone’…You beast.”

“So you got that much from just th— Hey, don’t back away, that hurt my feelings!”

Though Ram’s retreat from Subaru, clutching her own shoulder, pained his heart, his time as a servant at the manor finally began in earnest.

The west wing contained the servants’ quarters, spare furniture, and normal books not meant for the archive. In contrast, the east wing had suites for welcoming visiting nobles, with rooms for entertaining guests and other facilities, with few functional differences from the main wing.

“You have now toured nearly all the manor. All that remains are the gardens outside the buildings and the front yard between the manor and the gate. You can see those later. Any questions so far?”

“Shouldn’t the tour have been something Emilia-tan would’ve done?”

“Not at all, since we will be getting to work immediately.”

During the guided tour, Ram’s personal disposition and Subaru’s penchant for stopping and going off on tangents made her easily fend off Subaru’s latest line.

Subaru wasn’t sure if that meant the last several hours had brought them closer or he’d simply dug himself into a deeper hole, but…

“My chores for today are maintaining the garden and front yard and checking the surroundings. I will be assisting in preparing lunch, and at Eight Solartime, I must wash the silverware… You shall assist me, Barusu.”

“Sure thing, but what’s that Solartime you mentioned?”

It was a term he’d heard when he’d awoken that morning. He’d guessed that Solartime referred to time during the day, but…

“So Eight Solartime indicates the time… Do you have a clock or something?”

“Clock…? If you mean a magic time crystal, they are all over the mansion, including right over there.”

Subaru looked where Ram pointed and saw a crystal emitting a dim light. The crystal hung from the upper part of the mansion’s wall—pretty much right where a big clock might be back in his world.

Subaru squinted as he stared at the flickering green light emitted by the crystal.

“It’s a little weird, but I guess it’s just another clock. How do I read it?”

“Solartime is Wind Time from zero to six, then Fire Time for the next six. Lunartime goes from Water Time to Earth Time— To not know this, are you some kind of barbarian, Barusu?”

“An actual barbarian wouldn’t answer yes to that, you know?”

He hated hearing it, but Subaru’s lack of common knowledge made that appraisal hard to shake.

Thinking back, there was a magic time crystal in the room Subaru awoke in, too. Subaru felt that the crystal had been a lot greener then.

“So, what, the color gets brighter as time passes?”

“…Wind Time is green, Fire is red, Water is blue, Earth is yellow. Anything else you want explained?”

“I’m okay with the time stuff now. Solartime and Lunartime are kind of like AM and PM from the sound of it.”

No doubt he’d have to endure many other clashes with what passed for common sense in a fantasy world.

Subaru crossed his arms and nodded. Ram seemed tired as she put a hand to her forehead.

“It’s hard enough to train you for the job from scratch, but having so little common sense… When did I go from domestic help to an animal trainer?”

“It’s scary just to hear words like animal trainer, so maybe you could pick different ones, boss?”

Ram’s eyebrows twitched at being called boss. Feeling that she either didn’t care or wasn’t too bothered, Subaru switched gears a bit.

“By the way, there were only you two taking care of the place earlier, but it wasn’t gonna be like that forever, right? I mean, you had that maid who quit before?”

“…Master Roswaal has relatives living at various lesser manors, so most of our coworkers have come from there until now. Rem and I work here at the main residence so that we may attend to Master Roswaal personally.”

“Main residence and lesser manors… So, um, this is the main residence?”

“Master Roswaal is head of the Mathers family, so of course he lives at the main residence. And I say relatives, but his relations with the other branches of the Mathers family are not particularly deep.”

Perhaps Subaru should have expected that a nobleman like Roswaal would have a complex relationship with his family. Now that Subaru was working for the man, he couldn’t consider himself a bystander in that; besides, he was closely related to Emilia, a royal candidate.

“Even if you’re just looking after Rozchi, this mansion’s too huge for two people to handle, right? Can’t you hire more people?”

“—Circumstances make that impossible at the moment. Also, the time for idle talk is over.”

Ram clapped, signaling the end of that line of discussion as she calmly walked forward.

Subaru wanted to ask her more about stuff, but he could do that and pick up more common knowledge as he worked. He needed to put his back into the work first, to keep her happy if nothing else.

“Haven’t worked like this before, but I feel really positive for some reason. I guess it’s the beautiful-girl thing?”

“Flattery will get you nothing. No kindness, no mercy.”

“You should learn a little modesty from your little sister, geez!”

Subaru threw that out, still chewing over the conversation with Rem back in the dressing room.

Sub-chapter 8.

“Oww—!”

Subaru was half in tears as he yelped at the fresh wound, wet with red blood.

Ram, engaged in the same work right beside Subaru, narrowed her eyes as she watched him wave around his bleeding left hand.

“That is what thoughtlessness gets you. Basuru, do you know the meaning of improvement?”

“But this is the first time I’ve dealt with any tableware that’s not chopsticks!”

Subaru stuck his cut finger into his mouth as he complained, his cheeks puffing as the metallic taste filled his mouth.

They were in the kitchen, shortly before noon. After wrapping up in the garden with Ram, the two returned to the dining hall to help Rem prepare. That being said…

“I understand me, but making your big sister peel stuff, too? I mean, where’s the dignity?”

Ram was quick with a counter.

“We have worked and lived together a long time, so we divide work by our specialties. This is not my place to shine.”

“I thought I heard earlier that she’s better than you in every area, though?!”

He’d heard earlier how Ram came in behind Rem at cooking, cleaning, washing, sewing, and pretty much every other chore. Ram did seem pretty experienced at peeling veggies, though.

“Are both of you going to be done soon?”

Rem spoke, seemingly wide-eyed at the two she’d entrusted the peeling to as she put them to shame with her ferocious meal preparation. Rem’s practiced hand was far beyond the norm, making her cooking feel like a type of highly polished performance.

…Completely unlike the other two, doing menial work off in a corner.

Rem looked back as she poured ingredients into a huge frying pan and mixed them. Silently looking over her big sister peeling and Subaru bleeding, Rem nodded like nothing had happened.

“As usual, Sister, the sight of you peeling vegetables is worthy of a painting.”

“Your favoritism is so obvious, it’s refreshing! I’d love a comment for the work I’m doing, too!”

“I feel sorry for the farmer who grew those vegetables.”

“Stop, you’re wounding me!”

Rem was looking at the atrocious wreckage of the vegetables Subaru had peeled. The potato-like vegetables had been cut down roughly halfway, yet, skin remained on them. Furthermore, fairly deep cuts to his hand had left the table wet with blood.

Ram, peeling her potatoes very prettily, glanced at the still-bleeding Subaru and offered advice.

“You handle a knife poorly, Barusu. You’re cutting yourself because you’re moving the knife, not the vegetable. When peeling, keep the knife steady and rotate the vegetable around.”

Her form was excellent; her peelings had no interruptions from head to tip. She continued, “I will have you know, my specialty is steamed potatoes.”

“You actually looked proud when you said that! Damn it, just watch. My beloved blade Shooting Star will put you in your place!” Frustrated, he picked up the knife and tightly grasped the wooden handle. It was a completely ordinary knife for peeling, but from that day onward, it would be Subaru’s precious Shooting Star.

“Uoaaah—!”

Raising his voice, he hunched over and held the knife steady, rotating the vegetable just as Ram had advised. The first cut was still rather deep, but he was surprised inside at how smoothly the rest went.

When he glanced over, he saw Ram looking proud of Subaru doing as she had instructed.

Genuinely grateful, Subaru concentrated on peeling without a word, when suddenly—

“…What? If you stare at me like that I’m gonna start blushing.”

Subaru looked up when he realized it was Rem who was staring at him. Rem looked slightly taken aback as she tried to counter. But whatever she was trying to say, Ram’s words interrupted.

“—She is staring at how pathetic you look, Barusu. In particular, your head is quite lacking.”

Her words made Subaru tilt his head.

“I thought this haircut was a lot better than it used to be, though…”

“At the very least, it deserves a failing grade, given that you are a servant… Right, Rem?”

“…Ah, yes. I suppose so. It does seem just a tiny bit lacking.”

“Looks like it really bothers you! Geez, sorry!”

Their plainspoken low assessment of the work he’d taken some pride in put Subaru down a bit. As Ram watched Subaru, she made a hmph noise through her nose.

“Incidentally, Rem handles people’s hair here at the manor. She dresses me and does my hair every morning, you see?”

“Yeah, that’s how you twins are the spitting image of… Wait, that sounds wrong?”

The way she said it just then made it sound like Ram did all the work by herself. But faced with Subaru’s retort, Ram folded her arms and boldly replied.

“It is exactly as you think, Barusu.”

“Help out your little sister a bit, geez!”

Ram’s boldly declaring herself to be the good-for-nothing older sister made Subaru shout with a look of feigned shock. Then, Ram stroked the pink hair that Rem had combed, looking at her younger sister.

“Rem, would you mind giving Barusu’s hair a little cut?”

“Now hold on, having a girl playing with my hair is really gonna throw me off here!”

“Sister…?”

Ram’s sudden suggestion threw off both Subaru and Rem. Ram trained her red eyes on her sister’s questioning look, slightly lowering the tone of her voice.

“…You were looking at Barusu because of his hair, yes?”

“…Yes, that is correct. A little combing and styling would make it look much better.”

“You should let her do as she says, then. Rem’s hands are heavenly, I assure you.”

“That makes it sound like a kind of perverted request, you know…”

It seemed like the older sister was giving Rem the excuse to indulge in her unexpressed interest.

Maybe it was an issue of personalities. Unlike Ram, already giving Subaru no quarter, Rem apparently hadn’t decided yet how she should act toward him. Subaru agreed with the need to close the distance, but…

“If you don’t want to, then you don’t have to. I kind of hope you do, though!”

“No, not at all. It is true that it bothers me slightly, very slightly, just a little.”

Knowing that it was really bothering her, Subaru lost more confidence. He thought he was just indulging in his individuality—but with such thoughts on his mind, three voices sounded as one.

“—Ah.”

The edge of Shooting Star shifted from a potato to Subaru’s thumb. Subaru yelled out as he shallowly peeled the wrong kind of skin.

“Whoaa! Oh man! It took off a little—!”

“It seems it is displeased to be called your ‘beloved knife.’ Since your love is so one-sided, perhaps you should try calling it your favorite knife instead?”

“Sister, the water is boiling, so let’s put in the vegetables you cut—”

“You two love hazing the new guy, don’t you?!”

Their prioritizing of the work was admirable, but Subaru lacked the mental strength to praise it.

Sub-chapter 9.

—And so, half a day flew by.

“So tired—!”

As Subaru spoke, he flopped completely onto the bed, all his strength exhausted.

He was in the servants’ quarters he’d been given. From that day onward, it would serve as Subaru’s private quarters and sleeping space. It was a frugal room with a cheap bed, desk, and chair, so of course it lagged far behind the standards of the guest room where he’d been a patient.

“Well, the expensive stuff is really stifling, so this is A-OK…”

Burying his face into the pillow, he decided it still smelled and felt up to high-class standards. Now that he was off work, Subaru quickly changed from his uniform to his tracksuit, intending to go to sleep in clothes that he was more accustomed to.

“Man, they worked me to the bone. Work’s hard work. I seriously get why Dad and they are so awesome in the working world. Even one day of this is nothing to sneeze at.”

He let out honest admiration as he loosened his creaky body, thinking back on his first day at work.

Sure, there were lots of little details he didn’t know, but he was still depressed at how bad a job he’d done.

The saving grace was perhaps Ram’s attitude as an instructor.

“She’s blunt and to the point, but she’s gentler and more polite than I expected, really… Ah?”

He lifted his face at the abrupt knock on the door. As he did so, he heard a voice from the door’s direction.

“It’s Rem. Subaru, is now a good time?”

“Ah, sure, sure. I’m not doing anything weird, so come on in!”

“That makes it sound more suspicious rather than less, but pardon me.”

Rem opened the door and entered the room, still dressed in her maid outfit. For a moment, Subaru raised his eyebrows at Rem’s visit, but he understood the reason as soon as he saw the black jacket she had in her hands.

“Wait, you don’t mean you’re done already? This redefines the words fast job.”

“It is nothing so grand as re-tailoring it altogether. I would have to take more care if it were one of Master Roswaal’s outfits, but this will do for you.”

“That made it sound like you, um, really cut corners?”

Rem made no reply as he took the jacket, briskly opening it and putting his arms through the sleeves. Before, the outfit’s armpits were too tight and his shoulders could barely rotate, but…

“I hate to admit it, but you did it perfectly. My arms can go round and round… Ah, does it look good on me?”

“When combined with the rarity of your gray-colored clothing, nobody else’s strange outfits could compare.”

“Okay, that didn’t sound like a compliment. Guess even I can tell that much!”

Having the manservant’s jacket over a T-shirt made Rem’s assessment a natural one. Indeed, it must have taken considerable effort not to laugh. But…

“What shall we do about the cuffs?”

“Cuffs… Ah, you mean for the pants. Crap, I forgot. With a needle and thread I could do it myself, though.”

“I have brought some with me. Shall I adjust them now?”

It was a good-faith suggestion with no apparent ill will from Rem’s side. She’d slipped in some choice words with it, but that was her style, so he let it slide.

Either way, Subaru wanted to repay the favor somehow.

“Okay, hand the needle and thread over here. My sewing skills are gonna get a whole new grade today!”

“I should expect more from the person who had showed such dexterity while struggling to peel vegetables for dinner today?”

“Keh-keh, underestimate me while you can. And by all means, prepare to be shocked!”

Looking like she was giving up on Subaru, sky-high with confidence, Rem took a fantasy-world sewing kit out of a pocket and handed it to him. He took it, finding that the contents matched up pretty nicely with what he could expect from home. With a practiced hand, he passed the thread through the needle and pulled the cuffs of the trousers up over his knees.

“Mmm, hmm, mm-hmm.”

As Subaru made a singsong sound, Rem let out a sigh of admiration.

“…I am shocked. You really do have experience.”

Subaru moved the needle in a brisk, lively fashion. Before he finished humming, he pulled it up.

“Okay, one side done. Take a good look. I sewed it right, didn’t I?”

Subaru stretched out the pants to show off his own work. Rem drew in her chin in plain acknowledgment.

His mood improved by the reaction, Subaru began working on the other cuff when Rem spoke abruptly.

“Ah…Subaru, about the conversation at noontime…”

“Mm, noon? Noon, what happened then?”

“Ah…er, if you have forgotten, it’s quite all right.”

Rem made a small shake of her head in front of Subaru, who still had his head down. Narrowing his eyes at her reaction, he recalled that they’d discussed fixing his hair when preparing dinner.

“Oh, about the hair? I half thought that was a joke. You gonna do it?”

“No, I just thought it was very impertinent of me. You may be a coworker, but you are also Lady Emilia’s savior, so our positions are different.”

“That kind of stiff attitude will just crimp my style… Wait, that’s what you think?”

Her statement, that she couldn’t treat him as a simple coworker because they stood apart, stuck in his ears.

Seeing Rem raise her eyebrows at the question, Subaru began roughly tugging on the hair on his head.

“To be honest, I’m not good at picking up on stuff like that. Sorry to…make you worry about it.”

“No, I am simply saying it cannot be helped. Please forget about it.”

“I can’t just let that go so easily. People are petty like that. Now, then…”

Subaru put a hand to his forehead, lowering his eyes as he looked at Rem. She seemed not so much regretful about her slip of the tongue as she seemed chastened by Subaru’s admonition. That helped him decide what to say.

Subaru lifted a finger as he made a suggestion.

“Okay, I’ll give you my one condition. If you’re okay with that, I’ll totally forget what you just said.”

Rem closed her eyes briefly before nodding with a look of resignation.

“Condition…you say? I understand. I will hear you out.”

Subaru made a strained smile, not intending to draw out that big a reaction, and then said…

“If you fix up my hair and give it a little brushing, I’ll forgive you.”

“…”

Unable to take Rem’s silence in the face of his counteroffer, Subaru raised his voice.

“The silence is kind of painful to me here, you know.”

Rem’s pale blue eyes reflected Subaru in them as she sighed a little.

“Lady Emilia already pointed this out, but you desire very little, Subaru.”

“That’s weird. I thought we’d be making up instead of you getting all shocked like that…”

“As I have heard from Sister how you gave her perverted looks when you were alone, I was rather resigned to something less decent.”

“Slander’s a horrible thing!!”

He was scared that Ram’s gossipy statement would make sparks fly with Emilia in short order. He’d have to establish a direct lifeline with Emilia before that could happen.

Subaru was still plotting countermeasures against Ram in his head when Rem grasped the hem of her skirt.

“I accept your condition—I shall go along with your idea.”

And so, with a prim and proper bow, she accepted his suggestion for smoothing things over.

Her performance drew a laugh out of Subaru as he looked down at his hands.

“Hey, I wrapped up shortening the legs while we were talking. I did it right, huh?”

The work complete, Rem took hold of the trousers, acknowledging his work…

“…Yes, you did. You get full marks for sewing. But much like yourself, I do not think it will be of use, Subaru.”

…then poured cold water all over him.

“Huh?! I thought we just made up here?!”

Combined with Subaru’s retort, the earlier awkward atmosphere had fully lifted.

Subaru returned the sewing kit to Rem before stroking his own forehead.

“So, about my hair…when do you wanna do it? It’s tough to do it today ’cause it’s so late.”

“That is true. I would like to get it done as soon as possible, but I will be working in the evening for several days…unfortunately.”

“We’ll just have to make the time. Man, it’s really been a while since I had my hair styled!”

He’d been cutting his own hair since he got into middle school, nearly five full years earlier. He was good enough to do it by touch without using a mirror.

“Well then, it is getting late, so I will excuse myself. You will be working in the morning as well. Can you wake up on time on your own?”

“Honestly, not all that sure there. I’m good at waking up if I have a clock, but there’s nothing like that here, so maybe not? Don’t you have roosters or something?”

Faced with Subaru’s unreliable reply, Rem reluctantly launched him a life raft.

“…This seems severe, so Sister or I shall wake you in the morning.”

“Seriously? I feel bad to use my seniors in place of a clock, but…”

“It shall do us no good to have you sleep into the afternoon, after all.”

“What kind of oversleeper do you take me for?!”

“Someone who could sleep away the entire day, I imagine?”

It took a while for Subaru to realize that this was a joke, by Rem’s standards.

After the banter, Subaru thanked Rem as she left for accepting his suggestion.

She passed through the doorway and waved a hand as she went out of sight.

“Whatever comes out of their mouths, they’re sisters through and through, huh.”

Rem was superficially polite as she slipped in the dagger; Ram was arrogant. But just the same, they were considerate to the point of overbearing, something Subaru thought was highly desirable in coworkers.

Sub-chapter 10.

—Later.

“So then, how was Subaru after all that?”

It was evening—the sun had already set in the west, just as the crescent moon took its place in the night sky—when the secret report took place.

It was a large room. The center had a table and tall chairs for receiving guests; farther within, the room was furnished with a chair and desk for its owner to conduct his writing affairs. The ebony desk had sheets and feather pens strewn over it, beside which stood a cup that was still steaming, a gentle aroma wafting up from it.

This was the uppermost floor in Roswaal Manor’s main wing, the private study of its lord, Roswaal L. Mathers.

His voice was like a whisper, but it reached its mark with no difficulty. Of course it did.

The small body of Roswaal’s speaking companion was sitting right across his lap.

“It’s been five days since that spectacle—time enough for you to see how this shaaall proceed?”

“I suppose so— He is no good.”

Ram heard her master’s voice in her ear as he stroked her pink hair. Roswaal and Ram were the only two people in the room; there was no sign of the twin’s “other half,” Rem.

Put simply, that day’s report was about the issue of Subaru and Ram’s education of him. With her stating that his education was going most poorly, Roswaal stared for a moment before laughing.

“Ahaaa, is that so. Completely useless?”

“Barusu really can do nothing at all. He’s no good at cooking, clumsy at cleaning, and the very thought of entrusting laundry to him disturbs me. He’s oddly skilled at sewing, but besides that, nothing can be left to him alone.”

“In a place with so many girls, that, too, is a grave matter, is it nooot?”

At that age it cannot be helped, Ram seemed to say with a strained smile, looking up at her master as she thought back on the details of the previous four days. In that brief but vivid time, even a stranger would have noticed the grimace replacing Ram’s graceful, neutral expression.

“It is quite raaare to see such a face on you. Is he so worthless?”

“Worthless through and through. It is not that he is clumsy; it is that he does not know. I cannot but think he was raised poorly. However, he is also lacking in culture.”

“So haaard on him.”

Roswaal held back a laugh. Ram sighed a little, shifted her position in her master’s arms, and sank farther against him. He gave Ram’s pink hair a good stroke with his palm.

“So, Ram, the important part— Do you think he is involved?”

Roswaal maintained his smile, his tone of voice unchanged from before. The subject was unstated, but she knew what he wanted to hear. Ram closed her eyes, thinking for a little while.

“I cannot rule it out, but I think the possibility is low.”

“Hmmmm. Why is that?”

“He stands out too much to have been sent to infiltrate this House… Not in a good or b… No, in an especially bad way… In the first place, Barusu himself is…”

The words seem to pour out of her mouth.

It was, in a fashion, a reply to his question, so Roswaal greeted her answer with a satisfied smile. It was the smile of a master that said: It makes perfect sense. Though the smile was not being sent her way precisely, Ram realized her cheeks were burning nonetheless.

“I see, and I must agree with that. Meaning he truly is a benevolent bystander.”

As Roswaal spoke, the chair creaked as he shifted positions. He turned opposite to the desk, straight toward the large window through which shone the moonlight.

Roswaal’s oddly colored eyes seemed to twinkle; the corners of his lips rose at the scene below.

“I muuust say, he certainly doooes not discourage easily.”

The private study overlooked the manor’s garden. There, in one corner of it, he saw a black-haired boy speaking and laughing with a silver-haired girl. As was typical, the young man made one-sided conversation, but the girl didn’t seem to mind.

“How chaaarming. I no longer possess such passion.”

His words were like a soliloquy, but Ram looked into Roswaal’s eyes from close up as she replied.

“Women are happy when they’re pursued.”

But in contrast to the luster in her eyes, Roswaal’s eyes narrowed in a teasing look.

“Perhaps you measure Subaru higher than I thought?”

“…He is no good at all, but I do not think poorly of him. He knows nothing related to the work, but what he simply does not know, he can be taught.”

Responding to the dissatisfaction in Ram’s eyes and her chilly voice, Roswaal used the hand with which he had brushed her hair to caress her cheek. Ram seemed too enchanted to speak as Roswaal pondered her reply.

It was rare for Ram to speak of others like this.

Her unexpressed counsel to her master was, Let us get to know him better. It seemed the two maids were quite fond of the black-haired young man. There is beauty in enthusiasm, Roswaal thought with a nod.

“Based on my position, I shooould probably intercede, yeees?”

Roswaal commented as he looked down on the cute rendezvous in the garden with his yellow eye alone.

“Both are such children. Nothing will happen regardless.”

“You do have a point.”

Faint laughter filled the private study as they pulled the curtain over the window overlooking the rendezvous between the boy and girl below.

—What happened after that, not even the moon was given the privilege to see.

Sub-chapter 11.

With the moon still lingering in the center of the night sky, Subaru was full of optimism.

He stretched out the wrinkles visible through his manservant outfit’s sleeves and checked how he looked in the window. It’d already been four days since he was wearing these clothes, so he thought it was about time he felt used to them.

“Not bad, not bad at all. I can do this. Right out of the bath, I look fifty percent sexier in the mirror. I feel like this is gonna work!”

Whether it was objectively 50 percent was another question, but it was important to reassure himself.

Trying to at least surround himself with an attractive aura, Subaru took a long, shallow breath and stepped forward. He was walking on the shortly mowed grass of the garden, heading for a green-covered corner lined by high trees, a place where the blessings of the moon were all the more remarkable.

There sat a girl, her silver hair twinkling in the moonlight as a pale light surrounded her.

Subaru now knew that the firefly-like pale glow actually came from spirits. That fact added to how watching the surreal scene bewitched his heart, like a demoness that wouldn’t let go. He unintentionally stopped in place, his breath catching.

Perhaps sensing him, the girl’s closed eyes abruptly opened. The two amethyst jewels caught sight of Subaru approaching.

“Oh, hi. R-real coincidence bumping into you like this?”

“You come like this every day, you know. As for coincidence…don’t we live under the same roof?”

One glance from being spotted before he could speak threw Subaru off his game; for her part, Emilia sighed at the already typical line from him. Undeterred by his slip, Subaru smiled at Emilia.

“Hearing the words under the same roof really gives me a tingling…”

“The word tingling really sends a shudder up my spine. For some reason, I don’t like it.”

With Emilia staring up at him, Subaru scratched his cheek and sat next to her like it was perfectly normal. They were a mere three hands apart, proof that the sense of distance between them had lessened.

Emilia, by now used to Subaru sitting next to her, did not bother to point out the distance.

Between her daily morning ritual and mealtimes, his sitting beside her was something she now took for granted.

It was unclear whether she was silently permitting it or simply giving up on forbidding it, but either way, Subaru was happy to be so close.

“So, what are you doing?”

“Mm? An extension of the morning routine. I can meet most of them in the morning, but I can meet some of them only at night, so…”

Subaru nodded in response, readily accepting Emilia’s reply.

He was finally accustomed to living in a world where time was measured in “day” and “night.”

Incidentally, daily life over a twenty-four-hour period was largely as one would expect. Living in accordance with the body’s internal clock brought a sense of tranquility like nothing else.

His four days of training as a manservant had also been four days acquiring that world’s common knowledge. That said, learning servant work came ahead of academics, so his overall comprehension was still rather thin.

“Gives me new perspective looking back on my school days with the weekends off…”

Subaru had often disparaged his Spartan instructor during the last four days. But such one-sided comments from Subaru still furthered the friendly conversations he had with Emilia at night.

Subaru silently watched the side of Emilia’s face as if bewitched by the dreamlike scene.

Emilia suddenly commented, perhaps finding it rare for Subaru to be lost for words.

“It’s no fun to watch, is it?”

How Emilia somehow sounded apologetic made Subaru sit up and shake his head.

“Nah, I could never be bored being with you, Emilia-tan.”

“Wh—”

The straight-hitting statement made Emilia’s breath catch as her cheeks reddened. Seeing Emilia’s face flushed from the surprise attack made Subaru redden up to his ears.

After all, the line he’d said just then had been the complete, literal truth.

Subaru rapid-fired his words as if trying to explain away his blushing.

“Ah, er, I mean, we hadn’t had a chance to settle down and talk for days, right?”

Emilia nodded in full agreement.

“Th-that’s right. Seems you’ve had quite a time learning how to work at the manor… You’ve been working your heart out, huh?”

“Hearing that makes me so happy I wanna cry…”

Glossing over the atmosphere, they buried that topic in a deep hole and turned it into an unintentionally bittersweet moment.

Assessments of Subaru’s work over those four days had been rather harsh, and even if he managed to somehow bribe his superiors, it would not change his score of “totally useless.”

Subaru’s first job, since he was lacking ability in the domestic fields of cleaning, laundry, and cooking, was to acquire the skills required of a servant at a manor. His current grade for all of the above was stuck at C.

“Shortening the sleeves of my uniform and putting buttons on an apron got me top marks, but that’s it.”

“You really are exceptional in only one area.”

“Well, I tried to grow up to be a guy with an edge instead of perfectly round and flat…”

Subaru’s skill at sewing was a product of how his parents had raised him, but he, too, wondered what in the world they’d been thinking.

Emilia, not knowing of Subaru’s introspection, gave honest praise for his self-confidence.

“I see, is that so. I’m glad that you’re confident in something, too.”

Subaru made a rather conflicted smile at the sight of Emilia being happy for him.

“Besides, it’s not like you’re awful at the other jobs. Ram and Rem keep this quiet, but they have been praising you, you see…”

“Seriously? So I’m making ground even with my seniors here? So, what, cutting myself with the knife, knocking over the bucket, and messing up the laundry, it all raised my relationship points?!”

“I think you should reflect on that just a little.”

Emilia made a pained smile at Subaru’s stating his glaring failures. Her violet eyes gently narrowed, looking at Subaru, examining him carefully at close range.

“But work’s hard every day, isn’t it?”

“Super hard, totally tough. It makes me wanna borrow Emilia-tan’s arms and breasts and lap for some low-stress healing.”

“Yes, yes. If you’re making light of it, you must be all right.”

Emilia reached with a fingertip and gave Subaru’s forehead a light push. Subaru, weak to the pressure, could not resist Emilia’s fingertip, making a showy tumble backward onto the grass.

He let out a pleasant sigh as he felt the soothing coolness of the grass and gazed up at the star-filled sky. A world without city lights made Subaru appreciate the beauty of the stars and the moon in the sky more than ever before.

“—The moon’s so pretty, isn’t it?”

“There are some places you just can’t reach, right?”

“I wasn’t asking for it at all, and you hit me with something like that?!”

“What, did I say something bad?”

Subaru’s attempt at dropping a romantic line fell flat due to cultural differences in a different world. He pressed a hand over his heart to show he was apologetic, startling Emilia.

“Ah…”

“Oh, darn it! I was tryin’ to hide that…”

Subaru tried to hide his blushy smile as he moved the hand Emilia was staring at behind his back… The left hand that had borne the brunt of his repeated failures at work.

Subaru stuck out his tongue to try to gloss over it, but Emilia lowered her eyes with a serious look.

“So, everyone else is working hard, too.”

Emilia’s murmur sounded like she was criticizing herself.

Subaru silently acknowledged what Emilia was thinking as she spoke to herself like that.

Subaru wasn’t the only one learning something at Roswaal Manor. Emilia was in the middle of absorbing a wide variety of things that she had to learn as a royal candidate.

Subaru and Emilia were after much different things. To compare the pressure on the two of them was nearly outright rude.

Bearing such heavy burdens must have been exhausting. Perhaps Emilia carried worries that she couldn’t discuss with anyone.

Belatedly, Emilia asked a question.

“…How about I cast a healing spell?”

“Nah, it’s fine. I’d rather not heal it and leave it like this.”

“Why’s that?”

“Mm, it’s hard to put it into words… It’s kinda a sign of how hard I’ve worked?”

Subaru thought that they weren’t typical words coming from him as he strongly clenched his beat-up hand.

“I don’t mind working hard as much as I thought I would. Being able to do things I couldn’t do before…it ain’t bad. It’s hard, it’s really tough, but it’s kinda fun. I mean, Ram and Rem are surprisingly strict, that loli’s annoying, seen less of Rozchi than I thought I would, though…”

“Roswaal would probably get prickly if you told him that.”

“Nobody uses prickly anymore…”

Subaru bent a hip to emphasize his bending the conversation. Then, rising to his feet like a spring-loaded doll, he brought his right hand to his forehead in a tidy salute toward Emilia.

“Well, just need to knock down the problems one by one. I mean, this is the only place for me to live… Either way, it’s fun, see?”

In his original world, living “easy” had been just fine with him. But he couldn’t expect that kind of peaceful daily life in this world. Hence, Subaru sought as much “ease” as he could.

Having been senselessly tossed into that world, one could call it Subaru’s stubbornness toward his fate.

Subaru’s display of determination made Emilia’s expression freeze like time had stopped. Only her eyes moved, blinking several times over, before a smile suddenly came over her.

“That’s right. Yeah, I think that, too… Goodness, Subaru, you’re such an idiot.”

“Wait, isn’t that reaction weird?! Shouldn’t we be falling back in love or something?!”

“I wasn’t in love to begin with! You really are such a… I’m an idiot, too.”

Subaru looked hurt at the exaggerated reaction. Emilia’s final murmur never reached him.

Emilia’s smile deepened. The softness of her charming smile was as if the earlier pressure on her was long forgotten, like Subaru had unintentionally bewitched her with his own spell.

He couldn’t express how Emilia looked at that moment with mere words like pretty or cute.

“E M D (Emilia-tan’s Majorly Divine)!”

“I’m genuinely grateful and you joke about it like that…?”

Emilia tapered her lips in a slightly annoyed pout and pushed a finger into Subaru’s forehead again.

It was likely not Subaru’s mere imagination that these occasional touches carried more warmth than they had before.

“Having said all that…it’s nice that you’re trying hard, but how’d you get your hand all beat up like that, anyway?”

“Oh, this one’s simple. This afternoon, I tagged along when Rem went shopping at the village close to the mansion. The kids were playing around with me when this little dog-ish thing chomped on me.”

“So it’s not the product of hard work?!”

“Nah, it’s so big you can’t notice the traces of hard work… I didn’t think I was the type animals hated, though…”

Back in his own world, children and little animals loved him—that, or he just looked like a pushover. That made the former result odder still. But his effect on kids was still going strong.

“The village kids… They smacked me, kicked me, and blew snot on me, too. That sucked, damn it.”

“Somehow you seem good at looking after little kids, Subaru.”

“That’s taking it the wrong way, Emilia-tan. Winning them over now means I’ll reap the rewards when they grow up. I’m a long-term thinker, see.”

“Yes, yes. I will admit you’re honest about your petty stubbornness.”

Emilia, accustomed to Subaru’s silliness, let it roll over her as she stretched and looked up at the sky.

“I’d best return to my room now. How about you?”

“I can’t sleep by Emilia-tan’s side, so I’ll head back, too.”

“You get that job only when you’ve polished your skills with your current work.”

“Now you said it. Just watch, they’re gonna write legends about me…!”

Subaru took Emilia’s words to heart, burning with enthusiasm. Emilia made a strained smile as Subaru looked back and raised a finger.

“Ah, right. Would you come with me tomorrow when I give the village brats some payba—er, a lovey-dovey da—er, go to watch the cute little animals?”

“Why did you correct yourself several times…? And, ah, I…”

Emilia lowered her eyes, seeming hesitant as she murmured, “I don’t mind going with you, and I’m curious about that small animal, so…”

“Okay, let’s go, then!”

“But it might be troublesome for you to have me with you like…”

“Got it, let’s go!”

“…Are you really listening?”

“I’m listening! I could never let a single word or phrase from Emilia-tan escape!”

“Oh, Subaru, I just hate you!”

“Aaa! Aaa! Sorry, what was that?! I can’t hear you!”

How Subaru covered his ears, spectacularly taking back what he’d said the moment before, made Emilia break out in laughter, all ills forgotten. Then, she wiped a teardrop from her eyes with a finger as she looked at Subaru.

“Goodness…but only after I finish my studying and you finish all your work, Subaru?”

“Oh yeah! Roger that! I’ll so totally get them done!”

With the date arranged, Subaru made a dramatic fist-pump pose.

Watching Subaru’s self-satisfied look, a charming smile came over Emilia as she let out a little sigh.

“I was thinking, watching you makes my worries seem so small, Subaru.”

“No way?! I mean, you might become queen; worries and social stress like that would turn my stomach inside out!”

Emilia, unable to hold back any more, burst out laughing, her mirthful voice making Subaru laugh, too.

The two laughing like that announced that their rendezvous for that night had come to an end.

Let it be noted that there was one final exchange.

“Come to think of it, why are you dressed like that after work?”

“Ah, I thought it’d make a good impression on you… So, what do you think? Pretty handsome, huh?”

“Mm, I suppose so. It has that ‘I’m a capable servant’ look.”

“Well, there you go crushing my hopes!”

Sub-chapter 12.

Subaru had his hand on the door, peeking in as he spoke in a casual voice.

“Huh, do you actually sleep right, loli girl? If you stay up too late, you won’t grow as tall as you should and you’ll end up as an adult that short.”

Beatrice replied with resentment in her voice.

“…Do you breach the Passage as if it is a matter of course, I wonder?”

She sat on the wooden stool well within the archive as she glared at Subaru.

“Did you have a reason to come see me, I wonder?”

“Not really. I thought I’d say hi before I went to bed. I was gonna give up if I didn’t get it in three tries, but I got it in one, so…”

“Truly, what kind of intuition do you have…?”

Beatrice had a tired look as she pulled on one of her rolls. When her fingers released it, the stretchy, elastic roll bounced the other way. The sight struck Subaru profoundly.

“Can I try it, too?”

“Only Puckie may touch the likes of me… Would you go away already, I wonder?”

“Not fair only you get to play. Oh well. I’m in a good mood, so I’ll forgive you.”

Still buoyant from the promised date, Subaru headed out as Beatrice glowered at him. But the moment before the door closed, he thought he heard a voice speak with a lonely echo.

“—That has nothing to do with me.”

The voice tugged at him.

“Huh, gotta open the door so I can give her a good comeback.”

The once-open door to the secret archive now led to a simple guest room once more.

He tried opening and closing the door in front of him to see if he could catch it connecting to the archive again.

Rem looked beside herself as she watched Subaru there, opening and closing the door.

“…What have you been doing? Checking the condition of the lock?”

“Oh yeah, I thought I heard a creak in the hall the last few nights… So that was you, Rem?”

Rem was carrying a silver tray with nothing on it in one hand as she watched Subaru feel up the door.

“Is something bothering you?”

“Nah, this led to the archive of forbidden books with the loli girl till just now; it’s gone, though.”

“Did you want something from Lady Beatrice? You could ask me if you prefer…?”

“Just saying hi before going to sleep. Nothing…big.”

The phrase he heard from Beatrice just before the door closed was on Subaru’s mind, but he shook his head—it wasn’t something he needed to press her about at the moment.

“What, you’re still working, Rem? Better turn in. Morning’s coming quickly.”

“I’ll sleep after I do the dishes. At the moment, Sister is serving tea to Master Roswaal, you see.”

“What the heck are those two doing at a time— Ah, well, that’s fine.”

It was almost past midnight; he didn’t much care for Roswaal and Ram having a private chat, discussing some lively topic between just the two of them.

Not my business to say, though, Subaru reflected. He suddenly realized that Rem was watching him. Her pale blue eyes were staring in the direction of his head.

“Don’t suppose chances like this come up much. Doesn’t look like it bothers you any, though.”

“…No, until now it has not bothered me that much, or somewhat, or even a little bit.”

“Geez, downplaying a bunch of times back-to-back makes it sound like it really bothers you!”

The sharpness and intensity of Rem’s gaze increased to the point that his capacity for speech faltered.

Subaru wrapped up work rather late and Rem had been constantly busy, so few opportunities presented themselves. What the heck, thought Subaru with a grimace when Rem raised her hand a bit.

“If you like, how about I do it now?”

“What… Now? It’s pretty late, isn’t it?”

“A quick cut and wash will not take very long. If I do not, I cannot fulfill the cherished desire you confided in me from your own lips, Subaru.”

“Cherished desire is a little much!”

For such a neutral expression, Subaru saw Rem’s eyes brimming with fierce determination. Subaru scratched his face, realizing it must have annoyed her quite a bit over the last four days.

He wanted to do something about that annoyance if he could, but—

“Sorry, Rem. I’ve made a promise to go out with Emilia tomorrow. I’ve gotta get up early and take care of work quickly, so I really can’t do it tonight…”

“Is that so… No, I was being unreasonable. I’m sorry.”

Using the just-made promise as his reason for putting off the promise he’d made to Rem before, at his own suggestion, weighed on his conscience. But Rem was a practical girl and tried to take Subaru’s circumstances into account.

Feeling guilty about Rem’s position, Subaru felt his words left a bitter taste in his own mouth when suddenly, “How about tomorrow night?”

“…At night, you say?”

“My condition for the promise with Emilia is getting all my work wrapped up. There’s no special work scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, so after that, since it’s still on your mind…”

As he spoke, he was truly shocked with himself for arranging dates with two girls on the same day. Not that his feelings toward Emilia and Rem were in the same vein to begin with…

With Rem, he felt fondness toward a fellow coworker. He still didn’t really know how he felt toward Emilia.

Faced with Subaru’s suggestion, Rem closed her eyes and made a small nod.

“Understood. Tomorrow night it is. This is a firm promise, you understand?”

“I don’t know why it bothers you that much, but yeah, a promise it is. Tomorrow night, then.”

He thought about making it a pinkie promise, but he hesitated, not knowing if such a thing existed in that world’s customs. As he hesitated, Rem made a polite bow, turning around with a small flutter of her skirt.

She departed with quiet, gliding steps. Subaru watched her go before heading back to his room, biting down a yawn as he mentally went over his schedule for the coming day.

“I have to thank the kids for creating the reason for a date all the way to the village tomorrow. Oh, before I do that, got to find out where the best flower gardens are…”

As he entered his room, he held his nose high and puffed out his chest, full of hopes and dreams for the coming day. Subaru stripped off his butler uniform, giving himself a makeover with the tracksuit as he crawled into bed.

As his head hit the pillow, his eyes were open, thoughts racing about the next day, not conducive to sleep at all.

Faced with his mind betraying his body, Subaru immediately switched mental gears and resorted to his secret weapon. Namely…

“One Puck, two Pucks…”

In the back of his mind, little gray kitty cats were running around and frolicking as he counted them one by one. Subaru linked his fantasy Puck to the real one, letting his memory of the fluffy feline lead him to a happy place. His mind slowly sank, pulled into dreamland.

“One…hundred and four Pucks…”

Picturing a fluffy paradise, warmth enveloped his mind—and finally vanished.

Sub-chapter 13.

As Subaru awoke, he felt like his consciousness was rising as if poking his head through the water’s surface.

Suddenly released from the suffocating feeling, his eyes opened, waiting several seconds to take in the world. He felt like he’d woken up in a different place than where he’d gone to bed.

He felt sunlight burning his eyes. Subaru sat up his slightly sluggish body and shook his head.

His head was a bit heavy. Perhaps he was tired from not being entirely used to his new life yet.

But this was not the day for such weak thoughts.

Wide-awake, Subaru went over the date promise he’d made with Emilia the night before. “That’s right, Subaru Natsuki—today’s the time to leap into action!”

The day was a day with a happy future. A day he’d awakened to crisply, a day of promised victory. But…

“—”

Pink-haired and blue-haired twin sisters looked upon Subaru’s determined face in surprise.

Subaru, blushing to the tips of his ears, buried his face in the pillow to hide it.

“What! You were there?! Then you should’ve said something! Aw man, I’m so, so embarrassed!”

The fact that they’d stopped rousing him awake two days before made him careless. To think that both of them would visit on that particular morning…

As usual, the twins’ expressions did not change much as Subaru groaned on top of the bedding. Though it did seem like they were fighting the temptation to point at him and break out laughing.

“Er, hold on, you two. I mean, that reaction kinda hurts. I’m a delicate soul here. There are other reactions, right?!”

He was looking forward to their at least engaging in the cold verbal abuse to which he was accustomed.

—Subaru realized afterward that it was quite awful for him to actually be looking forward to the verbal abuse.

“Sister, Sister. He’s greeting us as if he knows us somehow.”

“Rem, Rem. He’s greeting us in a very chummy fashion.”

It didn’t feel right. Their murmurs brushed against something in the back of Subaru’s mind.

“Er, ah? Something weird? My seniors coming to wake me up is one thing, but playing pranks on me is bad taste, you know?”

Certainly the two were always blunt, but—something felt off.

As Subaru spoke, he began to realize why he felt that something was off with them.

—Their eyes.

The way they looked at Subaru. The familiarity from the previous night was gone; they’d gone back to treating him like a complete stranger. Then, decisive proof came flying at him.

“Sister, Sister. Our Dear Guest seems to be a little confused?”

“Rem, Rem. Our Dear Guest seems to be a little touched in the head.”

—Subaru was aghast at being called “Dear Guest.”

The polite echo made Subaru feel like something sharp had gouged out the back of his stomach.

Subaru pressed a hand to his chest to hold back the phantom pain.

He didn’t know what it all meant. Their reactions, it was as if—

“You two… Ha-ha, this really isn’t…funny…”

With both of them still looking at him like a complete stranger, Subaru abruptly brought up his left hand to block them from his view. But Subaru instantly regretted doing so…

…because he saw that the bandage on his left hand was gone.

The rough fingertips from kitchen work, the callouses from handling knives in ways he wasn’t used to, the bite marks from the puppy that had bitten him while the children toyed with him—they, too, were gone.

—Somewhere distant, he heard what sounded like a bell tolling.

The ringing came over him in a rush, crashing against him over and over again like a wave.

Subaru didn’t realize that the pain that came with the sound was from him pulling out his own hair.

The temple of his head really hurt; he felt a hot, nauseous feeling in his nose. But Subaru’s mind focused instead on the sharp pain and taste of blood from biting his own lip, as if he were using it to drown out the sense of loss that felt like someone had carved out his internal organs.

The facts at hand forced Subaru to accept reality.

Feeling his eyes grow hot inside, Subaru buried his face in the pillow for an entirely different reason than before.

—For he absolutely, absolutely did not want anyone to see his face at that moment.

Not the people he’d grown so fond of.

Not the people who’d seemed to grow so fond of him.

He absolutely didn’t want to cry in front of people looking at him like he was a stranger.

“Why’d I…go back?!”

—And so, Subaru was dragged back into the loop anomaly that had brought him so much suffering.

For the second time, his first day at Roswaal Manor began—
 

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Diamond. Diamond. Diamond.

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