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know that's best. If someone like me tries to do something, it'll just add one more corpse...and if I'm not lucky, a lot more than one." Corpses. Corpses. Corpses. Corpses. Corpses. Strangers. Acquaintances. People precious to him. Important people. People who believed in him. People he wanted to think believed in him Endless corpses. He'd had it. Why did all those things have to happen to him? He'd suffered so much; didn't he deserve some reward? Even Subaru knew that the idea that hard work was always rewarded, that any wish with a clear objective could come true so long as you gave it your all, was nothing but a pipe dream. But despite that, was it so wrong to have but one tiny wish to avoid the worst of all worlds? Subaru had been wrong. That was why the results continued to betray his expectations. "Let's run away, Rem. You, me...we can't stay here in this country." Subaru had resolved to leave it all behind, flip the bird at everything, and run. And having decided to put so many things behind him as he fled, he wanted to take only one with him Rem, the girl standing before him. He couldn't bring himself to abandon everything in its entirety. He was afraid of being alone. He was terrified of solitude. Even in that vast world, that world of incomprehensible darkness, knowing that having nothing so that he would lose nothing was the right answer, Subaru couldn't put aside his fear of being all by himself. As the days repeated themselves, Rem had been the only one who'd stayed with Subaru. She'd been right at his side, watching his disgraceful displays, unsightly words and deeds, and off-the-wall way of living. Subaru thought that made her worthy of one final gamble. Each of the three times, Subaru had let Rem die. To keep her from dying, he couldn't return to the mansion. Even when he had arrived at the mansion, she had heroically offered up her life along the way, in the end. Nor could he say with certainty that he could save her by keeping her at the royal capital. Even if they were spending their time in peace and quiet here, if Ram conveyed news of the crisis at the mansion, Rem would probably rush out of the city. If it came to that, Subaru wouldn't be able to stop her. And she would meet the same fate. He'd lose her again, and Subaru could clearly see how empty he would be without her. If he seriously wanted to save her, he had to get her out of the kingdom. "You are saying all this so suddenly, I do not know what to do..." Rem shook her head a little in the face of Subaru's forceful plea. It wasn't a gesture of rejection. Her expression projected the uncertainty that reigned inside her. Rem couldn't simply accept at face value what Subaru had suddenly said. He had cited far too few facts to make an informed decision. Subaru understood the irrationality of it, but even so, he could speak no further of the circumstances. He no longer knew how much information he could divulge with the Witch's evil hands looming. He felt like he'd brush against the Witch's curse no matter what he talked about. No matter what he did, he felt like it would lead to more sacrifices to the irrationalities of Fate. And if that came to pass, it wouldn't be Subaru who would be sacrificed but people precious to him. *** It was a stalemate. He was hemmed in on all sides. Fate had shut off every avenue of escape. Therefore, Subaru had no means left to him but that plea. He was earnestly appealing to Rem's conscience, knowing that it was underhanded in every possible way, knowing that he was using the feelings for Subaru that Rem harbored in her heart. "There's no time. I'm sorry this is so sudden. Really, really I am. I'm sorry from the bottom of my heart... But please choose." "Choose..." "Me or everything except for me... Please choose." Subaru hated the situation he'd put her in, saying all that and making her suddenly choose based on the little information he'd provided her. But it was also a fact that giving her time to calmly think it over worked against him. He couldn't dismiss the notion that he was using the pressure of her predicament for his own benefit. Only in this situation, giving Rem little time to decide whether to leave Subaru there or not as he pled right before her eyes, did he have a shot at winning this. Or if not "winning," then fulfilling a cherished desire more like hope the selfish hope that Rem, at least, would forgive him for running away. "Let's get a dragon carriage and head west. Let's leave Lugunica and go all the way west of...Kararagi, was it? Let's buy a little house and live there, just the two of us." Rapid-fire, Subaru began sketching his vision of the future. It was an ordinary, tranquil future, one surely divorced from irrationality and cruelty. "It means using the traveling funds, so I feel bad for Roswaal, but we can just borrow what we need and send the rest back. I'm gonna work hard to help set us up from the start, too... I've never worked at a proper job before, but it'll probably be all right." He was a delinquent who had dropped out of high school with only a middle school graduation under his belt. His work experience in this world consisted of nothing but a stint as an apprentice servant. Furthermore, though he didn't like saying it, his current work as a subordinate was little better than that of a child helping out with the chores. It'd probably be hard doing a real job, but he'd find work, come hell or high water. Compared to pain, suffering, and death, it'd be a walk in the park. The more Subaru thought about it, the more his future opened up. Thinking back to how he'd aimed for a single future, spending day after day courting the worst calamities no matter how hard he tried, it was a happy thing indeed. "Even if it's tough, if you're there, I know I'll try hard. Even if I'm tired, just the thought of you waiting for me with a smile when I come home...!" Even if every last person he left behind blamed him for running away, he figured he could take it if Rem was at his side. So please, I'm begging you, like I've never begged for anything before "Please choose me...!" Subaru offered his hand to petition her, almost like he was trying to drag a yes out of her. "If you pick me, I'll give you everything I have. Every part of my life will be yours. I'll spend my life for you. I'll live only for you...so please." Even with Rem standing right in front of him, he couldn't look at her face. He didn't have the courage to see what kind of expression she was making. Courage didn't suit him, not in the tiniest bit. If he did, surely everything would have worked out differently. Cowardly, underhanded, and pathetic as he was, he had nothing left. "Run away with me... Live with me, please...!" At least let me keep you from dying, he earnestly pled from the bottom of his heart. Putting all his feelings into his parched voice, Subaru felt his heart beat quickly, his breathing grow ragged. Exhaustion from the fierce mental pummeling Subaru had received struck him with fatigue, as if he'd sprinted with all his strength. Rem made no reply. The sounds of the crowd were distant now. It never entered his mind to wonder what other people might think of two people having a conversation like this in public. Rem was everything to him. To Subaru, in that moment, her existence was everything to him. Unable to endure the silence, Subaru opened his firmly closed eyes to peek at Rem's expression as she stood before him, all the while seized by the fear that it might reveal her answer. *** In silence, Rem pursed her lips, not realizing he was looking at her. Her expression struggled to remain neutral, but her brow and the corners of her eyes were faintly strained in a way she would not normally permit. Subaru could tell that a vortex of uncertainty, bewilderment, and hesitation swirled within her. The various things Subaru had just said were greatly, powerfully, fiercely shaking her heart. The long battle felt like an eternity. A sense of unease burned Subaru's back. But finally, that time came to an end. " Subaru." Gently, she called his name with a voice that was full of affection. The instant Subaru heard the tone, the echo of her voice, he was certain his hopes had been answered. Rem had accepted Subaru. She'd forgiven Subaru for being weak. She'd embraced the human being called Subaru Natsuki and everything that came with him. A flood of emotions welled within him. He felt like he'd finally been rewarded. Then Subaru lifted his face "I cannot run away with you, Subaru." With a very sad face, Rem dashed his hopes. "After all..." *** "When we talk about the future, we need to smile, don't we?" With an expression resembling a tearful smile, Rem spoke the words that had once come from Subaru's own mouth. He'd gambled, and he'd lost. When Rem threw his own words back at him with a tearful smile, Subaru's inner self was exhausted, overwhelmed by a feeling that he'd thrown everything into one match and lost. Subaru had trusted no, hoped that Rem, with her strong dependence on him, just might say yes. That maybe, just maybe, even as he cast everything aside, she might choose him. It was a fleeting dream, a conceited thought. He should have understood that from the start. If his inability to find any worth in himself was the whole reason he'd chosen to run away, what business did he have expecting that? "Right now...I might not be smiling, but...I mean, if we actually did it I'm sure I'd be smiling... Yeah, that's right. So, ah..." Even though the matter had already been settled, unconvincing arguments poured out of Subaru's mouth in an attempt to smooth things over. He couldn't think of an effective rebuttal to Rem's words. But if he didn't say something, his desires were over then and there. He might still have a chance to change her mind as long as they kept talking though that might have been an exercise in wishful thinking. As Subaru clung to that hope, Rem watched him, a faint smile coming over her as she murmured, "...I have...thought of it as well." She raised her shapely face up ever so slightly. "After arriving in Kararagi, first we would rent a room at an inn. Though a house is the foundation for building a life, we could not be reckless with the money at our disposal. First, we would need a stable income." Rem lifted a finger up as she added to the image of the future Subaru had proposed earlier. "Fortunately, I received a proper education due to Master Roswaal's good judgment. Even in Kararagi, I believe that finding employment would be a simple matter for me. As for Subaru...you would probably need to settle for physical labor, but perhaps you could work in close proximity to me." With a little giggle, Rem made light of Subaru's inability to do anything. It was no doubt an accurate assessment of Subaru's worth, as he was still largely ignorant of the culture and technology in that world. "Once our income is stable, we would look for a slightly better place to stay. During that time, you would need to study properly for future employment... It would take about a year before you could do real

work, maybe. You can become independent even faster, but only through your own efforts, Subaru." With that, Rem laid out an unexpectedly brutal studying regimen. When she had instructed him in Ram's place, her method of teaching was gentle, but her criticisms were merciless. He might have grumbled along the way, but he was rather fond of her strictness. "With both of us working, we could save some money... Perhaps enough to eventually buy a house. Maybe a store of some sort would be better. Kararagi is a land overflowing with commerce, so there will surely be a way to profit from your eccentric ideas, Subaru." With an amused clap of her hands, Rem laid out a future that sounded too good to be true. Subaru, too, felt like he could clearly picture the scene playing out in Rem's head. As usual, Subaru would cause her lots of trouble, and she would indulge him. Of course he would feel responsible for that, so he'd end up working hard with plenty of sweat rolling off his brow for sure. That would be nice. An honest living, for her sake and hers alone how happy a life would that be? "As our work progresses...ah, this is embarrassing, but maybe...children? As half-demon and half-human, they would most likely be very rambunctious. Boy or girl, twins or triplets, they are sure to be very cute children, too." Rem's cheeks reddened as she shyly let her thoughts run a little further ahead. She counted on her fingers one by one, and just as the number reached a terrifying ten, she continued. "It would not be all fun, and I do not think it would all go as well as I imagine. Perhaps we would have no sons and only daughters, and you might not be able to feel proud of your family." "...Rem." "But, ah, even when the children get big enough to be mean to you, I will always be on your side, Subaru. We would be famous with the locals as the always happily married couple and slowly spend our days together, growing old together..." "...Rem!" "Subaru, I am sorry to say this, but if possible, I would ask you to please let me pass away before you. I would like to lie upon a bed with you holding my hand, surrounded by our children and grandchildren, while I say, 'I was happy,' and you all would send me off " He couldn't hold up his head. The future Rem was portraying with her words was quietly, gently wounding Subaru's heart. "That would be a...happy, happy way to end my life." "If you've...!" Listening to the bittersweet future Rem had refused was like having an irrepressible itch deep inside his chest that made him want to scratch himself raw. By the time Subaru finished listening, there was nothing left filling his heart but a pathetic, indescribable storm of emotion. His throat trembled. Something heavy sank deep inside his lungs. His head hurt. He shook his head to try and ignore the relentless heat filling the depths of his eyes. "If you've...thought it through...!" Then she could run away with Subaru as far as their feet could take them "Subaru, if you could smile while wishing for that future...I truly believe I could be happy after a life like that." But filled with a sadness that exceeded even Subaru's, the smiling girl did not answer his plea. Dumbfounded, Subaru stared at that small, painful smile when he finally understood. No matter how much he clung to hope, he could not get Rem to change her mind. He had truly, utterly lost the gamble, and he had no recourse. *** A sense of fatigue assailed him, as if he were carrying something very heavy on his shoulders. He was so disheartened that he could collapse on the spot. Subaru barely managed to avoid doing so, covering his face with his hands as he despaired. Rem had refused to go with him. That meant he was out of ways to save her. If he stayed by her side to protect her, all that awaited her upon their return to the mansion was a cruel future an unchangeable tragedy and Fate's pitiless dead end. Then perhaps it would be best to leave Rem behind and run away by himself...? If he did so, he could not escape loneliness, but he could at least flee from the despair in front of him. Of course, the fate of the people in and around the mansion would not change whether or not he was present. Subaru would simply be covering his eyes and ears, pretending not to know, spared from seeing reality for himself. In that moment, Subaru was so desperate for something to cling to that this paltry salvation would do. But even if he accepted that himself, would there be any salvation at all? Whether Subaru was challenging his foes, fleeing into madness, or putting everything on the line, Fate had not cut him the slightest slack. What, then, could he do ? "Subaru, that you thought of running away with me...that you thought of living your life with me...thrills me to the bottom of my heart. But it will not do." Even having spurned the hand Subaru had offered, Rem's cheeks were still flush from the feelings swirling within her. She herself knew that they could flee, flee, flee and, eventually, make that fantasy a reality. She craved it. She'd stated firmly that the tale was a happy one and yet, Rem had rejected it, because "I mean, if we did run away right now...I am certain that I would be leaving behind the Subaru I love most." *** What was Rem saying? He didn't get it. Trembling, Subaru lifted up his face and looked at her with blank eyes. Rem was giving him a small, sad smile, but even so, her eyes projected her firm sentiments. Subaru felt overwhelmed by her gaze as she continued. "Subaru. Please tell me what has happened." He shook his head. He could not. If he did that, Rem would die. "If you cannot talk about it, then please trust me. I will manage somehow." He shook his head. He could not. If he left it at that, Rem would die. "...But at the very least, can we go back now? If you settle down and think about it more calmly, you might be able to find a different answer." He shook his head. He could not. If he waited, everyone would die. "I've...worried already. I've thought already. I've suffered already... That's why I gave up." No one believed Subaru. No one expected anything from him. If he told anyone he'd do something, they'd spoon-feed him his own foolishness. He'd ignored that, brushed it off, seen his own many stupidities, and thus arrived at his current state. To Subaru, that time, that wear and tear on his heart, was " It is easy to give up. However." Suddenly, Rem voiced a rebuttal to Subaru's words of weakness. It is easy to give up. The instant the words entered his ears, a jolt of comprehension rushed through Subaru's whole body. It was as if a bolt of lightning had struck the crown of his head. Something he couldn't put into words exploded inside his chest, and every pore of his body felt like he'd been set on fire. "It's easy...to give up...?" "Subaru?" "Don't...tell me that...!" Subaru clenched his teeth, rasping with resentment at a perplexed Rem. It's easy to give up? That's a bad joke. You think it's a simple thing to abandon your goal and run away empty-handed? Like hell it is...! "There's no way it's easy to give up...!!" Subaru's throat trembled from the unbearably dark emotions exploding within him. Surprised by Subaru's angry outburst, Rem seemed to shrink. Even pedestrians traveling along the royal capital's main street were wondering what was up as they shifted their eyes to the enraged Subaru. Heedless of the offended gazes, Subaru glared only at Rem, standing before him. "I didn't do anything, I didn't think of anything, I abandoned everything without a care, threw it all away just like that, and gave up is that what you think?!" The decision was killing him. He'd cried tears of blood and yelled enough to rip his throat apart, and still he had gained nothing. Knowing that, he had made his decision. Giving up on everything. That was the only conclusion he could put into words, but just how many sacrifices had to be made for him to reach that conclusion? He wouldn't let anyone diminish that. "Giving up wasn't easy at all...! Thinking you can fight, that you can manage somehow, that's way easier...! But I couldn't manage somehow! I had no choice! All the paths were blocked except for giving up...!" Fate was mocking Subaru, for every path available to him ended in a dead end. No matter how much he fought, how much he stood tall, plotted, schemed, begged, or even ran away It was no longer possible for him to have it all. Even the people he wanted to save had slapped his hand away. He was supposed to keep trying, then? Who could tell Subaru that it was too soon to give up? If someone had been through the same experience, the same suffering, the same hell, would that person be able to say such a thing? "If I could do anything...I'd...I'd...!" He truly wanted to do something. To help people, to save people, to keep them from being stolen away. But he couldn't. The world wouldn't let him. Everything during those repeated days had come back around to bite him again. That's why Subaru had "Subaru." As Subaru hung his head, drained of emotion, his voice petering out, Rem called to him. Subaru's ears were ringing heavily. The pathetic revelation of his unsightly true feelings left him unable to even look her in the face. And to that miserable, unsalvageable, hopeless man who had challenged Fate and lost, she said, "It is easy to give up." *** "However..." Rem repeated once more the phrase that had sent Subaru into a rage just before. Sensing something almost incomprehensible in her words, Subaru lifted his face, dumbfounded. Why won't she understand? Why, after all this, couldn't she comprehend Subaru's anguish? The gloom, the dissatisfaction, the wounds on what seemed like every corner inside his heart " It does not suit you, Subaru." It all vanished as Rem stared directly into Subaru's black eyes and spoke. Rem stated those words as if she truly believed them, as if they represented some kind of absolute truth. "I do not understand what painful thoughts, what knowledge is making you suffer, Subaru. I believe I cannot belittle it by saying that I understand." *** "But even so, there is one thing that even I recognize." *** "And that is, you are not someone who can give up on things before they're done, Subaru." To the man lost in sorrow before her, who'd cast away everything, who had said he was giving up but a moment before, Rem said such a thing without shame, without fear, without hesitation. "I know this." *** "When it is a future you want, you smile when you talk about it, Subaru." To the man who had spoken to her of running away to a world that was no doubt warm, peaceful, and tranquil, with guilt and regret on his face, Rem spoke plainly, without any disappointment. "I know this." *** "I know that you are a man who does not give up on the future, Subaru." This, Rem declared to a young man hanging his head, seemingly gritting his teeth. There was only sincerity in her eyes. They conveyed nothing but trust to him. Subaru was overwhelmed by that powerful, intense light. After all, Rem was wrong about him. So wrong, this was a veritable farce. Her statements valued the human being called Subaru far too highly. He

didn't know how proud and noble the Subaru in her eyes must have been. But the real Subaru was nothing so fine a person as that. Spouting weakness, crushed from adversity, lamenting his own smallness and pathetic misery, defeated and beaten so hard that he was running away that was Subaru Natsuki. "You're wro... I'm not that kind of person... I'm..." "I am not mistaken. Lady Emilia, Sister, Master Roswaal, Miss Beatrice, and everyone else... I know you have not given up on them, Subaru." She refuted him in a strong tone. But she was wrong. He'd thrown away all of them. "I gave up. I gave up! I can't take them with me...my hands are too small, everything falls out of them, then I have nothing left...!" "No, that is not so. Subaru, you are " Just how far, how far, would Rem go in denying that Subaru had given up? Why, after he had suffered such humiliation, did she so deny that he was in the wrong? Just what did she see in Subaru? It was so disturbing that he couldn't take it anymore. Just what is it you're trying to say? " What! Do you! Think you know about me?!" He vented the flames smoldering inside his chest in an incandescent rage. Subaru shouted angrily, slamming a fist into the wall right beside him. With a hard sound, his knuckles broke; when he waved his fist around, blood splattered onto the wall. "This is all I am! I have high hopes even though I'm powerless; I have all these dreams even though I'm dumb; I keep trying even though I can't do anything...!" Everyone had at least one thing they could do right. And everyone pushed that one thing as far as they could to find a place suited to them. But Subaru Natsuki didn't even have that. The lofty heights he yearned for were far above his station. "I...! I hate myself!!" Faced with the truth that he'd smiled frivolously in an attempt to hide, making light of things as he kept running from them, never facing them seriously for the first time, Subaru admitted what he really felt. More than anyone, Subaru Natsuki hated himself. "I'm always nothing but talk! I'm full of myself even though I can't do anything! I'm worse than useless, but I'm still a world-class complainer! Who the hell do I think I am?! How dare I live such a shameful life this long?! Right?!" Because he was unable to raise himself higher, he'd tried to bring others down. Because he wouldn't admit he was inferior to others, he tried to find fault in everyone else to protect his banal, paper-thin pride. "I'm empty. I've got nothing inside me. Of course I am... Yeah, it's obvious. There's no question! Until I came here, until I met all of you, do you know what I was doing?!" Before he'd fallen into another world. What was he doing in his former world except living out his idle, boring, ordinary, unchanging days one at a time ? " I...wasn't doing anything." He'd wallowed in idleness, slumbered in indolence, spent his days far removed from studying and effort. It wasn't that he'd given up on himself but rather, he'd held on to the convenient idea that if the time came, he could just roll up his sleeves and do it. "I didn't do anything... I didn't do one little thing! With all that time to do it! With all that freedom! I should have done lots of stuff, but I didn't do any of it! And this is the result! The result is the man I am now!" If he'd properly used the time he had, even Subaru would surely have achieved something. But in reality, he had grandly squandered and wasted the time allotted to him, and as a result, he had gained nothing, and nothing had come from it. That was why, now that he actually wanted from the bottom of his heart to accomplish something, he lacked the strength, intelligence, and skill to achieve any of it. "I'm powerless, talentless, and all of it, all of it, is because of my rotten personality...! I want to achieve something when I haven't done anything before conceited doesn't even begin to describe it... I was lazy and imposed on other people; I wasted my whole life away; I killed you." He was unsalvageable. He was hopeless. Even if he'd redone it all from birth, he'd probably go down the exact same path, waste his time in the exact same way, arrive there with the same feelings, and experience the same regrets. His rotten personality wouldn't change. A shallow human nature was the only one suited to the human being called Subaru Natsuki. That fact would never change. "That's right, my personality hasn't... I thought I could live here, but not a single thing's changed about me. That old man saw right through me, didn't he?" When he'd remained in the royal capital, Wilhelm had instructed him in the sword at the Crusch residence. Watching Subaru be knocked down time and time again, all beat up while challenging him over and over, the old man had nonetheless seen through it all. During those days of training, the old man had spoken of those who wield the sword, but he had shaken his head and said, "There is little point lecturing someone about what it takes to become stronger when he has already abandoned the choice to do so." At the time, Subaru hadn't understood what Wilhelm was saying, so he'd denied the old man's words even though he knew deep down exactly what they meant. "It's not like I really thought I'd get stronger or I'd be able to do anything... I just went through the motions...I was just a poser trying to justify myself..." Emilia had abandoned him after he'd put on a more miserable display than any other at the royal selection site. Unable to bear being viewed as such by those around him, he tried to protect himself by adopting the mantle of a "hard worker" where those gazes could see. His behavior was the simple product of his search for a suitable excuse. I'm changing myself. He should have known that the thought was itself proof that nothing had changed. "I wanted to say, I couldn't help it! I wanted other people to say it couldn't be helped! That's all it was! That's the only reason I pretended to put myself on the line like that! Even when you were helping me study, I was just putting on a show to cover up the embarrassment! I'm a small, underhanded, filthy guy down to the bone, always worrying about what other people think of me, and none of that's ever changed...!" His bluffs had been stripped away, and the hubris underneath had crumbled. Once his thin shell was shattered, his vainglorious heart, not wanting to be thought of badly by others, and his ego, asserting that he wasn't wrong, poured out. "...Even I knew. I understood all of it was my fault, really." If he could yell that it was somebody else's fault, that there was some reason for it, it was easier. He wouldn't need to look at who he truly was. If he kept his facade intact, he'd never have to look at what was on the inside. He wouldn't have to look at his ugly self. He wouldn't have others see it. Though he was weak, selfish, and all talk, he wished to be loved nonetheless. "I'm the worst... I I hate me." Subaru was short of breath after venting all the gloomy darkness tearing him up inside. He'd let himself have it with all the filthy, corrupt things in him since coming to that other world no, those dark things had been in him long before in his old world. His nature as a human made even him want to puke. Even though he'd spewed it all out, the deep feelings in his chest only soured further. Weren't you supposed to feel a little better after you vented something pent up inside? On top of not feeling the slightest bit better, he realized with crystal clarity just how foolish he was. The shame seething inside him made him want to die then and there. And his weakness in exposing so much filth, thinking of nothing beyond his own concerns, was the stupidest thing of all. With Rem standing right there, still believing in him, Subaru had tried to sully and stain the beautiful picture in front of her sparkling eyes, exposing it as a fraud. And now, after all that, he was more concerned with his own standing than with her. That was it in a nutshell. Truly accepting and recognizing the corrupt, flawed parts of himself that he hated didn't mean things were going to instantly improve. If anything, the depth and darkness of the chasm within him underlined just how incorrigible he was, robbing him even of his will to live. The true character of Subaru Natsuki did not merit pity. As Subaru sank to the lowest depths of his filthy ego, still, the blue-haired girl "I know this." *** "I know that Subaru is someone with the courage to reach out, even with impenetrable darkness all around him." Even then, Rem would not forsake him. Her absolute love, her inviolate trust, chafed upon Subaru like nothing before. Having berated himself so much, having divulged so much of the ugliness in his heart, having confessed that he was a complete fraud, an unsalvageable piece of garbage Why did she look at Subaru with such affectionate eyes? "I love it when you stroke my head, Subaru. I feel connected to you when your hand passes through my hair." With Subaru fallen into silence, Rem began to express something unexpected in a soft, quiet voice. "I love your voice, Subaru. I feel my heart getting warmer from every single word. I love your eyes, Subaru. They're usually quite sharp, but I like how they become soft when you're being kind to someone." Subaru said nothing as Rem continued, showering him with her words. "I love your fingers, Subaru. They're very pretty for a boy's, but when they hold my hand, I always think to myself, 'They really are a boy's fingers.' They are slender and strong. I love how you walk, Subaru. When someone is beside you, you always check once in a while to make sure you really are side by side. I love that you walk that way." His heart was screaming. While Rem wove those words, Subaru's chest cried out. "...Stop it." "I love your face when you sleep, Subaru. You're as defenseless as a baby. Your eyelashes are just a little bit long. Your cheeks are so gentle when I touch them, and even if I touch your lips to tease you, you don't notice... I love it so much that it makes my chest hurt." "Why...?" Why was she still talking? Why was she still able to toss out such compliments at Subaru, the useless fool that he was? "You said that you hated yourself, Subaru, so I wanted you to know that you have so much good in you." "None of that is real...!" Rem was looking at a convenient illusion. The real Subaru wasn't that kind of person. The real him was filthier than that. His genuine self was ugly, the exact opposite of the one she viewed so favorably. "You just don't understand! I know more about myself than anyone else!" "You only know about you, Subaru! How much do you know about the Subaru I see?!" Reflexively, Subaru raised his voice, but Rem's shout was even louder than his own. Subaru was shocked. It was the first time she'd raised her voice since they'd arrived here. The shock made his breath catch in his throat. At long last, he realized that Rem's eyes, dutifully maintaining their neutral expression, had

large teardrops welling in them. Of course hearing Subaru's confession had hurt her. Of course listening to his extreme masochism had brought pain to her kind heart. Yet even so, she believed in Subaru. Rem knew all the horrible things within him that he had told her about, and she believed in Subaru despite them. "Why do you...? So much... I'm weak, puny... I'm running away...! Even now, I'm running away just like I did before, so why...?" Why do you believe in a pathetic, unreliable guy drowning in his weakness like me...? If I can't believe in myself, how can you...? " Because you're my hero." When those words of unconditional, infinite trust hit him, Subaru's heart quietly trembled. No matter what awful conditions piled atop one another, no matter what flaws he might have, that one sentence was infused with the hope that he would come running and chase evil away. And far too late, finally Subaru realized it. He was wrong. He'd thought wrong. He had been so, so wrong. He'd thought that she, Rem, was the only one who'd allow Subaru to fall as far as he needed to, that no matter how weak, pathetic, and humiliated he was, she'd forgive him and he'd made a mistake. It had been an error, a lethal degree of foolishness. Rem was the one, the only one, who would never allow Subaru to give in. Everyone had told Subaru that he didn't have to do anything, that he should just behave himself. They had said that they expected nothing from him and that his actions were futile. But it was Rem who would not permit Subaru to be weak. She was the only one who'd kept saying, Stand up. Don't give up. Save everyone. No one expected anything from Subaru. But she had refused to abandon him, even when he had abandoned himself; nor would she accept his giving up. Such was the "spell" that Subaru Natsuki had cast upon her. "In that gloomy forest, a world where I had lost myself, a world where I could only lash out without thinking, you came and saved me." *** "When I woke and was unable to move, when Sister was exhausted from having used too much magic, you stood up and faced the demon beasts as a decoy so that we could escape." *** "You had no chance of winning, and your life was truly in danger, but even so, you survived...and when you returned to my arms, you were warm." *** "When you woke up, you smiled and said the words I most wanted to hear, at the time I most wanted to hear them, and you were the person I most wanted to hear them from." One by one, she enumerated the "spell" that Subaru had cast upon her. Those spells had bound her deeply kind heart with the chains called trust, and these firmly bound her until that very moment. "On that fiery night when I lost everything except Sister, time stopped for me, never to move again." Rem gazed squarely at Subaru as she spoke of a fragment of her terrible past. Her gaze was infused with intimacy that had not wavered to even the slightest degree. "My heart had stopped, frozen in time, but you softly melted it and gently made it move again. Do you know how much you saved me in that instant, on that morning? You can't possibly know how happy I was, Subaru." "That's why," said Rem, placing a hand on her chest as she continued. " I believe in you. No matter how much you might suffer, no matter how much things seem to be going against you, even if no one else in the whole world believes in you, even if you cannot believe in yourself I believe in you, Subaru." As Rem spoke, she took a step forward, closing the distance. They were close enough to touch. Subaru, hanging his head, did not move as Rem reached out with both arms, wrapping them around his neck. Even though there was very little strength in the pull, the unresisting Subaru could not avoid her embrace. Though Subaru was taller, Rem held his head to her chest, and he heard her voice from directly above as she said, "The Subaru who saved me is a real hero." From the slippery sensation on his forehead, he knew she had brushed it with her lips. Heat spread from where she'd touched him. Incomprehensible emotions welled up deep inside Subaru's chest. Blood flowed through his unmoving limbs. The static filling his skull began to clear "No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't save anyone." "I'm here. The Rem you saved is right here, Subaru." "I'm empty. There's nothing inside me. No one'll listen to me." "I'm here. If they are Subaru's words, I want to hear whatever they might be." "No one expects anything from me. No one trusts me... I...hate myself." "I love you, Subaru." The hand that touched his cheek was hot. Her eyes, gazing at Subaru from up close, were moist. That look, everything about her, made him accept that she was truly sincere. "You're...fine with a guy like me...?" He'd tried over and over, redone over and over, and he had nothing to show for it. Everyone died. His hand never reached them. He'd let everyone die. His thoughts were inadequate. He was empty, powerless, dumb, late to act, a blockhead dragged around by his desire to protect someone. Was he really good enough for her? "I'm fine with you, Subaru." *** "I don't want it to be anyone else." If he, who could not believe in himself, had someone who had faith in him...could Subaru Natsuki fight? He didn't have to give up on fighting Fate? "If you really are that empty, if you have nothing, if you cannot forgive yourself let's start over, here and now." "Begin wh...?" "Just like how you made time move again for me, we can make the time that stopped for you move again, right now." He had taken his regret and shame at his past of achieving nothing, his days of doing nothing, his hours spent in waste and idleness, and tried to give up. Rem smiled at this Subaru, stating: "Let us start over from here, from step one... No, from zero!" *** "If you find it difficult to walk alone, I shall support you. Let us divide the load and support each other as we walk. You said that to me on that morning, yes?" So let's laugh, hug each other, and talk about tomorrow, he had said. Leaning on each other, supporting each other as they walked, he had said. "Please show me the best in you, Subaru." He'd shown her nothing but the worst in him for the longest while. After all, it was Subaru himself who had cast the indelible "spell" upon her. It was his duty to take responsibility and see it through. "...Rem." "Yes?" When he called her name, she quietly responded. He lifted his face. He looked straight ahead. He gazed into Rem's eyes. Softly, gently, they awaited the reply from Subaru's lips. So he wanted to be the Subaru Natsuki she loved so much. " I...like Emilia." " Yes." Seemingly knowing all along, Rem smiled and nodded at Subaru's confession. He knew full well how cruel he was being to that smile, that gentleness, as he continued, "I want to see Emilia's smile. I want to be in her future as a help to her. Even if she told me I'm in the way, not to come back... I want to be by her side." Now that he'd accepted Rem's feelings, he again voiced the feeling that remained unchanged inside him. But the way he felt it was different from before. "The idea that she'd put up with anything from me just because I liked her...was pretty arrogant, huh?" *** "Even if she doesn't get it right now, that's fine. Right now, I want to save Emilia. If there's a future of pain and suffering coming for her, I want to bring her to a future where everyone can smile." So he offered his hand to Rem, right at his side, and asked, "Will you...help me?" He knew it was an underhanded way to respond to the feelings she had offered to him. He knew he was using her emotions. But it was that Subaru, the Subaru who would not give up on the future of those precious to him, whom she loved. "I can't do anything by myself. I come up short in everything. I don't have the confidence to just walk straight ahead. I'm so weak, fragile, and puny, so... Will you lend me a hand? Help keep me on the straight and narrow when I take a wrong turn?" "You are a terrible person, Subaru. Right after you dump a girl, you ask such a thing?" "Hey, it's pretty tough for me to ask someone who turned down a once-in-a-lifetime proposal of mine, you know?" Rem was unable to hold back a little sigh at Subaru's weak chuckle. They smiled at each other for a while. Then Rem straightened up, elegantly grasped the hem of her skirt, and in a display of perfect courtesy, she said, "If this will bring a future where Subaru, my hero, can smile, then I humbly accept." "Yeah, you just watch. You'll have a front-row seat." Rem took the hand Subaru had offered as they exchanged their vows. She let out a small "Ah" as Subaru drew her close, burying her petite body in his chest. He was grateful that there existed a girl so soft, so warm, and who liked him so much. " The man you fell in love with is gonna be the coolest hero there ever was!" It was hot within her breast. As Subaru embraced Rem, she buried her face in his chest, hiding her expression. Her breathing was hot. Her forehead and cheeks were hot as she rubbed them against him. But the tears flowing from her eyes were probably the hottest of all. Even then, Subaru could not like himself. He still hated himself. But a girl had told Subaru she liked him. If there was a girl who could like him, just as he was... Emilia was watching. Rem was watching. He could not yield. *** The tale of Subaru Natsuki would begin anew. His life in another world would start over. From zero. CHAPTER 6 *** The room was silent but filled with a strained sense of tension. Feeling that tension on his skin, Subaru moistened his parched lips with his tongue, grateful that arrangements for the first step of the scenario were in place. To Subaru, each and every face now present was absolutely indispensable. After all, he had no strength of his own. Lacking ability and manpower, all he could do by himself was to die in vain as he had done to that point. "Now I can finally understand why you have gathered us here and delayed my supper." Crusch Karsten, sitting on the sofa with her hands crossed atop her knees, broke the silence, murmuring with a look of understanding on her gallant face. "Reawwy? To be honest, Ferri still has some doubts, meow. I mean, how does such a clumsy boy get that look in his eyes all of a sudden?" With an expression as casual as his tone, Ferris kept his guard up as he gazed at Subaru. He was brimming with a willingness to defend his lord from any danger. *** In contrast to Ferris, Wilhelm kept his silence as he sat to Crusch's left. Wearing his sword on his hip, the aged swordsman closed his eyes, with only his refined martial spirit hovering about him. There was no trace remaining of the warmth with which he had greeted them upon their return from the lower city. Now, he was wholly immersed in his role

as a man wielding his sword for his master, Crusch, rather than for himself. Subaru was meeting Crusch and her retainers in the reception room of her residence, a place of which Subaru had few good memories. Twice in the past, he had endured bitter hardships there. He was meeting with Crusch, Ferris, and Wilhelm. That much was the same as before. But there was something different this time. "It feels somewhat uncomfortable to be back so soon after my first visit. I fully expect that Mr. Natsuki will say something to sweep away such misgivings." The blond man of delicate features, defined by his comical beard, commented with a chuckle. This was Russel Fellow, a representative of the Merchant's Guild who possessed great influence in the royal capital. Subaru lightheartedly slumped a little at Russel's apparent diversion. "Rem's calling one more person over right now, so please wait just a little longer. It isn't guaranteed my guest is coming but...it's a good bet." "I await a prompt arrival. Incidentally, may I inquire as to your evidence for this 'good bet'?" Russel didn't even blink in the face of Subaru's presumptuous statement. Subaru's lips twisted as he faced off against a real merchant with a head, mouth, and tongue superior to his own. "It's a simple story. The person I invited is sensitive to the smell of money, or so I heard them say personally. If that's true, there's no doubt. That was true for you as well, wasn't it, Russel?" "My, my, you certainly have me there." Russel put a hand to his forehead, seemingly indicating that Subaru had scored a point on him. Of course, even Subaru wasn't blithe enough to take the gesture at face value. He was well aware of the danger posed by the narrow tightrope he planned to walk. The rope was just about set to be tied on both ends. The crossing was yet to come. Subaru would do it, supported by the power of borrowed courage. A few minutes later, the door opened and a lone girl Rem appeared. "I am sorry to have kept you all waiting." "That's okay!" Subaru brought up his right thumb with a wink as she walked to his side and leaned her face close to his ear. "She said that she would be slightly delayed but that she would definitely come." " That so. All right, good work, Rem." With that, preparations for Subaru's tightrope performance were complete. Before arriving at the negotiating table, he'd prepared the argument he would use to move the deal in the direction he desired. Subaru's memories and experiences in this new world had led him to a single answer. "Apparently, the last participant will arrive slightly late, but all the actors will be on the stage. No point waiting any further should we start?" Subaru's statement brought a change in the air and various reactions from others in the room. Crusch made a thin smile; Ferris strongly pursed his lips. Wilhelm maintained his silence, his expression unchanging even then. Russel slowly sank into his chair. Seeing their reactions, Subaru took a deep breath and calmed his emotions. He could feel his own heart pounding rapidly. His blood circulated throughout his body. The deep anxiety simultaneously residing in his head made everything before his eyes seem to dim. But Rem, right beside Subaru, gently touched his sleeve in an effort to put him at ease. "Subaru." She wasn't holding his hand, nor was she asserting her own existence. That little act of consideration was very Rem-like. The sense of relief enveloping him was as if ten thousand cavalry were riding to his aid. Rem was watching. He could not disappoint. " Okie." Subaru hid his fears behind an impetuous smile and challenged the first wall. He needed to thread the eye of a needle, both to get to a Happy End and to take one step closer to becoming a hero for the sake of the girl who believed in him, the girl who'd told him she liked him. Just as Subaru lifted his spirits and faced forward, Crusch raised a finger and spoke. "Subaru Natsuki, there is something I wish to confirm I would hear, from your own lips, the purpose of this gathering." As she sat, she raised a hand and rested her chin against it as her sagacious gaze landed on Subaru. Even though she knew full well the answer to her question, her posture showed no sign of softness that would allow Subaru to say so. Now that he had failed time and time again, he understood. The game was on before he had even spoken a single word. "Of course, what I want is " So Subaru made a grandiose gesture, smiling powerfully to keep himself from being cowed by Crusch's rapier-like gaze and repeating his earlier failures. "A negotiation so that the Emilia camp and the Crusch camp can become allies on equal terms." He thus began to challenge the first of many obstacles standing in his way. The exchange with Rem along Main Street had made Subaru decide to restart in a true sense. This was his sincere answer to Rem, who'd told Subaru she believed in him even after he'd bared everything inside his heart. Thanks to that, he gained a clear awareness of what he had to do. "There's way too many walls I have to climb over to get there, huh...?" The sheer number of the obstacles standing in their way didn't change the fact that they were one move away from checkmate. Subaru scratched his head as if he was trying to put his thoughts in order. "But I've still gotta do something. Will you help me, Rem?" "Yes. If that is what you desire, Subaru..." Rem readily nodded. Even after Subaru opened up to her, the same trust hovered in Rem's eyes as before. They lit two fires inside Subaru: courage and a sense of duty. Subaru no longer held any thought of hiding from Rem his own humiliation and panic at having his hands tied. After all, he'd half bawled his eyes out while venting every complex he had. Rem, too, had revealed truths that had raged within her; in a true sense, Subaru and Rem were now friends for life. And because Subaru had set his heart on something, his head remained remarkably clear. "First, let's double-check the time we have left. If we head back now, that'll be just under an hour...and then..." As previously established, the time limit until the Witch Cult caused upheaval in the Mathers domain was five days or rather, to be precise, they had a grace period of only four and a half days. He also needed to consider the sealing of the highway during that time. In reality, he had only two days to prepare. "And those two days are full of unavoidable problems to deal with." The number and nature of the barred gates they had to bust through put previous sets of loops to shame. Clearing any of them alone was hopeless. A fist large enough to smash through the lot of them was required. The first problem was, naturally, the Witch Cult. If they didn't stop the fanatics under Petelgeuse's command, there was no way to save anyone at the mansion, let alone the residents of the village. The second was, though the killer and means had been varied, Rem's certain death. Even if Rem went with Subaru, fate would invariably lead her to her death. The first time, she'd died far from where he could see. And he had been despondent when she was lost to him before his very eyes the second and third times. It was no exaggeration that the shock was what had driven Subaru down the path of giving up entirely. The third problem was that Emilia's death would trigger an indiscriminate rampage by Puck, the Great Spirit. Thinking back, Subaru deemed the possibility that Puck had been the cause of his death on all three loops to be very high. When he considered his icy demises from the first time around through the third, he was almost certain of it. All those walls were formidable, but all three had to be grappled with, or else the future world Subaru Natsuki wanted to live in would be lost. That would mean betraying the image of the hero who Rem believed in. " Whole bunch of 'em." Subaru murmured under his breath, underlining the depth of the problem. Rem, watching Subaru as he sank into thought, made no reply to his murmur, nor had Subaru been looking for one. Subaru knew that she was simply waiting for the words that had to follow. She was waiting for the best judgment of how she might contribute greatest to the hero she loved the most. That was the present Rem's reason for existing and her ultimate means of expressing her love. With Rem silently watching him, Subaru used his limited time to search his memories for any clue, any way to break out of the trap of limited time. His head tied itself into knots. His mind was on fire. Neither his flesh, nor his abilities, could live up to those current ideals. Think. Remember. To not let his death that third time be in vain, to not let the will of the girl he'd let die that third time be lost in vain, Subaru's mind assembled everything that had happened during that third, finished world into one heavy pile. The people he'd met. The conversations he'd had. Partings. Encounters. Anger, madness, sadness, despair, recovery. And "There's a...possibility?" Suddenly, something little more than a single option rose up in the back of his mind. Each of the threads was weak, so fragile that tying them together threatened to make them collectively snap. They seemed far too unreliable to rest his hopes upon. But he was all in. It was worth a shot. "Rem. We need to talk. I have a few things I wanna ask you." "Yes?" Subaru sought Rem's cooperation in drafting the plan that he'd only just thought of in his head. "Now that Emilia's participating in the royal selection, it looks like the Witch Cult is gonna move. If they go after Emilia, there'll no doubt be harm to the mansion and the village. I wanna stop that." "The Witch Cult..." A grave look came over Rem's eyes the instant she heard the words. But as Rem nodded at Subaru's words, her self-control held those emotions in check. "Master Roswaal also has concerns that the Witch Cult might make a move. Though I do not know the details, I believe that he has studied the matter and drawn up countermeasures." "But that's not gonna be enough." In fact, Subaru didn't really know what countermeasures he'd taken against the Witch Cult. He didn't know if they hadn't been executed or if they had just proven ineffective. Either way, whatever preexisting preparations Roswaal had set weren't up to the task, and he knew that hell would come to pass without fail. Now that Subaru knew that future, he had to secure the power to protect the lives at the mansion and the village without relying on Roswaal. "I'm pretty sure the Witch Cult is gonna come in a quick, decisive battle. Rem, what does the mansion have to fight with?" "...This is a difficult thing to tell you, but the possibility Master Roswaal is absent from the mansion is quite high. He had planned to visit an important associate within his domain upon his return from the royal capital." Based on Rem's prevaricating reply, the situation was the same as last time. Roswaal wasn't there. The only people at the mansion at present were Emilia, Ram, and Beatrice. Only three people, and one of them was Beatrice. He was deeply suspicious that the uncooperative girl would willingly engage the Witch Cult in battle. That made Subaru recall the exchange between Beatrice and him the

last time around, if only a brief one. He remembered that he'd asked Beatrice to kill him. He remembered Beatrice's face, turning eyes toward him like that of a child whose hopes had been betrayed "Right now...I've gotta set that aside." Subaru somehow brushed off the girl's tearful gaze and faced Rem once more. "So that leaves two people to fight. Even if you and I go back there, we'd just be two drops against a bucket." "As the majority of the main residence's fighting strength rests with Master Roswaal's personal abilities, I cannot deny it. If Frederica was still with us, it might be a different story, but..." Rem lowered her gaze as she ruefully invoked the name of a former coworker at the mansion. Subaru patted her shoulder in consolation as he mentally filled the gaps in his own understanding. There was no point speaking any further of the mansion's available combat strength. Therefore, the next issue was the main one. "Rem." Subaru sat up straight and stared at Rem. Then, as Rem, detecting that the atmosphere had changed, lifted her face and looked at him, he said, "Please tell me what Roswaal ordered you to stay in the royal capital to do." *** Subaru thought her expression was dubious, or perhaps surprised that he had gone for an unguarded opening. However, Rem's reaction thoroughly defied Subaru's expectations. " Yes. As you wish, Subaru." Rem nodded to Subaru as a small smile came over her, as if she was happy from the bottom of her heart. A single tear rolled down from the corner of her eye. "An alliance...you say." He was now in the reception room at the Crusch residence. Crusch murmured with all eyes falling upon Subaru as he answered her question concerning the goal of the meeting. She lowered her head, falling into thought briefly before shifting her gaze from Subaru to Rem. Rem quietly deduced the meaning of her probing gaze and slowly shook her head. "In accordance with Master Roswaal's instructions, I have proposed nothing this is something Subaru arrived at by himself." "I do not doubt your loyalty. However...I see..." The face Crusch made seemed to indicate that she understood, even if she did not exactly accept it. "Then should I take this to mean the right to engage in these negotiations has...shifted from Rem to you, Subaru Natsuki?" "Yeah, that's what it amounts to. Roswaal was a real jerk with how roundabout he set this up, though." With an exaggerated sigh, Subaru expressed his personal thoughts as his clown-faced employer floated into the back of his mind. Secret orders concerning the royal capital had been kept from Subaru, handed down to Rem alone. Roswaal had strictly instructed Rem not to reveal the details to Subaru so long as he did not realize that fact for himself. "It's not like it wasn't bothering me a little from the start. In the first place, it's plain as day that our side is short on manpower. So he'd leave Rem in the capital without a set plan? Rem, the one from the mansion who'd be most missed? There's no way. I really should've realized that earlier." Of course, the cover story was that Roswaal couldn't take responsibility for healing and repaying the man who'd saved his own domain from crisis without at least a single person to look after him. "But I don't think that eccentric would let go of Rem for a humanitarian reason like that. When you think, 'There's gotta be something else going on'..." Crusch recrossed her legs, picking up where Subaru left off to state her conclusion. "So he naturally settled on her as the one who had the best opportunity for an audience with my house..." "Besides, I heard that Rem and Crusch were having secret meetings every night. I hate myself for being an idiot and not considering what the discussions were about, though." He couldn't even manage a laugh for how he'd been unable to see beyond himself that whole time. After all, even though Rem had actually dropped plenty of hints to convey Roswaal's secret intentions, it had taken him until the fourth time to look back and realize it. "So every night you've been meeting about forming an alliance. I heard from Rem all about what my side's offering for the terms of the deal." "The deal chiefly concerns magic crystals in the Great Elior Forest and the mining rights thereof." Just like that, Crusch exposed what Subaru's words had only hinted at, seeing that there was nothing to hide. The instant the words reached the ears of the lone merchant present, his eyes glimmered. "My, my, that is quite a fascinating tale." Russel, who had maintained his silence to that point, positively glowed. He sounded pleased now that the details finally concerned him in some way. "When one considers how magical stone craftsmanship has advanced by leaps and bounds in recent years, magic crystal mining rights hold ever-increasing value. That goes all the more for virgin territory." Subaru could not conceal his surprise that the merchant had bit on the hook harder than expected. When he'd first heard about the mining rights from Rem, the fact that Crusch had held out so far convinced Subaru that it wasn't all that attractive an offer. "Does it really have enough value to put you in such a good mood, Russel?" "But of course. Magical stone craftsmanship thrives in the markets of Kararagi, and magic crystal craftsmen of my own nation have polished their talents over many years. Recently, their products can be seen here and there, even gracing the hands of the general public. These days, the more magic crystals the better. Until now, we have relied upon trade with Gusteko to the north for most of our supply, so I am overjoyed to learn of the existence of a rich local vein." Russel held up a finger and spoke with a buoyant tone as he answered. "A magic crystal is composed of mana; it is pure crystallized magic. Their attributes are greatly influenced by the land of their origin and the skill of the craftsman who wrought them. In turn, the hand of a skilled craftsman can be applied to a variety of magic crystal crafts. If not mishandled, their intensity is excellent, lasting reliably for a period of several years. Surely it goes without saying that they make for very attractive merchandise." In contrast to Russel, listing all the good points adding to the value of magic crystals, Crusch went on to coolly enumerate the parts that diminished their value. "However, the craftsmen able to work magic stones are few in number. Once a magic stone has been wrought, it is unprofitable to redo the work. At present, many mines have been placed under the kingdom's management, with the majority of magic crystals being distributed for public works. Though you say some reach the general public, it represents only a fraction." Undaunted, Russel carried on. "There are no untouched mining sites that are not immediately snapped up the moment they are found. There is a rich history of succeeding generations of the marquis of Mathers tapping undiscovered veins to build a fortune. And we have the knight of Lady Emilia, a candidate in the royal selection, to vouch for it. It is a trustworthy bet." Russel spoke in a fervent tone, slyly glancing at Subaru all the while. He had quite a rotten personality to know of Subaru's humiliation at the royal palace and still declare his word to be proof of anything. Nor did Subaru forget that dressing up the issue of mining rights in such a frivolous manner was meant to hold him in check. Russel was driving home for Subaru that this could not be unheard. Not that Subaru had the slightest intention of backing out to begin with. "Yeah, I don't mind if you trust that. I don't think we're villains enough to bluff at the first people we team up with over the course of a long royal selection." Subaru could rest easy because Roswaal had been the one to propose selling the mining rights. Russel seemed to recoil deliberately in response to Subaru's answer. "I see. You would appear to have truly embraced the role of negotiator. I apologize for my rudeness in speaking as if I was testing you." "Nah, it's fine. After all, I plan on using all the stuff you just said for all it's worth over the rest of the conversation." Subaru hadn't expected Russel to rate him highly to begin with. He'd correctly surmised that his ability would come into question and his measure would be taken then and there. He'd prepared a topic offering an easy avenue of attack, avoiding an assault on a far more pernicious front before broaching the main issue. He could not conceal his relief that the bait had been taken as intended. He put on meaninglessly grandiose airs of amiability to conceal the tension in his cheeks. "Having said that, since he's apologized, I expect you to overlook one or two rude things I might say." "So you seated Russel Fellow at the same table in hopes of this? You are an unexpectedly crafty man yourself." As Subaru flippantly commented, Crusch smiled slightly and voiced her appraisal to end the exchange. The fact that she hadn't ended the discussion seemed to indicate she hadn't given him a failing grade. Even as he felt a cold sweat at having climbed over the first gate, Subaru maintained his friendly smile as he looked at Crusch. "Well, I also wanted an adviser, since this is talking about profits, but...calling Russel here has to do with the main topic coming next." "Really now? The main topic?" Subaru continued, and the atmosphere inside the room grew tense once more. Crusch, who had merely been humoring the conversation to that point, rectified her seating and quietly closed her eyes for a time. After that, she slowly opened her amber eyes; their gaze pierced Subaru like an arrow. Before its power, sufficient to bring to mind a cold, blowing wind, Subaru did not falter. The tightening of his mind served only to make him straighten his back and put his feelings in order as he faced her. "Subaru Natsuki, I formally acknowledge you as the proxy of Marquis Roswaal, and also as an envoy from Emilia, and whatever details you and I negotiate will also hold true between Emilia and me." All it took for her to overwhelm people was for her to face them head-on. Crusch was not intentionally attempting to bowl Subaru over at that moment. All she'd done was switch mental gears from Crusch, the private individual, to Crusch Karsten, the public persona. Such was the power and presence of the current duke of Karsten. This was what the valiant woman closest to the Kingdom of Lugunica's throne really looked like. Subaru felt goose bumps rise as exclamation points danced inside his head. As he quietly shuddered, Crusch extended a hand to him, firing the opening salvo to announce the start of the negotiations. "I believe you have already heard, but I shall state it regardless. Rem and I were negotiating the sale of mining rights, but I have not accepted the offer. Though I imagine you already knew this?" "...Yeah." On the one hand was Rem, visibly lamenting her own insufficient strength; on the other hand was Subaru, pathetically unable to look past himself to even notice what had caused her such anguish. Subaru would take those two laments and regrets and put them to good use to avoid future distress and so that all his previous failures would not be in vain. "I wanna make sure of something myself. So the offer just isn't good enough as it stands? Each camp lays off the other, mining rights for the Great Elior Forest are sold to you, and you work out the fine

details of what to do with the magic crystals themselves later?" "The draft proposal came from Rem's side. I suppose I should say, as to be expected of Marquis Roswaal. On top of securing profit for his own camp, he offers just enough advantage so that my house might accept it. Normally, it is an offer one would never refuse. Such a proposal makes me want to have a written agreement prepared immediately, but..." Subaru couldn't speak in any informed manner about the arithmetic behind the deal. If he did clumsily say something, it could wind up being taken as, Okay, take all the mining rights, then! "In this case, what would follow such negotiations is the problem. Do you understand?" "It's not simply that...you don't trust Roswaal?" Subaru was of the opinion that if Roswaal's conduct was being questioned, he could rectify that by behaving with absolute propriety henceforth, but that wasn't Crusch's problem with it. "Making a deal with Emilia would mean an agreement with a rival royal selection candidate... Furthermore, one slandered as a half-demon. If one considers the consequences, caution is inevitable." Subaru was unexpectedly discouraged to hear Crusch quietly speak such words. The image he had of Crusch was of someone so steadfast, the words majestic and sincere suited her. She had been the living incarnation of those things when stating her convictions at the royal selection conference. It was precisely because he had heard her address that made her acting as if she cared about rumors seem so odd "Don't tell me this is merely a justification for saying no?" *** "Subawu? Ferri thinks that is really, really not the sort of thing you should say during an important negotiation?" Ferris had held his silence since the start of negotiations, but Subaru's careless remark brought anger to his smile. A vein on his forehead was bulging as Subaru quickly covered his mouth and lowered his head. "Goodness, this puts me in a bit of a bind." As he did so, Crusch, watching the exchange, loosened the corners of her lips very slightly. "It is I who is embarrassed to have my justification exposed so bluntly. I shall learn from this. The opportunity does not often arise." With convoluted logic, she overlooked Subaru's present rudeness. That said, being saved by the awkwardness of his opponent's position put him in a precarious place. "So that is an excuse for... Then you don't really think that forming an alliance with Emilia is a terrible thing in and of itself?" "Subaru Natsuki, I shall correct one misconception." Crusch raised a finger, pointing it toward Subaru. "A person's worth is decided by how her soul lives and how it shines. A person's true nature is absolutely not determined by the circumstances of one's birth and where someone was raised." Of course, even Crusch understood that they had an indirect influence. She did not lack the power of imagination to deduce how the senseless cruelties inflicted by Emilia's environment, simply because she was a half-elf, had strengthened her in the process. "Her words at the royal selection site were not false. It is because I am certain of her pride and resolve that I acknowledge Emilia as a rival." "Well, that's convoluted. In other words?" "Forgive me. I have a fondness for theatrics." Crusch pursed her lips slightly, seemingly fully aware of just how grandiose her own statement was. A moment later, her expression tightened. "I am not refusing an alliance with Emilia because she is a half-elf. From my perspective, Emilia, who is in no way politically opposed to me, is not someone I need to go out of my way to antagonize. I would even be willing to ally with her." "Meaning that..." "Do not be so hasty to reply, Subaru Natsuki. It is no exaggeration to say that what you utter, and how your words are interpreted, will determine the course of these events." Crusch chided Subaru for assuming her reply was favorable as she threw the ball into his court once more. In other words, now that Subaru held the right to negotiate, she wanted to see what cards were in his hand. "Mining rights for the Great Elior Forest would be highly advantageous for my side. On the other hand, it is a fact that there is no need for me to rush to get ahead in the royal selection. The period of time is three years. Too much haste to stir things up would sow the seeds for troubles down the road." "So you're saying the advantages and disadvantages of forming an alliance with Emilia don't match up?" "Not precisely. At present, the advantages and disadvantages cancel each other out. By my house's thinking, we require convincing, a push for us to take that one final step." Crusch seemed personally in favor of the idea of forming an alliance. On the other hand, a noble house was apparently too large to be swayed purely by Crusch's private opinion on the matter. Hence, she sought "something" from Subaru something that would silence the voices around her urging her not to stir things up. *** When Subaru tried to speak, he was a little surprised at how his own throat seemed to be blocked. The tension and anxiety welling up in his chest blocked his throat just as he was on the verge of stepping forward. From here on would be completely ad-libbed in a way he had never before experienced. He hadn't checked it with anyone. It was possible he was reading this wrong. But Crusch would probably bite. Yes. Subaru believed in his own idea. "To form an alliance, we're offering mining rights...and information." " Information?" When she heard the word, Crusch stroked her own long hair as she prompted him to continue. She hadn't decided yet. Now came the hard part. "Yeah, that's right. I'm offering a certain piece of information with it." "Then I would hear it. Will these words from your lips stir us to action?" Naturally, Subaru's entire body trembled from anxiety and tension. But a slight warm sensation to his elbow drove all that away, for Rem's fingers, touching Subaru's arm, were the spark that lit the borrowed courage within him. Subaru inhaled. In a single breath, he said: " The card I'm playing...is the time and place where the White Whale will show up." CHAPTER 1 *** 1 In life, you can only play the game with the cards you've been dealt. This held true no matter the circumstances of a person's birth, appearance, talent, reputation, or the skills they cultivated. Subaru Natsuki was keenly aware that he was lacking in every single one of those categories. Through some kind of mistake, Rem had completely accepted Subaru, but he knew all too well that the Subaru Natsuki she saw was an ideal far removed from the real thing. Compared with the man she envisioned in her mind, the cards that the real Subaru held were few in number, and poor in quality But he learned, now that he stood at the playing table, no one cared about his personal problems. All anyone in his position could do was try to win with the cards he was dealt. The rest came down to simply how well each person played, their timing, and if they used any bluffs. " The White Whale." Of all the cards in Subaru's hand, he chose the one that resulted in the greatest effect on the others. His declaration changed the faces of those around him in different ways. They were currently in the reception room of the Duchess of Karsten's villa in the royal capital's Nobles' District. Not counting Subaru, five were participating in the discussion first, Crusch Karsten, lady of the manor, accompanied by her two retainers, Ferris and Wilhelm. Also in attendance was Russel Fellow, one of a tiny handful of influential movers in the royal capital, acting as an adviser for Subaru. And... *** ...the fifth was Rem, who was touching Subaru's sleeve, providing limitless strength by inspiring the courage within him. The conversation between those six in the capital quickly began hurtling toward an intense climax. In short, the objective of the discussion was to form an alliance between the Emilia camp and the Crusch camp. The Crusch camp was taking a cautious wait-and-see stance toward the Emilia camp's request of cooperation to resist the universal menace of the Witch Cult. Subaru's invoking of the White Whale's name was his trump card for breaking that stalemate. Crusch's eyes narrowed in profound interest; Ferris looked at his master with gloom-filled eyes. The deeply mercantile Russel knotted his brows, whereas Wilhelm *** After an instant, Subaru involuntarily held his breath when a thick, dark hostility permeated the room's interior. Feeling sick to his stomach, as if his intestines were about to be rearranged by the tip of a sword, Subaru lifted his face to see the source and saw the white-maned, old man exhaling deeply and lightly shaking his head. "...Forgive my...gross indiscretion. It would seem that I, too, still have room for improvement." Wilhelm closed one eye and apologized without any change in expression. The aged swordsman pushed the malice away, leaving no traces remaining even in the farthest corners of the room, then touched the sword on his lap as if ashamed. "I have no excuse for interrupting. Say the word and I shall remove myself." "No, stay. I wish to hear your opinion." Crusch personally stopped Wilhelm from excusing himself. "You do not mind?" he said, shifting his eyes to Subaru, who answered as well with a nod of agreement. "Now then, the term White Whale has been thrown out rather suddenly. May I take it that the White Whale of which you speak is the Demon Beast of Mist, one of the three great demon beasts?" "Yeah. A monster that spews out mist and swims around in the sky that White Whale. I know when and where it'll show up next. I want to offer that information as part of the deal for an alliance." Is she gonna bite? wondered Subaru, his nerves on edge as he waited for Crusch's reaction. The lady of the house put a hand to her chin in contemplation. Before she rendered judgment, someone cut in. "Apologies. May I ask you some minor things?" Russel raised his hand and sought permission for questions. "Sure thing, ask anything you like." "First, there is a matter I must verify... Mr. Natsuki, do you have an accurate assessment of what value to place on your knowledge of where the White Whale shall next appear?" "...It could reduce the number of people caught up in the White Whale's damage. Merchants and land dragon cargo runners can revise their routes, and it would improve the condition of a lot of victims, I think?" "Yes, precisely. However, that only earns you a score of fifty." Russel's assessment of Subaru's mostly timid reply was rather harsh. "Are you aware of just how much blood has flowed due to the Demon Beast of Mist to date?" he continued. "The unlucky caravans, which the White Whale's mist swallowed up, vanished without a trace! The royal knights assembled to dispatch the White Whale failed, routed by the beast! Until a few decades ago, it appeared near villages and cities, swallowing them and their entire populations whole. It was not uncommon for cases where it was impossible to ascertain the truth of what had happened. The White Whale is more than a very large demon beast." Russel's words, explaining the menace of the White Whale, were hot almost excessive. Subaru, prone to hiding his negative emotions behind a facade of denial, understood the desire to have others understand such feelings. Faced with an enemy too vast to fathom, people tried to extoll the vastness of its existence to protect their fragile spirits. "With such a demon beast, the most crucial measure is never to encounter it. Many merchants and travelers fear nothing

greater than mist covering their path. The White Whale is a symbol of calamity, and any mist itself is a veritable evil omen. If one could see ahead to know where it would appear, it would be worth an immense fortune! However..." Having clenched his fists and spoken with such zeal to that point, Russel suddenly looked down at Subaru with cold eyes. "Information is assigned value from its trustworthiness. Mr. Natsuki, how can you prove such a thing? Without proof, it cannot be seen as anything but fiction." "Most of which I wished to express would only repeat Russel Fellow's words. I was about to ask if you could prove your claim." With thin smiles, Russel and Crusch both questioned the basis of Subaru's tip. Is the information true or false? Posed this question, Subaru felt a cold sweat against his back. But he could not reveal his anxiety. Returning a bold smile their way, he managed to keep himself from letting weak thoughts trickle out as he put his next card on the negotiating table just like he'd elaborately simulated many times over in his preparations beforehand. "The reason I can know where the White Whale will come out beforehand...is this!" Suddenly, he took something out of his side pocket and slapped it on the table. Subaru displayed his evidence on the table. He felt the expressions of everyone staring at it tighten briefly, but the next moment, bewilderment came over them. "Subaru Natsuki." "Yeah." When Crusch quietly invoked Subaru's name, he puffed his chest out without a hint of fear. Without commenting on Subaru's impudent demeanor, she pointed at the proof Subaru had placed at the center of the table. "What...is this?" It was a gleaming piece of cutting-edge future technology encased within a white, metallic body. She did not take her eyes off the cell phone for a single instant as she quizzically tilted her head toward Subaru. 2 Subaru's knowledge of precisely when and where the White Whale would appear was truly the fruit of repeated coincidence and the mischief of fate. The decisive instant came on that misty night during the third loop when he encountered the White Whale face-to-face. While sitting in the driver's seat of a dragon carriage, he had retrieved the cell phone from his hand baggage and activated it to use it as a light source. "It was then, right before that." The first time Subaru set eyes on the White Whale, he'd been trying to check on the dragon carriage running beside them, had vanished. His eyes struggled to pierce the darkness at the time, so he thought to use the light of his cell phone. Even in the present, he found it hard to forget meeting the thing in the dark, eyeball to enormous eyeball. Right after that moment, the demon beast roared. Then, its first attack blew Subaru and Rem's dragon carriage away, turning it into wood chips. As Rem grasped him by the collar and they sailed into the air, the scene seared itself into Subaru's eyes as everything moved in slow motion. And with the world crawling forward one frame at a time, Subaru saw it crystal clear: his cell phone, knocked out of his hand in the initial blast, twirling through the air and displayed on its backlit screen, 3:30 PM. After arriving in a new world, the clock function of his cell phone had lost all meaning. But if he used it as an indicator of a determined future event, it was more accurate than anything else available there. More importantly, the cell phone played the role of an irreplaceable device. "It's no fault of yours for not knowing what this is. This is one of those metia thingies, unearthed in my homeland. This is the proof for what I'm saying." It was the very fact that the cell phone was from an unknown land that turned it into a valuable weapon for negotiations. "...May I touch it?" Russel was the first to swallow his saliva and reach out toward the cell phone. Subaru gave permission with a nod. The man timidly took the cell phone in his hand, checking the feel for himself. "Oddly, it is quite comfortable to the touch. It seems to be metal, and yet it seems warm... The surface is glossy yet also soft... This spot...opens up?" Russel unfastened the flip-up phone and marveled at the light flowing from the screen. Before the conversation started, Subaru had changed the display on the screen to that of a more orthodox clock. Even with skilled operation, there was little else to extract from it save for a few phone numbers. "There is a glow, and the picture is changing... Ah, but I cannot determine the contents. Are these characters I have never seen? Or wait... Is this a picture?" Bit by bit, the screen showed the second hand of the clock moving. But the human beings of that world used very different devices to tell time, so Russel could not understand the display. The same went for the numbers indicating the time. His best guess about the Arabic numerals was probably that they resembled a child's scribbles. Subaru knew how he felt. After all, he'd gone through the same thing day after day. "They're special characters, so I don't think anyone here can read them." "However, you can use it properly... Is that it?" "I actually can't fully use all its functions." When Crusch posed the question, Subaru employed caution, carefully choosing his words. There were a number of conditions for successfully completing these negotiations, but one reigned supreme. He could not let Crusch, who possessed absolute confidence in her keen eyes, detect any falsehood within him. Subaru needed to do everything in his power to avoid stepping on any land mines. "In other words, you are saying the following: This metia acts like a warning crystal that indicates the approach of the White Whale." "I don't recall ever hearing about these warning crystals, but I think so." Judging from the name, they were probably some sort of alarm crafted from magic crystals. "A metia that signals the approach of the White Whale, eh? What does the expert think?" "In truth, I must admit I am at a loss. Individual metia differ greatly, and it is rare for any two to work precisely the same. The manufacturing of conversation mirrors is an exception because a method to reproduce them has been discovered, but the costs involved make mass production simply unfeasible even for those. At the very least, this is the first I have heard of this variety of metia." Russel avoided making any careless statements about an object he knew nothing of. For the moment, he played the role of a benevolent third party, intervening in neither Subaru's favor nor Crusch's. Naturally, Russel's eyes were exceptionally critical when it came to discerning whether siding with Subaru or Crusch would accrue him the most profit. "Therefore, I cannot see any method of determining the veracity of the information. Which means your assertion becomes difficult to swallow at face value. Now then, what shall you do?" "Yeah, that is a tough situation. It'd be great if I at least had a way of proving it, but..." In response to Crusch, Subaru raised both hands, his gesture indicating that there was no hope for that. "Hmm. Perhaps try to see if it rings at the approach of an actual demon beast? Or maybe you have another way of proving that this metia is indeed a device that reacts to demon beasts?" "I'm gonna correct you about one thing." Subaru raised a finger and swayed it left and right, as if enjoying a chance to get back at Crusch. "This metia doesn't react to demon beasts themselves. If it did that, any demon beasts hanging around would make it ring all the damn time. It turns on for only the important ones." " Surely you are not saying it reacts when a demon beast is threatening the user?" Crusch reacted to Subaru's assertion, adding a laugh, as if such a function was too good to be true. But there was yet another reaction that followed Crusch's. " Ah." Standing at Subaru's side, Rem let out a tiny voice of comprehension. Then, immediately after, she lowered her face, apparently ashamed at having disturbed the negotiations. "That reaction makes me wonder, Rem. Did that remind you of something?" When Crusch pressed for an answer, Rem's eyes ran over the side of Subaru's face for only an instant. Hints of worry and gratitude filled her gaze, so Subaru smiled to give her visible reassurance. "It's all right. If you have something to say, go right ahead, 'kay?" " Yes. If you say so, Subaru." Rem lifted her head, turned toward Crusch, then indicated the cell phone on the table. "I shall omit the fine details, but recently, there was an incident within the Mathers domain caused by demon beasts. When it occurred, Subaru was the one who acted the swiftest to bring the situation to an end. He had not been with us very long, so I thought it strange he grasped the circumstances before the landlord himself, Master Roswaal, but..." "With this metia, he noticed the incident beforehand?" "It was an open question, as it was a little too convenient for him to notice without any tangible basis." Meekly, Rem tilted her head very slightly, glancing Subaru's way. She clearly harbored doubts over how Subaru had sniffed out the Urugarum incident in a very Rem-like way. The learning of the metia's existence had just erased those doubts. *** On the other hand, that reply drew Crusch's piercing gaze right to Rem. Her eyes gave off a sharp, penetrating stare that seemed to slip inside people's innards, as if she could see their very soul. In terms of actual time, only a few seconds passed. And yet, Subaru felt like each took a heavy toll on his endurance when finally " You have not...spoken falsely." Crusch displayed a certain level of trust and comprehension toward Rem's statement. Hearing her assessment, Subaru struggled with all his might not to show the relief he felt on his face. On the inside, he could not stop clenching his hands and pumping his fists. In other words, it had all been a bluff. If that fact came out, negotiations would immediately be cut off, and it would not have been odd for him to be sliced into thousands upon thousands of bits for his insolence. However, Subaru had glossed over it all by using his words to direct everyone toward a different topic. Subaru had not spoken a single falsehood in response to Crusch's questions. After all, the cell phone really wasn't a device that rang in response to demon beasts in its proximity. Moreover, Subaru, someone who had barely even used his cell phone to send messages, certainly could not use its full potential. Rem had unwittingly allowed herself to be exploited for the greatest hurdle Subaru needed, which was confirmation from a third party. Even if the contents of what she said differed from the truth, she had no intent to deceive, so it was not a lie per se. "You've gotta admit, though, you said that like you can tell if a person's lying or not." "At the risk of boasting, that is correct. One might call it having perceptive eyes, but in actuality, I have been graced with the blessing of wind reading." "...What did you say?" The completely serious reply Subaru received was not at all what he'd expected, recalling how in the past she had chewed him up and spit out the leftovers. During the previous loop, Subaru had chalked up Crusch's self-described "ability to discern falsehoods" to her perceptive eyes, but... "Reading the wind allows me to judge that which cannot be seen by the eye. By nature, I am able to discern the wind that envelops the other party.

Those who speak lies have a telltale wind that blows from them there is none of this around Rem." "R-really, is that so? I didn't know that. Had no idea." "An unsettling wind does blow from you, Subaru Natsuki. That said, standing at the negotiation table while unaware of my wind reading was simply too unfair toward you." Subaru's smile twitched at how rotten Crusch's personality was for her to reveal that ability at the height of negotiations. A blessing that provided a way to determine whether the other party's words were true or false was practically cheating. It also explained the sharpness of the barbed words that had cut Subaru so deeply the last time around. "Rem's words contain no hint of deception. At the very least, this certainly proves that you possess the means to detect a demon beast menace in advance." But in this one instance, her confidence in that blessing was a double-edged sword. Subaru was balancing atop a tightrope, embodying the very idea of letting his opponent get their cuts in as long as it meant he could hit back even harder. "So can I take it that you believe in this metia now?" "That would be speaking too soon. Even knowing there is no collusion, it does not change that I must protect all my vassals. This is a decision that might determine the outcome of the royal selection, or even the fate of the kingdom itself. I shall not proceed lightly." Unsurprisingly, she fended off Subaru's attempt to quickly close the deal. He'd achieved a bare minimum of trust that his proclaimed metia could provide information about where the White Whale could appear, but that only meant they would consider the proposal seriously rather than laugh it off. What would build on that level of trust and bring the negotiations to a successful ending was " Sooo, how about letting me in on this metia talk, too?" The reception room was seized by surprise when a voice suddenly interrupted. When the speaker stepped into the room, she elegantly smiled in response to their startled gazes. "Aren't you a funny one, Subaru, looking the most shocked when you're the one who invited me?" Addressing the wide-eyed Subaru, the charmingly smiling girl ran her fingers through her wavy mane. Her light-purple hair seemed as soft as down, reaching all the way down to her hips. With such a gentle face, she could easily put others at ease. However, the girl's eyes meticulously surveyed everything a clear sign that she was not to be underestimated. " Anastasia Hoshin." Knowing who she was, Crusch shut one eye and addressed her by name. Anastasia responded to the greeting with an easy "thanks." "It's unfair that while I was busy hurrying over after getting word, you just went and started talking without me. With such an interesting, profitable conversation going on...you'll let me join, won't you?" Phrasing her request in a pleading way, Anastasia's words and subtext contained genuine delight. After considering her presence, Subaru subconsciously glanced behind her. "If you are wondering about Julius, you can rest easy." *** As he did so, the mischievously grinning Anastasia seemed to read his mind. "Currently, Julius is under house arrest by order of the captain of the royal guards. He's currently undergoing punishment for smacking around someone else's boy without my say-so. That knight of mine is quite a handful." "House arrest..." Now that she mentioned it, Subaru recalled the night when Reinhard had told him the same thing. As a result of his private duel with Subaru, Julius was being disciplined with house arrest. Apparently, that was why he hadn't accompanied Anastasia to the current meeting. "I see. That's...very...unfortunate." Subaru was too pathetic to keep the look of relief off his face. But even then, he was unable to summon any words he might have for the next time they met. "You said you were invited here. By Subaru Natsuki, I take it?" Crusch addressed Anastasia, ignoring Subaru's wounded feelings. Anastasia sat in a chair offered to her as she stroked the fox-fur scarf hanging around her neck. "More precisely, it was the girl with him. Normally, I'd have just sent her away...but I couldn't wave her off after she said there was super-important stuff concerning the White Whale." When Anastasia finished chatting with a smile, Crusch turned to Subaru. After bringing two royal selection candidates to the same table, Subaru gripped his fist at the drastically altered situation. This is it. Everything starts from here. All the necessary parties were in the same room together. Subaru could finally begin the true negotiations. However "Pardon me, Mr. Natsuki, but there is one thing I would like to ask you." Naturally, Russel did not find the invitation of a rival merchant to the meeting very amusing. "Go ahead, Mr. Russel." "Mr. Natsuki, I would like to hear your true motive for calling Lady Anastasia to this place. As she is both a candidate in the royal selection and president of the Hoshin Company, possessing great influence with the merchants in the royal capital, my position here has become highly...indistinct. Surely it could not be..." "You're wondering if I'm weighing other options?" The instant Subaru responded to Russel's doubts, the atmosphere in the reception room grew taut. Of course, Russel felt slighted, but his grave expression spread to Crusch as well. "In other words, you are saying this: You shall select your alliance partner based on who bids higher for the information on the White Whale, my house or Anastasia Hoshin?" *** "If so, that is an exceedingly imprudent choice, Subaru Natsuki." With Subaru silent, Crusch slammed him with the force of her will, rising to her feet and gazing down sharply at Anastasia. Amused, Anastasia tilted her head slightly as she spoke. "Oh my, Crusch. If you look at me like that, I'm going to get excited... That's a face that people in the lead get when they're worried about their competition catching up soon." "You have questionable hobbies. Perhaps it is the correct decision for someone like you openly motivated by personal greed but my principles shall not be swayed." After fending off Anastasia's taunt, Crusch turned back toward Subaru with a serious expression. "It is as I said, Subaru Natsuki. If you expected a bidding war between my house and the Hoshin Company for your information, let me say that you will be disappointed. I have no intention of cooperating with your sch " "Wait, wait, you're jumping to conclusions! Both of you calm down, okay?" Subaru scrambled to stop Crusch from breaking off negotiations and wrecking all his efforts so far. "Jumping to conclusions...? Mr. Subaru, so it was not your intent to draw two candidates to compete against each other?" "Of course not. I'm not so overconfident to think that I can make people dance in the palm of my hands. I ain't Buddha. Really, with what I have..." Subaru gave a little wave before making a show of holding Rem's hand as she stood beside him. The touch conveyed a body heat that sent courage flowing into him, calming the faint trembling of his fingers. "All I can manage with hands my size is holding on to another person, like this." "Ahh, yes, yes, very touching. So where do you plan to take the conversation from here?" "Er, I guess that was a pretty lame line..." When he tried loosening his grip, Rem fiercely resisted letting go, so Subaru left it at that while using his free hand to slap the table before continuing. "I've played the White Whale card, and I've invited two people who represent the merchants in the capital. That makes the situation a big deal already...but I want to propose one more thing." Subaru tapped his fingers on the table while sending a fierce smile Crusch's way, blatantly hiding all the frail, weak-kneed parts of him behind a bold, confident front. "Willing to listen?" "I am the one who rushed to conclusions and interrupted you. I have an obligation to listen. Say what you will." The sense of an oppressive wind blowing from Crusch intensified. On top of that, even Anastasia showered Subaru with similar pressure. It seemed like he would buckle at any moment. He had no doubt that if he was alone, he would've laughed, made light of it all, then promptly run for the hills. *** He felt a squeeze from the warm touch of the hand clasped around his. She could not call his name, nor could she offer any words. All she could do was convey her feelings. That made him happy. As long as he had that, Subaru could probably take on even the Witch. *** He closed his eyes, held his breath, and keenly felt thoughts and oxygen coursing through his brain. I'm pretty sure she'll bite. After thinking about it over and over, incessantly recalling what happened on the first, second, and third loops, he pieced together his accumulated knowledge, then drew out what he expected to happen onto a blank, white canvas. He wasn't...absolutely sure. It wasn't like anyone had told him that's what would happen, either. But combined with the pieces found scattered throughout the ongoing negotiations, the vague image pointed to only one possibility. It was either a convenient delusion or a miracle he had obtained after suffering death three times. It comes down to this. "Crusch, I think..." *** "...I think my information will be extremely useful for your plan to hunt down the White Whale." Subaru's future information and the objective Crusch harbored these formed the basis of his decision. Subaru would become a suitable ally for Crusch Karsten, as a comrade in arms against their mutual foe: the White Whale. 3 In the instant after Subaru spoke, the room fell into silence as each person in attendance sank into thought: Crusch, Anastasia, Ferris, Wilhelm, Russel. Each closed their eyes, as if digesting the words Subaru had just given voice to. The moments that passed amounted to several seconds, but the incredible pressure of that quiet tied Subaru into knots. This is it. This'll decide everything. Unlike the events so far, simulations in his mind wouldn't cut it. Unable to determine the other parties' probable reactions, he was left with no choice but to react instantly to what they did then and there. "I shall ask you about one thing, Subaru Natsuki." As he'd expected, it was Crusch who broke the silence. Crusch unfolded her arms and raised a single finger, turning it toward Subaru. "From where did this extraordinary idea come? Why do you believe that my house has crafted such a plan? It is not a statement you can simply walk away from." Her uninflected voice betrayed no alarm or bewilderment, nor any emotions. Awed by her statesmanship, Subaru's gaze wandered as he breathed in and called out a name. "Rem." "Yes." "Give my back a good, hard smack, would you?" "Yes." The moment he finished talking, Subaru thought to himself, Uh, a good, hard smack might be overdoing it, but it was too late. With an incredible jolt and a dry, explosive sound, the force shooting through his back made him wonder if his guts were about to spill from his belly. He felt something hot press against the center of his back in the shape of a small hand. Using the pain and heat to gather his wits, Subaru bowed his head to all the confused people watching. "Sorry you had to watch that. I was losing my mind a little there." "Everyone can remember one time or another when they needed to rally themselves after faltering before a great challenge. I was taught long ago to write 'enemy' on my palm, then to swallow the word to steel myself..." "Lady Crusch, Lady Crusch. That's the charm Ferri taught you a long time ago. You still remembered that?" "What...? Was it...a lie?" "It wasn't based on anything concrete, but if the charm

helped dispel any doubt in your heart, then it was no lie, Lady Crusch. Ferri's really happy to have been a help to mew." "I see. So you were thinking of me. In that case, I forgive you." Seeing how easy it was to cajole Crusch made the earlier discussion about her blessing rather suspicious. Though after many years together, Ferris probably knew exactly how to exploit the loopholes in her lie-detecting ability. "Gotta say, though, this kind of talk is in a different dimension compared with the negotiations earlier..." "It's not that strange. I do the same thing before I begin working on any important business deal. Jingling a sack of gold coins by my ear brings out my courage... What's with the face?" "I was just thinking that if we cut off the conversation here, no one would guess that you guys are competing for control of a kingdom right now." Subaru pretended not to notice how trivial their chat was compared with the important matters they should have been focusing on. Anastasia pouted at Subaru's reaction, then sighed deeply before continuing. "All right then. Now that we've had a nice change of pace, let's leave it at that and let you pick up where you left off." "Yeah...thanks for being so considerate." Crusch and Ferris were simply talking as they usually did as master and servant, but Anastasia's benevolent humoring of the off-topic conversation had bought Subaru precious time to organize his thoughts into something coherent. "There were a bunch of things nagging me while staying at this mansion for the past several days. First is the number of people passing through. The volume of visitors and goods going in and out has been more than just a little high." "That's only to be expected once news that I am a royal candidate was made public. Surely you understand this?" "That explains the guests during the day. But what about the ones who came in the dead of night? After you've changed into your evening clothes, the only thing left for you is heading off to bed... Can you really claim that guests arriving at that hour are there just to talk?" One night, during the first time around, Crusch had invited Subaru to a drink in the evening. Having changed into a nightgown before sleep, Crusch was incredibly feminine, and Subaru recalled finding it awkward not knowing where to look, along with the conversation they had, of course. But that wasn't the only thing he remembered. He distinctly recalled being together with Crusch, a wineglass in her hand, while noticing the presence of people coming and going in the yard below. "Given your personality, you'd never even think of drinking alcohol if you were receiving guests. So how do you explain all the people moving around the mansion after you'd gotten tipsy? They were there for something besides seeking an audience." *** This time, Crusch did not have a response for Subaru's deductions. Having tentatively seized the right to guide the conversation, Subaru tapped the table with his hand. "Another thing that bugged me was the market for metalwork here in the capital. According to a merchant I know, the price of various metal goods has been spiking. In other words, that means weapons and armor." Subaru had drawn this conclusion from disparate fragments of information he'd gleaned from his first, second, and third times around. "So I'd bet that you've been gathering up a big amount of dirt-cheap combat gear. I heard that from that shop I know, and from traveling merchants coming here to visit you, Crusch." Maybe she's preparing for a war, said some traveling merchant or other he'd journeyed with, laughing it off. "It's significant enough to affect the entire market, so it seems like you're buying up quite a lot. If you're going as far as to buy weapons from outside your own lands, common sense says that something's up, right?" "Mentioning my house in the same breath as the White Whale is far too great a leap from only that much circumstantial evidence. You've barely compiled enough to even speak the first letter in its name. It is a fact that my house has been acquiring weapons, but that is not proof that I plan to hunt down the White Whale. Perhaps I am amassing military power so that I may ignore the results of the royal selection altogether and seize the throne by force of arms." "You don't have any reason to plan something so violent, and even I can tell you're not that kind of person." Crusch, who was the living incarnation of words like sincere or noble, was one of the last people willing to violate the trust of others like that. "Though I must say, I am somewhat surprised." Crusch, who shouldn't have known what Subaru was thinking, sighed in admiration. She crossed her arms, tilted her head quizzically, and looked Subaru over from head to toe before speaking again. "I had firmly believed that you went into the capital during the day purely as a diversion...but it was most definitely my own eyes that did not see clearly." "Nn! Yeah, that's right. It's not like I spend all my time playing around." Crusch's open praise struck Subaru with heavy pangs of guilt. In truth, Crusch's initial assessment was exceedingly correct. She judged that he was gullible and spoiled. All he could do at the moment was to respond, turning a blind eye toward the truth. "Anyway, when I first realized you were gathering weapons, I thought you were preparing for war. The real question was who you were planning to fight...but a slippery merchant let something fall from his lips." "A slippery...merchant." "Just to be sure, to avoid any misunderstandings, allow me to affirm that it was not I." When Crusch glanced at him, Russel directly denied the misgivings that were undoubtedly on the tip of her tongue. Apparently, Crusch sensed no hint of deception in his words, because she grudgingly showed that she believed him. As expected, Crusch's intuition was very sharp but her suspicions were actually both correct and incorrect. The merchant who'd let it slip from his lips was indeed Russel, just as Crusch had suspected. However, it was not the Russel currently standing before them but the Russel Subaru had met during a previous loop. "Should Lady Crusch succeed in her current endeavors, we would feel nothing but delight." Russel had spoken those words on the way out after his negotiations with Crusch had broken down. Subaru had pondered the meaning behind those words for a long time. If Crusch had stated she expected to succeed the royal throne, it was difficult to imagine that would cause negotiations to break down. But if Crusch's and Russel's mutual goals were aligned, then "If you go by popular rumor, a lot seem to think you're practically running alone in the race, Crusch. But it looks like the merchants don't seem as eager to call it as regular folks do." "I do not deny it. It is only sensible that the wealthy are the most reluctant. I acknowledge that the tax rate on commerce is high within my lands. Naturally, I use those funds to defend the peace and order...but I am well aware of the difficulty in conveying this benefit to other parties." "So unlike the people benefiting from your rule in the Karsten domain, people who aren't swayed by fame can only judge what kind of person you are by how you appear to be, huh?" It was entirely true that Crusch was a capable ruler who managed her territory well. But beyond those who could confirm her true skill for themselves, people had to rate Crusch based solely on secondhand bits and pieces of information. Much like Emilia, often judged based on the mere fact that she was a half-elf, Crusch alienated those who were able to see only the negative side of her austere way of life. "So I figured it's like this. I don't think you care much for people who judge based only on what's visible on the surface, but in a royal selection, you need to persuade even those people to come down on your side. So what should a girl do to convince people like that to see you in a better light...?" "Well hey, if people judge only from appearances...then all you need to do is slap on a fresh coat of paint, right?" Anastasia picked up where Subaru left off, bringing his point to its logical conclusion. "Well, that's pretty easy to say, but it's not so simple to actually do it. In the first place, chances are good this is all a miscalculation. After all, you're wording things to be pretty convenient for yourself there, Subaru." "I...can't argue with you there. There's no mistaking that Crusch is gathering weapons together for some big plan to somehow court the merchants to support her. But maybe tying that together with the White Whale is just a lot of wishful thinking on my part. I could have just convinced myself it's related to my knowledge about when and where the White Whale's gonna show up..." Then, Subaru trailed off with a final "But..." while staring directly at Crusch. Crusch kept her emotions off her face, and he couldn't get a glimpse of what lay in her mind. However, she hadn't refuted anything he had said yet. That made the gamble worth it. "I'll say it again. In return for an alliance between Emilia and Crusch, the Emilia camp offers the magic crystal mining rights in the Great Elior Forest in addition to information on the time and place the White Whale will appear in other words, the honor of hunting down the demon beast that has threatened this world for far too long!" *** "If any part of what I'm saying is off the mark, then just go ahead and throw it right out. If I'm wrong, then you can go ahead and simply consider the info I have on the White Whale as a plain bargaining chip for us to haggle over." Perhaps the two merchants present could simply take that information alone and turn a fine profit; Crusch herself could surely use that information to improve her reputation with merchants as a whole. It had at least that much value. "But if what you're after is in line with what I'm hoping for, then " Subaru raised his right hand and offered it, inviting Crusch to take his hand to tear down the wall between them, and to prove the future Subaru had seen was worth something. "We should take out the White Whale let's go on a hunt." Subaru was proposing to Crusch that they hunt a creature of legend, a symbol of calamity to traveling merchants. That enormous, nightmarish Demon Beast of Mist that Subaru hated for its link to one of his abominable memories. "Allow me to...ask you one thing." Crusch examined Subaru's presented hand and raised her finger, pointing it toward him. Subaru instinctively understood that the question Crusch would pose him was the final gate barring his path. "You claim...to know when and where the White Whale shall appear. Is this absolutely certain?" " Yeah, it's true." Subaru released the breath he had been holding as he gave his answer. The final question was no accident Subaru could not lie. "I guarantee I know when and where the White Whale will show. You can bet your...life on it." In fact, it really was information he had literally paid lives for whether his own or those of others, over and over. There was no doubt about how reliable it was, nor could Subaru show weakness now that he had come so far. "...Though there are still some points about which I have doubts, you have done well to see through my plans." With a small sigh, Crusch closed her eyes as she replied, seemingly giving in. At first,

Subaru was unable to grasp exactly what she meant. But as the words slowly permeated his mind, their meaning gradually took shape and became clearer. "Then that means..." "I have misgivings. I have doubts. There are many elements I cannot comprehend, which makes accepting immediately difficult. However " Crusch lowered the hand with which she had used to point at him and positioned it against Subaru's. Now, Crusch's slender, pale fingers were firmly grasping the hand he had offered earlier. " I shall trust in your eyes and the spirit that leads us to the current state of affairs." The negotiations had succeeded. Seeing both of them shake hands, it was actually Russel's shoulders that visibly relaxed first. With an exaggerated breath, he was beside himself as he shook his head before he started speaking. "There were a number of rather close calls, but it seems you have come to terms. Mr. Natsuki, can I assume that the promise you made prior to this meeting is still firm?" "Yeah. Sorry it's not much of a deal. You were a big help, Russel. Just like I promised, I'll give you my cell phone after we're done hunting the White Whale." Subaru responded to the devious smirk that came over Russel with one of his own. Noticing the exchange, Crusch had an exasperated expression on her face as she sighed. "So you really were working together." "Hey, I'm the one who invited him. I just asked him to give me a tiny helping hand." "Please do not think poorly of me. In point of fact, I did my utmost to avoid any unnatural interference during the negotiations. At worst, I merely looked ahead to after you established an alliance." Crusch shrugged her shoulders at Subaru's and Russel's nonchalant replies. Subaru had gotten in contact with Russel immediately after exchanging information with Rem. Once he got a hold of Russel, whose negotiations with Crusch had similarly failed during Subaru's third time through the loop, they agreed to help each other during the meeting. That cooperation rested on the condition that Subaru would eventually hand over his cell phone. Properly speaking, Russel also had a false understanding of the cell phone's capabilities, but Subaru came to peace with it by seeing it as a chance for Russel to get his hands on an electronic device made with future technology. "Now then, it is your duty to clear up these remaining areas of doubt." Crusch shifted her eyes from the link between Subaru and Russel, turning them toward Anastasia. Anastasia noticed that doubting gaze and tilted her head in an open question. "Mm? You look like there's something you don't understand. But about what, I wonder?" "I understand that Subaru Natsuki and Russel Fellow have goals that align. This makes your position suspicious. What, pray tell, were you invited here for?" "Well, guess I see your point." Anastasia embraced her scarf, pouting with an adorable mmm before continuing. "There are two royal selection candidates and one of the capital's leading merchants assembled. If you have alliance negotiations with this many heavy hitters...it's not like nothing you say goes outside of that place, huh. But just having me here gave Natsuki's words weight, didn't it?" "W-well, I did have a little bit of that in mind..." Giving an evasive answer, Subaru hoped to muddy the waters even as he broke out into a cold sweat once she pointed out exactly what he had been thinking. In actuality, he had another reason for calling Anastasia over, albeit closely related to the one she had just mentioned. It was not to keep Crusch from saying anything carelessly. Subaru wanted to make sure Crusch didn't assume that anything he said was thoughtless and unfounded. By assembling so many important figures in one place, he felt it would lend greater credence to his words. Though given Crusch's and Anastasia's particularly sharp intuition, he was afraid to ask just how much it had actually worked. "Then there was another reason as well. And that was?" "That's super-simple it's because I'm a merchant." Putting a hand over her lips, Anastasia smiled as she practically hopped forward. Then, she put both of her hands over Subaru's and Crusch's hands, still clasped together. "I have big expectations for this hunt for the White Whale. For merchants like me, the White Whale is a matter of life-and-death, so if you're gonna take it out, I'll lend you two a big helping hand. Incidentally, you might want to consider the various products the Hoshin Company has on hand and ready to go?" "Please wait. Surely the Merchant's Guild of the royal capital has precedence in this deal. Lady Anastasia, I would kindly ask that you refrain from interfering in this matter." Russel rebuffed Anastasia's blatantly mercantile probing. As sparks flew between the competing merchants, Crusch looked at Subaru, seemingly having deduced something from the mutual exchange. "Wait. Listening to your words, it would seem that we are rather short on time." "Well, I never heard a thing about that, either. I just thought it felt that way from how the conversation was going. But you're actually pretty hard-pressed, aren't you?" With both Crusch and Anastasia staring at him, Subaru licked his dry lips. Now that they'd formed an alliance, there was no point hiding the information anymore. " Yeah, that's right. According to the metia, the White Whale will appear about thirty hours from now. The location is...the area around the Great Flugel Tree." "Thirty hours...!" "The Great Flugel Tree " Crusch ground her teeth at the incredibly tight schedule. Anastasia tried to wrap her head around the name of the location. Yes, the rest was a race against time. "Within thirty hours, we need to deploy our forces to the Liphas plains, and strike at the White Whale with a coordinated attack just as it appears. For that..." Crusch, quickly adapting to the situation, turned her head only to see Wilhelm nodding. The aged swordsman broke his previous silence and spoke. "With regards to the attack force's organization, it has already been on standby in the royal capital for several days. In the first place, it had assembled in the royal capital to coincide with the timetable of the White Whale's expected appearance. Lady Crusch, I believe you are blessed that this should coincide with the beginning of the royal selection, but..." "That was fast! But what? Is there a pattern to when the White Whale shows up?" Though Wilhelm's news was a lifesaver, what Subaru heard also surprised him. As far as he knew, the time and place of the White Whale's appearances were completely random. Its tendency to pop up anywhere, anytime was a part of the Demon Beast of Mist's greatest menace, but... It was Ferris, advancing to Wilhelm's side, who answered Subaru's question. "Figuring out the times and places the White Whale comes out is all Old Man Wil's hard work, meow. He's spent the last fourteen years living with only the thought of giving it a good pounding, meow." Ferris's cat ears twitched. Then, he peered into the face of the broad-shouldered old man and spoke again. "Thanks to Old Man Wil, I'm not worried about the morale or training of the troops, but I can't say the same for our logistics network. I mean, if people figured there was an army under Lady Crusch's command here in the capital, there'd be a huge fuss over it, so we've had to sneak stuff in bit by bit." When Ferris pointed that out, Wilhelm's sharp eyes shifted Subaru's way. "Certainly, I cannot say that our weapons and equipment preparations are completely in order... Sir Subaru, did you bring Mr. Russel and Lady Anastasia to the same table to address this?" "Well, sometimes these things just happen... I wanted to say that at least once in my life, okay?" Subaru scratched his head and returned Wilhelm's gaze with the answer he had prepared. Russel, preeminent merchant that he was, accepted Subaru's reply and motioned to outside the window. "I have already sent the guild notice to be ready to move. Preparations are happening as we speak. Allow us until tomorrow afternoon, and we shall gather everything that is necessary from the merchants here in the royal capital." "Hey, the same goes for the Hoshin Company. Let's give merchants not part of the guild a chance to fill the gaps. You can expect various other things from us as well." Anastasia followed Russel's words up with a strikingly powerful reply. Then, as Crusch folded her arms in relief, Anastasia smiled at her. "I came here because it's an iron rule of commerce never to pass up a business opportunity. Selling things is nice, but, but, but, doing favors are number one! Intangible, no depreciation, no overhead and more than anything, you can slap a price on it after the fact!" "Hey, I'm glad she's on our side here, but hearing that makes me think 'Wow, this businesswoman's a real piece of work!' all over again." Anastasia was a cute girl with an adorable blush to her cheeks, but she was a miser to the core and thus, very, very scary. Subaru couldn't even fathom the price she attached to her favors. With Anastasia in a very good mood, Crusch glanced at her and nodded with an accepting look. "So you prepared the path before negotiations took place. I see. So in this instance, it was I who lacked foresight and resolve. You have done well, Subaru Natsuki." "I just crammed super-hard before the test. Me, I'm relieved to the bottom of my heart." He'd schemed and prepared endlessly beforehand, but even then, successfully brokering the deal was still like tightrope walking across a knife's edge. Even with wild cards on his side, he still had an awful lot to learn. Even so... "Guess I managed to save face for staying behind in the capital, Rem." "Yes. You are incredible, Subaru, as I knew you would be." He lifted up their still-clasped hands as he and Rem, the unsung hero of the negotiations, shared in each other's joy at their success. There probably wasn't anyone happier at the result of the negotiations than Rem. Originally, these negotiations had been Rem's appointed duty. He could easily imagine how being unable to divulge her task to Subaru and having to speak with Crusch day after day had whittled away at her spirit. Subaru had continually rotted by himself while the future of the Emilia camp had been entrusted to her she must have suffered under that burden. He hoped that in some small way, this victory repaid the girl whose feelings had supported him for so long; if so, then for the moment, that was enough for Subaru to be happy. " Sir Subaru." As Rem and Subaru celebrated together, a voice suddenly called out to him. When he looked over, he saw Wilhelm, standing with his back straight as he watched Subaru with a serious demeanor. When the aged swordsman's eyes met Subaru's, emotions flooded onto Wilhelm's wrinkled, fearless face. "Thank you." With that brief statement, he went down on one knee on the spot. The suddenness of it jolted Subaru. However, he was not alone in his surprise. Not only Crusch and Ferris, who knew Wilhelm, but even the others like Rem and Anastasia were startled. "I offer thanks to you as deep as that I offer my lord, Duchess Crusch Karsten. I thank you for giving this elderly man an opportunity for vengeance." "Uhh, that's...?" "As wise a man you are, Sir Subaru, you have likely already deduced this, but allow me to reintroduce myself " Wilhelm paid no heed to Subaru's confusion, drawing his sword from its sheath. He lowered the blade onto the floor, then placed his hand upon it. It was the greatest possible gesture for paying the utmost respect. Then, he spoke his name. "Previously, I was known by Trias, my old surname. My true family name is

Astrea. I took the previous Sword Saint, Theresia van Astrea, as my wife, sullying the family line of the Sword Saints that is I, Wilhelm van Astrea." After a breath, Wilhelm's eyes were filled with a glimmer of hope as he carried on. "My warmest thanks, for granting this withered body a chance to slay the damned demon beast that robbed me of my wife." Wilhelm deeply bowed his head, the emotions of his powerful, heartfelt plea slamming into Subaru all at once. Everyone listening to the exchange was waiting in anticipation of Subaru's reply. To meet their expectations, Subaru drew a deep breath and answered. "R-right...o-of course I knew. Naturally, that's how I was sure Crusch would agree to wiping out the White Whale!" "Subaru Natsuki." Crusch calmly interrupted Subaru's oddly flailing reply. Her amber eyes peered into Subaru's floundering expression when she sighed softly. "A deceitful wind is blowing from you." The power of the wind reading underscored how plain Subaru's paper-thin lie was. CHAPTER 2 *** 1 Slaying the White Whale. With negotiations concluded, everyone involved acted quickly to make the word hunt a reality. Just as the two merchants Anastasia and Russel had proclaimed, weapons and equipment were scrounged up from all over the royal capital, with Crusch mustering the punitive force she'd prepared beforehand. The rest, arranging dragon carriages to transport the additional people and supplies, was taken care of in short order. "With so many dragon carriages being hired for this, no wonder I had so much trouble finding one to get back to Roswaal Manor." As Subaru watched people and goods rapidly flow in and out of the mansion, he realized how much had been happening behind the scenes during the loop, completely without his personal involvement. During his previous trips through, Crusch and Wilhelm had already been preparing to fight the White Whale, even while Subaru was off in his own little world. Subaru had a rude awakening when he finally realized it after all that time. He'd caused them trouble on three different occasions. He wondered if there was anything he could do to help. "Hey, if there's anything I can..." "Ehh, Subawu, there's nothing at all you can do, is there, meow?" "Hey, I said if!" Subaru, swept up by the busy atmosphere, was on the verge of offering some kind of help, but Ferris, concealing a yawn with a hand over his face, foiled Subaru's half-hearted attempt. "Don't assume other people share your laid-back attitude. Even I must have something I can..." "Preparing supplies and organizing troops are both outside your areas of expertise, aren't they, Subawu? And we can't have outsiders running all around, so sit and behave, okay?" "Well, I can't do that. It's just that I'm the one who said 'let's do this' and everyone else is working into the dead of night while I'm..." "That's where you're dead wrong!" With Subaru all worked up, Ferris thrust a finger into the tip of his nose, interrupting with some terse words. Forced into silence, Subaru yelped as Ferris flicked his nose as he spoke. "Ferri really doesn't like that it's-my-fault way of thinking. Or rather, I hate it." "...I really am the reason why they're pulling an all-nighter, though." It seemed strange for him to blithely sit around and quietly wait for the results. " Nowadays everything's all about the royal selection, but way back when, Crusch was just a normal, adorable princess without any thoughts of participating in kingdom politics." "Huh?" "Ah, did the princess part throw you off? She's always looked lovely, but Lady Crusch has become so strong and gallant since then that even men can't keep up..." Subaru, bewildered by the topic's sudden onset, felt left behind as Ferris's cheeks flushed. Ferris let out a flustered sigh, swooning at the image of the young Crusch in the back of his mind as he continued. "Lady Crusch is kind, wonderful, and invincible, earnest and valiant and more forthright than anyone...but the reason Lady Crusch turned into this Lady Crusch, strong enough to aim for the throne, is because she was at a certain someone's side." "What are you talkin' about? And what do you mean, a certain someone...?" " His Highness Fourier Lugunica. This nation's late fourth prince." Subaru, completely lost in this conversation, drew in his breath just a bit at Ferris's words. But he had more reasons for being at a loss for words than surprise at the name of a dead person he never knew. *** The fleeting, sad look on Ferris's face when he spoke the name had grabbed his attention. His smile included a feeling of nostalgia and loneliness but, somehow, also a faint measure of pride. Even keeping his gender in mind, it was a beautiful sight that left Subaru short of breath. "Watching you, Subawu, makes me remember Prince Fourier just a tiny little bit." "...Was he someone with a mean-looking face?" "Nah, he was handsome. You're not even in his league, Subawu. But the willful personality, the simplicity, the pure, blatant conceit... Well, I won't say any more, since it might insult him." "I think that's already pretty insulting and also a backhanded slap at me, too?!" Apparently, it was their shared character flaws rather than similar faces that had gotten Ferris all sentimental. Sadly, Subaru couldn't deny any of them, but Ferris shook his head at Subaru's words. "Prince Fourier was a confounding man to deal with, but he tried his very best. He always worried about how to act properly as a royal, and his inspirations caused all kinds of trouble for those around him. The prince wasn't talented, but he was full of drive, and he'd always listen to anything you wanted to ask him, meow." "...Sounds like a pretty difficult guy to handle." "That's right! He'd say, 'When everyone is working so hard, I simply cannot bear to be the only one standing still!' Exactly like you are now, Subawu. But His Highness would never, ever say anything like, ''Tis my fault.' He wasn't someone to consider it, or even to think it at all." The strained smile Ferris wore as his reminiscing words trailed off showed how much he cared for the prince. Was that really such an important person? Subaru wondered, before it finally dawned upon him. The fourth prince of the Kingdom of Lugunica meant this Fourier person they were speaking about had died in the plague that became the impetus for the royal selection. And if he was the reason why Crusch was aiming for the throne, that would mean "So this Prince Fourier and Crusch were...close?" "They were similar in age, and Prince Fourier visited Lady Crusch's mansion a great deal. He'd drop in here and there, making an excuse every time, but he was bad at hiding things, so his real goal was obvious." Ferris made a little smile as he cast his thoughts back in time, clueing Subaru in to how Fourier felt. Ferris and Crusch's relationship went beyond that of mere lord and servant or man and woman. But for that Fourier person to be included in that relationship was no doubt very important to Ferris. The relationship between the three was probably very special, and very precious. "Ninety-five percent of the Ferri you see now is all because of Lady Crusch. But the most important part of that remaining five percent is thanks to Prince Fourier... That, I'm sure of." The way Ferris gently lowered his eyes and put a hand to his chest as he spoke gave Subaru an odd feeling deep inside. Until then, he'd been firmly convinced that Ferris had never opened his heart to anyone besides Crusch. He thought it might be the healer's experience related to life and death that let Ferris dole out looks cruel enough to give people chills. But when Ferris spoke of how he remembered Fourier, there was not even the tiniest trace of that. "But what, you feel friendliness from me that's the same as what you felt from this Fourier person?" "Hah? Why does that make Subawu and Fourier the same? I'll kill you." "That's so mean it's scary!" The sharp, impaling voice and dangerous look in his eyes made Subaru retreat a step, unnerved. Seeing this, Ferris cleared his throat. "That's not how I meant it... I'm not going out of my way to talk to you about this right now because of that, Subawu... Aw, sheesh! Why don't you understand already, idiot!" "Hey, that's not even the tiniest bit reasonable! The conversation jumped everywhere, so I didn't get it! What do you want from me, anyway?!" Ferris stomped his foot on the floor in annoyance, with Subaru still cringing as a loud voice responded: "Subaru, Master Felix, you are both speaking rather loudly, is something wrong?" Rem, ostensibly packing luggage in the guest room, heard the ruckus and came down the stairs. Seeing the worried look on Rem's face, Subaru scratched his head, unsure how he ought to explain things. "Er, I was thinking that maybe I could help out with something, but Ferris was saying I'd be in the way, and now I'm not even sure what he was trying to tell me." "Subawu, you're just awful at putting things together. Sheesh, I tried to tell you... It's all because you tried to get in the way of everyone's work..." "Don't call it 'getting in the way'! I wanna help. I mean, all this started because of me..." "It's that!" Ferris lifted his face, powerfully interrupting Subaru's meandering words. Then, the cat ears on his head made a little twitch as he poked a finger into Subaru's chest. "Subawu, I hate how you say 'because of.' It's not 'because of,' it's 'thanks to.' That's why everyone's pulling an all-nighter and why Old Man Wil finally has a chance to fight the White Whale." "Thanks to me...?" Subaru quizzically tilted his head at words that didn't seem real to him. But Rem, standing close by, smiled at Subaru, agreeing with Ferris's satisfaction. "Competing in the royal selection, fighting the White Whale... It's not really for Lady Crusch's own benefit. It's for everyone." With Subaru cowed into silence, Ferris continued on. "Hunting down the White Whale is Old Man Wil's fondest wish. Apparently, he wasn't able to be at his wife's side when the White Whale took her, the previous Sword Saint." "The previous Sword Saint..." "To take his revenge, Old Man Wil chased after the White Whale like he had a death wish. Without anything concrete to go on, it was a lot like trying to grab mist with your hand. He recorded the places the White Whale appeared, the time of day, the weather... For that, we went all over the place, testing different hypotheses, and finally, he figured out that there's something like an order to it." Subaru wondered just how deep Wilhelm's vindictiveness ran. Everyone knew of, and feared, the Demon Beast of Mist, a mighty foe in no small part due to how everything about the creature was shrouded in mystery and yet, all alone, this elderly man continued to struggle against that being. "But when he finally figured it out, no one would believe a word he said." So the aged swordsman had spent night after night nursing his desire for vengeance as he pored over tomes with bloodshot eyes. Yet, when his fervor finally turned up a tangible lead, no one had the power to act on it "The kingdom's wounds from the Great Expedition still run deep. With the throne vacant, there wasn't anyone who could help Old Man Wil. No one had the will to fight the White Whale, or the resources to spare... I think Old Man Wil was probably on the verge of despair when he couldn't find anyone to cooperate with him." Wilhelm had yearned for vengeance, yet he could not even crawl to the foot of his hated foe. Subaru knew the despair

that came from crushing helplessness, for weakness was a sin that he himself couldn't escape. "It seems like he thought about leaving behind everything and everyone he knew to fight the White Whale completely alone. I think his shame from not fighting it was outweighing the fact that he couldn't win men really are idiots. His wife wouldn't have wanted him to do that, I'm sure of it." "I suppose not..." Yes, it was Rem, silent to that point, who agreed with Ferris. Rem touched a hand to her own chest as she gently glanced at Subaru with her pale-blue eyes. "I want the person I love to be happy forever. Even if I am gone, I want to be remembered with a smiling face." "...It's way too soon to talk about remembrances, y'know." Subaru couldn't help turning down Rem's sentimental words. He reached out with his hand and gave Rem's head a tiny poke, then gently touched her with his palm and caressed her. Rem fondly narrowed her eyes at Subaru's open outburst of emotion. "Then, it was Lady Crusch who approached Master Wilhelm?" Ferris nodded, averting his face with a distant look in his eyes. "That's because Lady Crusch is truly kind at heart. She'll reach out to someone drowning in grief and despair, or speak to a person everyone's turned their backs to, and she'll help anyone who wants to take care of someone precious to them She'd say, 'That's what His Highness would do.'" For a moment, Ferris closed his eyes; then, he lifted his face with a normal expression on it, sticking out his tongue. "All right, weird talk over. It was a long talk, but the point is, Subawu, you don't need to brood over this one itsy bit! Besides, it's not like we're doing any of this for your sake, anyway! No one's as interested in you as much as you think they are!" "Maybe you were trying to hide your embarrassment or something, but that was actually mean!" "It is all right, Subaru. I am very interested in you. If this is what others think of you, then my feelings are ten times stronger." "That's scary, too!" After Ferris's harsh statement came Rem's very different follow-up. Buffeted by both, Subaru nonetheless tried to understand the core of what they were telling him. "Man, that was a convoluted conversation..." "That 'oh, now I understand' attitude really annoys me, meow. Hmph, that's Subawu for you." "All that said...your tongue is somewhat too glib, Ferris." "Meow?!" Though he had adopted a blunt demeanor, Ferris jumped in surprise at the voice that suddenly came from behind. Anxiously, he looked back to see an aged gentleman standing behind him, arms folded. Wilhelm's sharp stare seemed to make Ferris shrink. "I cannot say it is a good hobby to speak excessively of a man's shame to others?" "It's nothing to be ashamed of, meow. It's like a Ferri-style literary deconstruction of Old Man Wil's character?" Ferris brought his fingers from both hands together and stuck his tongue out in a flirty pose. For all the world, he seemed like a pretty, adorable, cat-eared girl, but sadly, he was very much a guy. Of course, that sex appeal was unlikely in the extreme to work on Wilhelm. "At any rate, do not prattle so much about a person without his permission." "Gooot it." Curtly dressed down, Ferris's shoulders drooped as he meekly backed away. It was just like Ferris to bid them farewell, only to slip in a wink at the end. But it was Subaru whose mental state was in chaos. Having unintentionally heard all the details about Wilhelm's past, he couldn't help feeling guilty. He thought briefly about divulging his own past embarrassments to make up for it, but he could imagine what kind of scorched-earth landscape that would leave, so he firmly rejected the idea. As a result, the silence continued unbroken, with a bead of sweat trickling down Subaru's brow. "My apologies you had to hear that unpleasant tale. I do not wish to waste your time with an old man's trivial delusions. Please, forget them." It was Wilhelm who broke the silence, trying to act like the conversation earlier had never happened. Seeing the painful smile on his face, Subaru silently resolved to respect his wishes. Ask nothing, said Wilhelm's silent wish. So he would ask nothing. "You truly love your wife, don't you?" Miss Rem?! Subaru's shock was palpable. Rem had walked directly into a veritable minefield. Paying Subaru's nervousness no heed, Wilhelm raised an eyebrow for a moment before he replied. "Yes, I love my wife. More than anything, more than anyone, no matter how much time may pass." Wilhelm's age itself gave his statement that much more weight. On several past occasions, Subaru had heard Wilhelm voice his feelings for his beloved wife. In those few moments, Wilhelm had conveyed just how dear his wife was to him, but now that he knew that these were Wilhelm's feelings for someone departed from this world, it stirred a different emotion deep within Subaru. "If you will excuse me, preparations for tomorrow yet await. Please rest peacefully this evening." With the pair falling silent, Wilhelm turned his back to them and gently headed off. "Tomorrow " As Wilhelm excused himself, Subaru spoke to him spur-of-the-moment. He stopped. But he did not look back when he started speaking. "Tomorrow, Rem and I will be fighting with you." "That is..." "As if we can sit back and watch while our allies face a powerful enemy. Don't worry. Rem can fight...and I have things to do, too." Subaru piled onto his hastily spoken words, cutting off any rejection of his cooperation. Then he added, "Let's join our strength together and give that whale bastard a real beating! I'll help every way I can!" *** Subaru raised the thumb of his right hand as he swore that he and Wilhelm would be comrades in arms. For a time, Wilhelm said nothing to his declaration. Then " My wife was a woman who loved to admire flowers." Haltingly, he replied to Subaru's oath in a very different tone. "She did not care for the way of the sword, yet the sword loved her like none other. She was not permitted to live any life save one with the sword, and my wife came to accept that destiny." Subaru had personally witnessed the might of Reinhard, the current Sword Saint. The blessing of Sword Saint granted the human body an absurd level of power enough power to define a person's future and narrow one's possibilities without limit. "It is I who robbed my wife of the sword and made her abandon the title of Sword Saint." Once, Wilhelm had told Subaru that he was an aged swordsman with no talent that his current state had been achieved after offering half of his life to the sword. What setbacks must he have suffered, what nails must have been driven into his heart until he arrived at that dear wish? And then "She abandoned the sword and became a woman and my wife. All this she permitted so that she might live as Theresia instead of the Sword Saint However, the sword did not forgive her." If she had abandoned the sword, how had she ended up part of the White Whale expeditionary force? However, Wilhelm's recollection did not touch upon that issue as he spoke. "Sir Subaru, I thank you." After a breath, he added, "In tomorrow's battle, I shall find my answer with my own blade. I will be able to go where my wife rests. I shall finally be able to meet her." Leaving those words behind, Wilhelm departed the room for good. Subaru couldn't keep his entire body from trembling from the flood of emotions within him. As a fellow man, Wilhelm's determination could not fail to inspire a deep reverence within him. Wilhelm was a man earnestly, sincerely beholden to love. "Subaru..." Suddenly, Rem's voice echoed across the now-silent room. Without a word, Subaru turned toward her, perfectly meeting Rem's gaze. "...If I am gone, will you remember me just as long?" "...I don't wanna answer that. It's bad luck." Speaking with a voice of dismay, Subaru gave Rem's forehead a little poke. When he touched Rem's forehead, she smiled with a happy expression, almost as if she'd received the reply she had been hoping for. 2 It was the following morning seventeen hours before the appointed hour for subjugating the White Whale. "Now then, it's Lady Crusch's orders, so go ahead, pick whichever one you like." "Even if you put it like that..." With a cool morning breeze blowing, Subaru was at the Crusch residence, utterly lost in front of a lineup of land dragons. Ferris, wearing a white uniform of the Knights of the Royal Guard instead of his usual feminine clothing, was having Subaru examine the land dragons. With a snow-white cape on top, and a face full of zeal, Ferris's cheeks puffed up at Subaru's reply. "What?! Lady Crusch went out of her way to be so kind, and you don't like them?!" "It's not that. I'm really happy I can choose the land dragon I'll ride, but I don't have a clue how to figure out what's good or bad about each one. Do I look like a vet who's been handling 'em for decades?" "Hmm...not even a little. So how about you pick based on intuition? Considering that it's who you'll trust with your life, and who you might end up dying beside, Ferri won't hold any choice against you, meow." "Stop that! Don't raise weird event flags like that! I'm not planning to die here!" Even with twelve-odd hours left before the decisive battle, Ferris didn't seem tense whatsoever. It was better than being oddly stressed out, but Subaru thought the mood was a little too slack. At that moment, numerous land dragons were lined up in the front yard of the Crusch residence for the offensive against the White Whale. Many land dragons were for hauling freight, but a dragon mount to take into actual combat was an especially crucial decision. He'd heard that the House of Karsten had a fine selection, including famous dragons from excellent bloodlines, but... "No matter how much I look, I can't really get past 'They seem really cool.' Rem, what do you think?" Just like many knights setting out for battle with their favorite horse, Subaru had been given the privilege of choosing his mount. But at that rate, such a prized right would simply go to waste. Rem, standing at Subaru's side while stroking the neck of the land dragon in front of her, responded to his prompt. "I wonder. In my case, I can tell most land dragons which one of us is in charge, so I have had little reason to be concerned with the differences between individuals..." "That figures. You really know how to crack the whip. Huh, what should I do...?" The land dragon Rem was stroking sat on the ground, almost as if to display its submission. It probably did what came naturally after sensing that it stood lower on the food chain. Subaru couldn't really pull off the same thing, nor did he want to. "If you spend too much time picking, we'll pay for it later, so pick quiiiick." "You say it like this is none of your concern, sheesh." "It actually isn't, but that's not the point. Seriously, they're all well bred, so you can't go wrong with any of these guys. Just pick on intuition." "Well, that does make a certain amount of sense, but...mm?" With Ferris urging him to hurry, Subaru walked around to examine the various land dragons, when he suddenly stopped. Rem had been walking beside him until he froze, which earned him a curious expression. "Subaru, is something wrong?" "Nah... This one just kinda caught my eye." As Subaru stood still, there was a beautiful,

pitch-black land dragon before him. It had sharp facial features and yellow eyes. Resting atop the saddle on its back was a leather helmet for dragon riders. The variety of gear didn't differ from that of the other land dragons, but what struck Subaru were its eyes. *** The land dragon's quiet gaze gave Subaru a different impression compared to its peers. There was not even the tiniest smidgeon of the pride or fidelity that land dragons typically displayed. The pitch-black land dragon simply sat there, calmly waiting to be selected. "Hey...you're the land dragon I met at the mansion a while back, aren't you?" Subaru, suddenly recognizing the individual dragon, reached out toward it. At his side, Rem was a little startled and was instantly tempted to pull back Subaru's hand. But faster than Rem could stop him, the land dragon nuzzled its nose against Subaru's hand. "...Looks like this one is number one." "I am surprised. I believe this land dragon is from an especially proud breed... I was concerned it might eat your hand, Subaru." "Okay, maybe I was a little careless just now!" But he'd thought there was no need for such concern. Maybe he and the land dragon were on the same wavelength. Subaru decided he'd bet his life on the black land dragon that had nuzzled him with the tip of its nose. "Ferris, I'm picking this one. It's love at first sight." "Yes, yes. Ohhh, nice pick. Subawu, you really are quite shameless... Also, don't say 'love at first sight'; you'll make Rem pout." "I am not pouting. I will get along with it properly. I can do it." Subaru was a little concerned at how she added extra words for emphasis, but with Rem's permission, Subaru's choice of mount was decided. Ferris, who had a few other things to take care of, remained behind while Subaru and Rem headed back into the mansion side by side. There was little time remaining before they were due to set out. The Crusch residence had been gathering manpower in bits and pieces, forming an expeditionary force with the goal of fighting the White Whale. Even among them, there was something in the hall that especially drew Subaru's attention... "Wh-what are they doing here...?" Subaru was beside himself, unwittingly staring right at them. A member of the group noticed his gaze and approached him with an audible patter. "Guess you're part of the expeditionary force, too! Nice to meetcha, bro!" The voice Subaru heard had enough force to blow the crisp morning air away. The sound reached the far corners of the spacious mansion. Subaru could not help being struck by the forceful bellow. Subaru put his hands on his ears and grimaced heavily, glaring back at the other party, but... "I heard all about ya from the lady! You're the one who made today's whale hunt happen. Ain't that right?! From here on, I'm part of the hunt, too! Glad the weather's cooperating!" "You're too loud! Can't those round eyes of yours read my reaction?!" As a natural response to the booming words, Subaru ended up shouting, too. His angry voice sent the dog-faced beast man into a laugh that was even more stupidly loud. His entire body was covered in brown fur, with an oblong, dark-brown mane adorning his head like a Mahican hairstyle. However, he was almost six and a half feet tall, and the sight of his extremely muscular body clad in a leather outfit felt a lot like a truce coming after wildness and culture coming to blows. Subaru's eyes lingered on the steel epaulet protecting his otherwise exposed upper body, and the Hoshin Company logo engraved upon it. "That logo on a beast man from Kararagi... That means you're Anastasia's Iron Fangs!" "Wha ! Your voice is too quiet, bro! I can't hear what you're sayin'!" "Oh, shut up for a second! What the hell did you eat to grow that big?! What race are you?!" "I'm a kobold, can't you tell?! As if there could be a dog race besides kobolds?!" "Huh, kobold... Wait, there's no way?!" The beast man had called himself a kobold, but Subaru's image of a kobold was a little person with a dog face. The dog face and the humanoid body were in line with what he expected, but the body size was way, way off. "They call me Ricardo. Nice to meet you, too, missy!" "Yes, Master Ricardo. Thank you for your kind words. My name is Rem." Emotionally prepared for Ricardo's hearty greeting, Rem politely introduced herself in turn. When Subaru glanced, watching the exchange, he saw Anastasia with a grin coming over to the head of Ricardo's group a band of beast people. When her mischievous smile met Subaru's sour look, she teasingly tilted her head. "Oh no, Natsuki. It would seem Ricardo isn't very agreeable with your ears. The best way to get along with him is to not wander too close, you see." "It would've been useful to know about that before meeting him. You really are rough on people." "Sorry, I couldn't help wondering how you'd react, you see..." "Not just rough on people, a bad personality, too. Er, ow!" As Anastasia giggled teasingly, Ricardo's huge beast-man hand gave Subaru's head a little push. He opened his big mouth wide to speak, which neatly displayed his fangs. "Hey, bro! Watch your mouth when speaking with the lady! Be a little nicer to our employer, will ya! She almost never talks to anyone if it's not about profits and losses, so she has no friends! At this point, you can probably get in good with her with a little kindness!" "Ricardo. If you're going to sweep something under the rug, best not to be insulting about it along the way, yes?" "It's not an insult! I'm worried about you, miss! Ever since way back, you never got along with people too well, so comin' here from Kararagi without anyone you know has gotta been wearing you down, right?! But lookie right here! Heeeere ya go, friend number one!" "Hey, don't butt in and babble when people are talking! And don't go grabbing a guy's head and shaking it around like that! That ridiculous strength of yours could tear my head off!" Assailed by literally superhuman strength, Subaru tried to somehow shake his attacker off before his neck snapped first. In a hurry, he escaped from Ricardo and immediately began neck-stretching exercises, rotating his head around. "M-man, that was close. Wouldn't be funny to get injured and sidelined during chitchat right before the big battle. I'm pretty worked up for this, so no way am I gonna accept that kind of foul-up..." "What's with the big fuss! I'm just tellin' you guys to get along!" "Maybe different cultures have different definitions of getting along. Are all Kararagi people like this?" "Well, of course not. Ricardo's special. You see a vast difference in elegance and grace between him and me, don't you?" Anastasia stood beside Ricardo and brazenly laid out her claim. Subaru deeply exhaled, pushing Rem forward as he countered. "Now, look. If you wanna talk about real grace, talk about someone like Rem. See this elegance?" "Oh no... Calling me cute like this... I'm blushing." "Hmm, a strange girl, but she seems nice and has excellent future prospects. You've got quite the catch there, Natsuki." Subaru almost wanted to say that it was more like they had caught each other, but Rem's reaction was already a little different from what Subaru expected, so it was hard for him to bring it up. Then, Crusch emerged from below Subaru and the others at the head of a motley assembly. "From the look of things, you have finished getting to know one another." Crusch was not in her usual handsome dress uniform but rather, a light suit of unornamented armor. The build clearly focused on ease of movement; perhaps prioritizing mobility was in itself a feminine choice. To Subaru's eyes, it seemed questionable how much protection it would be able to provide the wearer. "It is better to wear gear that is easy to move in. Do not be overly concerned. An earth blacksmith engraved this with the durability blessing. So long as my mana is not exhausted, it is far stouter than it appears," Crusch explained, realizing the doubts behind Subaru's gaze, and she touched a hand to her breastplate. "There's a thing like that? As usual, magic and blessings are basically cheating... Maybe I have a convenient blessing like that sleeping inside of me and I just don't know yet?" "No matter how long a person sleeps, it is not as if anyone ever forgets how to breathe, yes? That is what blessings are like for those who possess them. If you are not aware of one, it is best to abandon the notion." Having experienced a similar put-down once before, Subaru pouted and discarded his faint hope. Rem comforted Subaru as if she were consoling a sulking child. Meanwhile, Crusch noticed Ricardo gazing down at her, so she peered up at his huge frame and spoke again. "I see. I had heard the stories, but you are an even greater warrior than rumored. So you are the captain of the Iron Fangs, the blade who stands by Anastasia Hoshin's side?" "In the end, we're just being paid to do a job. You're Crusch Karsten, right? Besides the usual rumors, I've heard about you from the lady, but seeing you in the flesh is..." With Crusch folding her arms and looking up at him, Ricardo audibly sniffed, using his canine sense of smell. Then, the folds of his nose crinkled and his throat rumbled in laughter. "What a piece of work! This royal selection's gonna be pretty tough, miss!" "Well, that's why we have to sell favors like this. The price tag I can put on it depends on how hard you work, so better work hard, Ricardo." "Gah-ha-ha-ha! That's our lady! Whether it's people or dogs, she works them to the bone!" Anastasia seemed to agree with Ricardo's assessment of Crusch. Maybe she and the stupidly laughing Ricardo had been working together for a long time, for Anastasia seemed like just a regular young girl when talking with him. She must have had a soft spot for him. Loud voice aside, Subaru didn't sense any problems dealing with Ricardo, either. Maybe it was just his personality as a man, or perhaps he should say as a dog? However, Subaru did feel like he was just a bit too outspoken... "Did you rest well last night?" Crusch shifted her gaze away from Ricardo to show Subaru some consideration. Subaru was still massaging the neck Ricardo had twisted a short while ago as he responded. "Yeah, thanks. It didn't seem like a good thing to be sleeping so easily while the rest of you were busy, though." "There is a time and place for everything. Your job was assembling myself, Russel Fellow, and Anastasia Hoshin last night and accomplishing the formation of the White Whale expeditionary force. Indeed, from my perspective, your offering to assist in fighting the White Whale was unexpected." After a faint smile, Crusch's lips became taut as she stared straight at Subaru. Seeing the complex emotions behind her amber eyes, Subaru wilted at what might be coming next. "I am grateful for assistance in fighting the White Whale...but can you fight?" "Not really? If you count me in, I'm like the cat's claws you borrow, because you're scraping the bottom of the barrel. A dog's claws can get pretty big, though." "Hey, were you talkin' 'bout me just now?!" "I was, but you don't need to butt in! Man, you've got convenient hearing!" Subaru yelled at Ricardo for interrupting the conversation, but Crusch's eyes had gone wide when he openly declared that he was useless in combat. Subaru racked his brain over how to explain it to her.

"So as fighting goes, it's like that...but I think I'll be a help against the White Whale." "Let's hear it, then. What do you mean?" "I'm not all that happy about this, mind you...but it seems that I have a peculiar scent that attracts demon beasts." The odd nuance of Subaru's statement once again pressed Crusch into silence. However, when Rem stated, "There is no mistake," in an odd agreement while standing beside him, Crusch displayed only a brief hint of concern before asking him to continue. "I shall tentatively state that I understand. Please give us the details." "Maybe scent isn't quite the right word, but it's a physical condition I have. In fact, when we had that demon beast incident back at the mansion we mentioned last night, I used it to lure the demon beasts." "Is that so...? Then the fact that you possess a metia to warn you of the danger of demon beasts is connected to this?" "Ah, that's some unexpected foreshadowing you Er, I'm just talking to myself." With suspicious gazes trained on Subaru, he shut his mouth before he said too much. "Anyway, I think that characteristic of mine will probably work on the White Whale, too. If I'm there, we can predict to a decent degree where the White Whale goes. But when we do, the demon beast's danger level is off the charts, so expecting me to actually fight it is a little much." An Urugarum was about as dangerous as a large dog. Even so, they had nearly killed him. Not that threats were proportional to body length, but the White Whale was thousands of times larger than an Urugarum. By himself, Subaru couldn't outrun the White Whale, let alone counterattack. "That's why I'll take the land dragon you lent me and run around right under the White Whale's nose to draw its attention. While it's doing that, you'll go after it full force...or at least that's the tactic I'd recommend." To be blunt, it was a plan he wasn't sure he could speak from his own lips. He was saying they couldn't count on him for fighting strength but that he'd be useful running around the battlefield as bait. It was a role that would make even those with a death wish turn pale. " I do not sense any deceit from you, which surprises me greatly." Crusch put a hand to her chin, barely able to believe her eyes as she let out a sigh of resignation. She'd no doubt weighed Subaru's statement with the blessing of wind reading, considering how the truth or falsity affected its effectiveness for the operation. "Many times in the half day since last night, I have wanted to doubt my own blessing. I do not claim it is infallible, but..." "You've lost a little confidence in it?" "No. I simply get tense when the world exceeds my expectations in various ways." As she said those words, a smile came over Crusch that did not seem sore or bitter. It was the expression of a beautiful lioness, which she immediately hid under a gallant expression as she continued speaking. "I heard from Ferris that you selected a fine land dragon even by my house's standards. If that is the role you desire, I have no objections. However, I require that you obey my commands." "Also, I guess it goes without saying with that outfit, but you're planning on fighting, too, Crusch?" "Do you think I can simply sit in a chair at my mansion and await good news?" Crusch flicked a finger off a fitting on her armor, puffing out her chest as if the answer was obvious. Subaru, seeing her so valiant, politely lowered his head for having asked about something so self-evident. " It seems everyone has assembled." Accepting Subaru's apology, Crusch closed one eye as she murmured. As if taking those words as a signal, people trod into the mansion's great hall one after another. All of them were clad in combat gear and possessed stern visages. Their various pieces of equipment seemed well worn, giving off the impression of seasoned veterans. But Subaru was struck more by their ages. "Somehow, some of these members...don't look so young." Subaru gave voice to what immediately came to mind. The people passing before Subaru's eyes were probably participating in the expeditionary force. In one line, there were ten or so men with a rather high average age; it was probably that none of them were younger than fifty. It was unlikely that anyone had heard Subaru's comment, but suddenly, one of the men turned to look his way. Before he knew it, Subaru froze as the man stepped toward him. "Lady Crusch, we have arrived Is this him?" "Yes, it is." The one posing the question to Crusch in a sober voice was a middle-aged man with both hair and beard graying. The man nodded to Crusch and faced Subaru once more, stretching a hand to his shoulder. Then, he spoke. "Thank you, lad." "Eh?" "Thanks to you, our dearest wish has been granted. We have never been happier." Subaru unwittingly lost his bearings as the hand grasping his shoulder conveyed the man's strong feelings. "Thank you," said the man, patting a rocked Subaru on the shoulder before walking off. From behind, Rem watched the men leave as she whispered into Subaru's ear, "All of them most likely have some connection to the White Whale." "Connection to the White Whale... You mean, related to the old expeditionary force or something?" "Though there were many who had already retired from fighting on the front lines, these are the warriors who answered Wilhelm's call to participate in the current expeditionary force. Their morale and level of training are in no way inferior to any currently serving as a royal knight." "So it's some old men who are dying for a chance at vengeance, huh...? I'm getting all fired up." Subaru felt something stir within him as he glanced over, watching Crusch examine the soldiers. It was Crusch who had set her sights to even exterminating the White Whale so that Wilhelm might realize his vengeance. The old men joining the battle must have felt the same gratitude toward her for giving them a chance to fulfill their greatest wish. It was probably partly the "kindness" of Crusch that Ferris had spoken of the previous night, and the will of "His Highness" who had so greatly influenced her way of life. "You're not telling me that those guys are all the forces we've got for this fight, right?" "Those that arrived here are the principal members. The remainder should have already set out for the Great Flugel Tree to facilitate the force's deployment along the Liphas Highway." In other words, with the appointed hour impending, those assembled were the VIPs of the expeditionary force. The participation of the old veterans really imparted the feeling that the decisive battle was finally drawing near. As he might have expected, the tension in Subaru's heart rose, along with the feeling that it was a must-win battle. "The time is ripe. I want both of you in the hall as well." Crusch looked up at the time crystal above the entrance, speaking curtly. She was surely to address the troops before departure, a kind of motivational speech to boost morale. Just as Crusch set out, Subaru saw Wilhelm and Ferris entering from the hall. Ferris was dressed in the same outfit Subaru had already seen him in when encountering him in the courtyard earlier, but Wilhelm was not. Gone was the usual black uniform; instead, he wore a light, minimalist suit of armor protecting only the most vital of organs. On both sides of his hips, he wore a total of six slender swords, and he seemed almost too ready to fight. "Oh, so you're here, too, Russel. Maybe we can chat a bit?" Following behind Wilhelm and Ferris was dark-blond-haired Russel. He looked like he had been working all night, but with the great battle before them, his eyes were overflowing with vitality. "If you're making that face, then it's probably safe to say that you held up your end. How about you, Anastasia?" "Did you really think I'd come up short?" "Not really, but I just thought I'd ask." When it came to who seemed the most meticulous out of all the royal selection candidates, Anastasia was second to none. With preparations steadily completed and the appointed hour fast approaching, the hall was tense with fighting spirit. In moments, all would be set into motion toward the decisive battle. "But before that..." Subaru had one thing he had to do. Rem, standing beside him, tilted her head and glanced sidelong at Subaru as he called out to Anastasia just as she turned to head off as well. "Anastasia. Would you mind letting Russel join us for a little chitchat?" "Heh..." When Anastasia stopped and looked back, her face was all business. She was acutely sensitive to the fact that Subaru had something to offer. The girly attitude vanished from her eyes, replaced by the glint of a merchant flicking an abacus in her head. In that moment, the transformation was reassuring. Subaru headed for Russel, an impish Anastasia in tow. Noticing the pair's approach, life returned to Russel's tired face. Truly, merchants were a reliable bunch. "I have something to discuss with you, as two merchants who are successful and possess a sharp eye for the future. You might laugh this off as counting my chickens before they hatch, but this is about after the whale's taken out." With that preamble, he proceeded to "prepare the battlefield" on the eve of the White Whale's extermination. 3 " Four hundred years." The appointed hour came, and with those words, she began to address the assembled troops. Her voice was grave; the atmosphere, strained. Amid sharp sensations akin to pain running up a spine being stretched, Crusch stood perfectly straight, chest thrust forward, as all eyes rested upon her. Crusch stood upon the floor with a treasured sword bearing the mark of the House of Karsten, the Lion Rampant, and rested her hands upon its hilt as she slowly surveyed the faces of all present and said: "Four centuries have passed since the Witch of Jealousy, the worst calamity in all of recorded history, threatened the world. During this time, the White Whale born of the Witch's hand has made the world its very own hunting ground, dominating and savaging those weaker than it." The Witch of Jealousy was the one who had apparently swallowed half the world in ages past. Her very name had been synonymous with fear for as long as anyone could remember. Having lost its master, the Demon Beast of Mist danced to its own tune. From the Great Expedition launched fourteen years prior on down, the monster had given rise to many casualties in every nation, swallowing one's very will to fight. "The lives the White Whale has taken are beyond measure. Perhaps it is better to say, the mist's vile nature itself ensures that we will never know the true number of casualties. Over the course of four hundred years, the number of names on tombstones, and the graves that do not even have names, have only increased." Crusch's words made some old men stare at the ground, gritting their teeth as they held back sobs. There were others whose chests contained fierce, inexhaustible emotion, quiet anger they had carried with them, waiting for a chance to let it explode. Their regrets, their hatred piled up with every corpse, began to envelop the atmosphere of the hall in stagnant darkness. However "But today, that time is over." *** "We shall bring it to an end. When we slay the White Whale, it will dispel so much sadness. Those who have never permitted themselves a moment shall finally be granted a proper chance to grieve." *** "We

shall end this pathetic demon beast, unceasingly obeying the command of its dead master." Subaru's chest was on fire. Without saying a word, everyone conveyed the same heat that was burning inside him. The old veterans were looking down; the warriors clenching their fists. The aged swordsman had closed his eyes but now, all of them stared at Crusch, standing before them. Accepting their gazes, Crusch thrust a hand out, speaking in a great voice. "We march! To the Liphas Highway! To the Great Flugel Tree!" " Yes!!" The stomping on the ground accompanying the roaring response seemed to make the very earth quake. Subaru realized that the hot fighting spirit surging within him had made him shout as well. Among them all, Crusch stood stronger and taller as she raised her drawn treasured sword to the heavens and made a proclamation. "This night, by our hand the White Whale will fall!!" The Battle of the White Whale, the largest operation since Subaru had been summoned to that world, had commenced. CHAPTER 3 *** 1 With Duchess Crusch Karsten at the head, the latest expedition to defeat the White Whale set forth. It was the first operation of its kind since the Great Expedition of fourteen years prior, undertaken with the expectation of fierce combat few would ever see. The expeditionary force assembled for the campaign was under Crusch's command with Wilhelm van Astrea, member of the family of Sword Saints, appointed as captain. The troops serving under Wilhelm were divided into fifteen platoons, with each headed by one of the old veterans who had attended Crusch's address in the great hall. Each platoon was composed of fifteen men, so the combined force under Crusch's command numbered roughly 220. However, the total combat strength was not limited to that. A wagon train under Russel's command was apparently running ahead of them to the site of the decisive battle, the Great Flugel Tree, so they could begin transporting the supplies necessary for deployment. On top of that, thirteen members of the beast-man mercenary group Iron Fangs, on loan from Anastasia, had joined under Ricardo's command. Ricardo was in overall command with two lieutenants reporting to him. And the "lieutenants" of the Iron Fangs were... "I'm Mimi!" "I'm Hetaro!" With great energy, the two kitten-like beast people waved, then politely bowed. They had orange fur, and their heads didn't even reach up to Subaru's hips. They had adorable faces, and really, the snow-white robes covering them up to their necks suited them very well, so if Subaru was to put his thoughts bluntly "They're so cute I wanna steal them for myself!" "The miss says that a lot, too!" "Th-there you go saying that again, Big Sis..." The girl calling herself Mimi laughed vibrantly at Subaru's thought, with the young boy calling himself Hetaro appearing oddly ruffled as he rebuked her. Based on how he addressed her, they were siblings probably twins. They looked like a tomboyish older sister with a straitlaced, docile younger brother following in her wake. Subaru had no objection to the charm, but what mattered here wasn't appearance but ability. They weren't heading off to a picnic. "So it's not that I'm doubting you, but...you're really lieutenants?" "Mm? Mister, have you met Mimi somewhere before? Mmmm, I can't remember, but it really feels like it...!" Mimi crossed her arms and cocked her head, but Subaru glossed it over with a strained smile. It couldn't be helped that she didn't remember him. To Subaru, the first time he met Mimi was during the events of the last go-around. Furthermore, it wasn't an occasion he wanted to remember. However, then and now, Mimi's bottomless cheer was completely unchanged... "Don't worry about it. My name's Subaru Natsuki. So are you two good?" "Okay, won't worry! And Mimi and Hetaro are the best! If TB's with us, we're even stronger! Super bestest! Ka-ching!" "Errr, yes, that's right. Big Sis and I will both work hard." The younger brother took the reins of his boastful older sister and somehow brought her under control. Watching the two, Subaru had to wonder if that world had any older sisters besides ones making the younger sibling follow in their footsteps. " ? What is the matter, Subaru?" When Subaru, harboring that question, looked at Rem, she tilted her head with a questioning expression and an adorable smile. At that point, Subaru cleared his throat, turning back to face Mimi as he said, "Well that is an awful lot of confidence. Lieutenant's not something you can be unless you're hot stuff." "In place of the captain and Big Sis, I give orders out to everyone else." "Ahh, I see... Tough job, huh." Subaru imagined the older sister running alongside the belligerent giant, dashing across the battlefield with a hearty laugh. That would mean, lieutenant or not, Hetaro was the only one actually performing the appropriate duties. The cute older sister was like an image of naive recklessness drawn by a child. "We will follow Lady Crusch's commands to the extent possible, but we have our own ways of fighting. I thought it was best to inform you of this to minimize chaos, Mr. Natsuki... Er, Mr. Natsuki?" "No, I'm just impressed you're so sharp and serious. That attention to detail is comparable to Rem." "Mm-hmm, he's just amazing!" "Now you'll make Big Sis get carried away again... So cute." For some reason, Mimi was the one to puff her chest out in pride when she saw Subaru's frank assessment of Hetaro. Hetaro had a constrained look on his face from Mimi's reaction, only to slip in what he really thought at the very end. Subaru added the drawback of overly spoiled big sisters to the list of high-spec misgivings he had about twins of that world. Hetaro was in Rem's league on that point, too. Growing up with Mimi surely had no small amount of influence on Hetaro. Having finished meeting the siblings, Subaru glanced at his cell phone to check the time. Twelve hours remained until the White Whale was scheduled to appear. They had about half the distance left to their destination, likely giving them about five hours after arrival until the decisive battle. "Once we get to the Great Tree, we'll have to go over the operation one last time... It seems like having me running around is gonna create a fair bit of chaos." "This time, you will have me by your side, Subaru I won't allow a repeat of what happened when we fought the Urugarum." Rem replied to Subaru's comment with quiet resolve burning in her eyes. "I really am opposed to this. I believe using the scent of the Witch to lure the White Whale is too dangerous...and in the first place, the fact that the scent comes from you is..." "I'll use anything I can. If it adds a tenth of a percent to the win rate, that's a bet I'll take. I come up short on so many levels, if I don't do even this, I'll never make up for it." "You are amazing, Subaru." Even faced with Subaru's determination, this was one thing Rem stubbornly refused to let go of. The way she seemed to pout as she turned her face away was a rare display of a flood of emotions, making Subaru's smile not so much strained as very, very soft. Subaru felt all too keenly the obvious change in Rem's demeanor in the last half day. Ever since the demon beast incident, he'd been convinced Rem had opened her heart to him, but it was only the previous day that their hearts had connected in a true sense. Perhaps Rem had sensed that where time had stopped, it had begun to move once more. Truly, it was so. That was why "I wanna win this." Quietly, Subaru voiced that hope. At present, things had proceeded apace to a degree he couldn't even have imagined during prior go-arounds. Where no one would listen to him no matter how much he pleaded, this time, they accepted his request. Relations with the Crusch camp, destined for rupture, were good. Setting aside the exposure of all the embarrassing things inside him, it was no boast to say his relationship with Rem was now a far stronger bond. But on the other hand, it was a fact that things had developed in a way more perilous than ever before. Even in that moment, the menace of the White Whale was seared into Subaru's mind, clear as day. Even Rem's might had proved completely unequal to the task against its huge, flying frame, able to send a dragon carriage flying in pieces with not even an attack but a flick of its tail. Its open maw swallowed a land dragon and the ground under it whole; its death cries, when those vile, millstone-like teeth ground its flesh, would never leave his ears. Just the thought that he was heading to face that thing made his limbs tremble, but he couldn't stop running forward. Yet, even as Subaru's mind backslid toward weakness... *** Rem, sitting beside him, peered at Subaru as if she could see straight into his mind. A weak, helpless Subaru Natsuki could not be permitted before Rem's eyes. "Even I know that resolve doesn't make everything okay, but..." Even if he'd stopped being a pessimist, that didn't mean his fortunes had improved dramatically. The route he was on held even greater danger ahead, yet he absolutely couldn't say preparations were ideal. All Subaru could do was what he thought best in the limited time available to him, calling on the girls and their allies for aid and leaving all the rest that lay ahead to the power of others. That said, Crusch and the others sought nothing further from Subaru, which was absolutely not because they were maltreating Subaru as a useless troublemaker. But when the time came, he'd do whatever he could with everything he had. Because the things Subaru could do occupied such a narrow range, he had to at least firmly grasp the range's breadth, thinking of what he could do within those limits. "In other words, it's the same as usual. Guess that goes without saying, though." "What's up, bro ? That's a determined-lookin' face you got there." Abruptly, Ricardo, riding alongside the line of dragon carriages, observed Subaru, laughing as he spoke. Glaring back at the dog-headed beast man, Subaru firmly twisted the corners of his lips. "That's right. Took long enough, but it's rock solid. I'm really something when I've set my mind, okay? Whatever happens, I'm not givin' up on the future, even if it kills me." "That's a man's words there! The lady's gonna be real happy to hear that! Like I figured, you're just the friend the lady needs!" "I don't think shaking her hand away from the big stage is a bad thing, either... Ah, but if I get along nicely with Anastasia, there's a troublesome guy there, too..." Remembering Anastasia made him remember the sight of a handsome man beside her as a package deal. Even his beating at the parade grounds at Julius's hand seemed like a long time ago. He'd experienced time on the level of weeks, even though it had been only five days or so in actual time lapsed. Then, Subaru's words brought a huge, irrepressible smile over Ricardo's big mouth. From the reaction and the teasing look in his eyes, it seemed he'd heard all about Subaru's humiliation. Naturally, Subaru turned his face away in a visible sulk. "If you're gonna laugh, laugh nice and hard. Even I can now appreciate just how little I read the mood back then." "Hey, wait up! It's not that I'm findin' funny, it's somethin' else. Well, you'll figure it out on your own, so dumpin' it all out here would be just rude!" Thus self-convinced, Ricardo stroked his own mane as he cut the topic off. The suggestive behavior tugged at Subaru, but even

if he pressed the point, odds of a reply were slim. "Incidentally, I've been meaning to ask you something since we set out..." "What? Ask me anythin'. We're buds, bro! If it's not crazy stuff, I'll talk about whatever! And if it is, it depends on what nails I'm steppin' on!" "That part sounds like the Kararagi in you talking... I was just thinking, those huge dogish creatures you guys are riding, they're really something else." Subaru pointed below the enthused Ricardo's rump to the creature he was riding, unsure how best to broach the subject. The beast mounts that Ricardo's Iron Fangs were riding were completely different creatures from land dragons. The closest comparison was to a huge dog, but the huge frames of the carnivores rivaled that of lions and tigers from his original world, and their speed and endurance were in no way inferior to that of land dragons. Subaru's comment brought an understanding expression from Ricardo as he patted the beast mount on the back. "You don't see 'em much in these parts. These critters are called ligers. They're as precious in Kararagi as land dragons are over here. They're real territorial, so it's tough to raise 'em, which is why there ain't many in Lugunica or other countries." "Ligers..." When he blinked and looked, Subaru thought he was seeing some kind of offshoot of the Urugarums he had a history with. Fortunately, there were no signs of horns on their heads, and compared with those demon beasts, their faces were clearly more adorable. If the demon beasts seemed more like wolves, he could say that the ligers definitely looked more like dogs. But having Ricardo, a dog-type beast man, riding on top of that super-huge dog was a little "Somehow, it's a really weird feeling, like someone should paint this...but don't you feel awkward?" "Sometimes people mention that, but not really. I mean, I'm a beast man, this is an animal, big difference between us... Ah, now that you mention it, some guys might get ticked off if you say that. I don't mind, though." "Nah, I was wondering if I should say anything or not. Sorry, my bad." "Gah-ha-ha, well ain't that honest of ya!" Baring his teeth as he laughed, Ricardo gave the back of the liger's neck a good rub. The liger made no reaction to its master's action, but the way it silently indulged its owner certainly make it look like a good, loyal dog. Even with the size difference, it apparently hadn't lost any of its canine virtues. "Ligers don't have the horsepower that land dragons do, but their agility's way up there. Just watch, a wild battle to send the whale packin' is right up our alley!" "Horsepower, huh. Guess you still measure animal power like that, even with dragons and dogs all over the place... Not that I've actually seen a horse." He'd heard straight from Emilia's mouth that they existed, but he hadn't actually seen one in that world yet. Apparently, their rate of use was fairly low. After that, Subaru pointed to the expeditionary force on the march behind them. "So less horsepower is why you have teams of dogs for pulling each carriage? Why not just have land dragons haul the freight? Don't want the dogs to get tired before the main event." "Hey, we've gotta move our own stuff ourselves. Besides, don't worry, any liger haulin' freight is a liger properly trained for it. We don't spoil 'em, and no enemy's swinging 'em off their feet, White Whale or not." With a gulp, Subaru somehow stopped his internal mental turmoil from coming out onto his face. On the other hand, Ricardo failed to notice Subaru's surprise as he spoke. "You never know what you'll come across on the road, like bandits or whatever. If you take too much time, you'll be late, and that's the worst outcome of all. So we've gotta at least be able to carry stuff by ourselves." "...No way there are any bandits who have the guts to attack a completely armed group like you guys. If they did, it wouldn't be brave it'd be a death wish." "Got a point there!" Ricardo burst into laughter and, waving to Subaru, shifted away from the dragon carriage. He took up his post at the head of the beast mounts as other people around them looked over at the loud conversation. "It would seem that Master Ricardo is going around speaking like that to alleviate everyone's tension before the battle." *** Watching Ricardo go off into the distance, Subaru heard Rem's soft whisper into his ear. A bitter smile crossed Subaru's face as he realized, suddenly, that the big beast man was looking out for him. "And here I was thinking I'd hardened my resolve..." Meaning, he still seemed awful green from his senior's perspective even though the impending battle with the White Whale was but the first hurdle, with others waiting ahead. "Geez, you can say, 'Set forth, hero,' but it sure is easier said than done." Subaru murmured very quietly so that Rem might not hear, but his cheeks formed a smile. The things he had to do and the things he wanted to do were one and the same, and he had someone at his back to urge him to do them he supposed that made it all worth it. Their morale was at its peak on the eve of the approaching battle. " Now, let's do this, Mr. Fate." 2 Fortunately, the expeditionary force safely arrived at its destination without any undue trouble. As scheduled, they arrived five hours early the gleaming moon had just begun to rise on the night of the decisive battle. The expeditionary force deployed, linked up with the vanguard, and proceeded to inspect arms and go over the operation one last time. Naturally, Subaru participated in the discussion, and when details of the operation were hammered out, how everyone would maneuver included, any time remaining before the fight was for free action. And as he spent his time until the operation with various thoughts running through his head, Subaru "It...sure is huuuge." "You seem very happy, Subaru." Looking up to the point that his neck hurt, Subaru almost couldn't see the top of the tree because the trunk was so tall. With how it jutted up from the earth, its great roots spreading all around its base, Subaru couldn't keep his honest feelings of excitement off his lips. "Men are creatures impressed by big, strong stuff by nature. I was pretty impressed the first time I saw a land dragon, but Mother Nature ain't half-bad! That Flugel guy did good work." As he touched the tree trunk, Subaru praised the work of the sage said to have planted the tree. Apparently, he was hot stuff, but no one knew what he'd done besides planting the tree; but even if that was his one great feat recorded in history, that wasn't a problem. The name Flugel was cool, too. "Ah, gotta carve someone's name into the trunk, though. We're not students on a field trip, so it's just, well, proper manners. Rem, lend me a carving knife." "Even for you, Subaru, I will be upset if you do that, as shall others." Rem gently and properly chided Subaru for his burning, rebellious desire to have his name carved. Then, as Subaru pouted, she gave him a little smile and looked up at the Great Tree. "This is where the White Whale shall come?" "Yeah, it'll come. When it's time, this cell pho...this metia will ring." Subaru took the cell phone out of his pocket, fingering the strap to sway it left and right. The alarm had already been set to ring when the White Whale was due to emerge. They were the same words he'd shared during the final meeting, and the explanation for Crusch he'd racked his brains to come up with. He felt guilty at not divulging the truth, feeling like he had to make up for it by getting results. Of course, not exposing the truth to even Rem tugged at his heartstrings, but "So this metia will alert us to the presence of a demon beast..." "Mm, that's right. Put bluntly, if it wasn't for this, my worth this time around would be right about..." " That is a lie, is it not?" When Rem said that with narrowed eyes, Subaru was sure his heart had stopped. Letting out a voice that did not even amount to a gasp, his heartbeats belatedly restarted. *** What had Rem said to him just then? I must have heard her wrong, Subaru vainly hoped, but the eyes with which Rem stared at him smashed that hope to pieces. She had said it, and with conviction. "Wh-what are you talkin' about? Ya know what they'd do to me if I was lyin' about somethin' like..." "Resorting to Kararagi dialect does not suit you, Subaru." "Er, fact is, even Crusch and the others accepted it, so it can't be a lie." Glossing things over wasn't working on Rem. Even so, Subaru tried to see the lie through, for if the truth was revealed, there was no mistaking that it would herald a worsening of the situation. If the lie was exposed, Subaru would no longer be consistent with the circumstances known to Crusch and the others, for the only way to square those inconsistencies would be to explain Return by Death. Of course, so long as he obeyed the taboo set in place by the Witch, he could not reveal Return by Death to anyone, all the more so because the pranks played by the Witch's hands had finally progressed to crushing Emilia's heart. If he had to guess who the next casualty would be, it was clear that it might very well be Rem. He absolutely couldn't let Rem know the truth. And yet, Rem slowly shook her head at Subaru's excuses. "Crusch and the others merely decided that it was not necessary for you to lie. If you risked that, you would make an enemy of not only Lady Crusch but Lady Anastasia and all the merchants in the guild, Master Russel included. That would be meaningless." "That's..." It was an undeniable truth. Back at the negotiating table, Crusch surely could have offered any number of rebuttals to Subaru. Russel and Anastasia, seasoned negotiators both, could have done likewise. He could only conclude that the fact that they had closed their eyes to the inconsistencies and accepted negotiations regardless was not due to trust in Subaru but a judgment based on the circumstances. Subaru had arranged the place and the people for negotiations. There was no necessity to Subaru deceiving them. Of course, the calculation that they would think that way was one of the pieces of insurance Subaru had employed. But that was based on nothing more than the pros and cons of success aligning atop the thinnest of ice. The type of "lie" Subaru was seeing through was based on a false initial impression. And it was the kind of lie that need never be exposed if it brought results...ever. But it was different as far as Rem was concerned. Then, as ever, Rem stood as Subaru's ally. Subaru was deeply aware that Rem was now the closest person to him in the other world. To continue lying to Rem held a completely different meaning than maintaining the deception with Crusch and the others. Making her accept it after she had realized it was false left an entirely different impression: namely, that he didn't reveal the lie to Crusch and the others because the pros and cons aligned that way, but he didn't reveal it to Rem because he didn't trust her. He couldn't help if it made her think that way, for whether she did or not, he absolutely could not reveal the truth to her... "Rem, I..." "It's fine, Subaru." "Huh?" Subaru planned to use

words to somehow smooth things over and protect Rem. But Rem rejected that with a shake of the head, a thin smile coming over her lips. With Subaru too surprised to close his mouth, Rem turned a sincere look toward him and spoke. "I understand you enough to know when you are lying, Subaru. I have been watching you a great, great deal, after all." With a bashful, blushing smile, Rem teasingly touched a finger to her lips. Then, she moved the finger in Subaru's direction and continued. "I also know you won't tell me the reason for the lie. But the fact that you won't speak to me about it does not bother me that much, you know?" *** "After all, I believe in you, Subaru." At the base of the Great Flugel Tree, a breeze passed between the two as they faced each other. With Subaru stunned into silence, Rem gently put a hand to her breast and stated before him, "Subaru, if you say that you know where the White Whale shall appear, I believe you. If you say the Witch Cult is after Lady Emilia and the others, I believe you. Even should you say the moon shall fall and destroy this nation, I shall believe you, Subaru." "...Well, I wouldn't go quite that far." "Yes, I suppose not. But that is how serious I am." The smile vanished, and Rem stared at Subaru with very serious eyes. Then, she silently lowered her hips, grasping the hem of her skirt with both hands as she curtsied. "I adore you with all this body and all this heart, Subaru furthermore, now and in the future, I shall never, ever doubt you, Subaru." *** "Therefore, it's not necessary whatsoever to push yourself into a corner to make me believe your lie." Subaru barely managed to choke back the heat welling up from his throat. He pressed down on the inner corners of his eyes, turned his face up, and opened his trembling mouth wide and exclaimed, "Ahh! Man, staring at this huge tree really raises the tension!" "Yes, I suppose so." "I won't be able to calm down unless I'm looking up at this tree! There's no other reason at all, but I won't be able to look down for a little while!" "Yes, I suppose not." Subaru put on a show to keep his face turned up so that tears might not fall. It was a frail bluff on his part, but Rem, enveloped by gentle benevolence, did not call him on it. That moment, Subaru understood the true extent of his own idiocy all over again. If only he could have divulged everything to Rem from the very beginning. He couldn't have just told her everything, but if he could have at least conveyed to her the tragedy yet to come, Subaru would no doubt have been spared having the tragedy repeated a second and a third time. Subaru couldn't explain the reasons why, so he thought no one would believe him if he said anything. Thus, he decided he had to go it alone, leading to various failures over and over. But Rem was different. She wasn't asking for a reason. She'd believe Subaru, even if he didn't explain. Just like that moment, she forgave Subaru, in her gentle, affectionate way, for not speaking the truth. "This is when, instead of sorry, you say thank you, huh?" Having desperately held back the tears, Subaru somehow managed to face Rem once more. Rem made a beaming smile and nodded at his reply. "To be honest, I feel like I'll only be able to return super-tiny little pieces of everything you've given me, Rem..." "That is not so." Rem lowered her head slightly as she denied Subaru's words. "I really do understand that speaking like this will only bring you suffering, Subaru. That I have spoken regardless is my own selfishness." "I don't think of it like that at all. I'm the bad one for hiding stuff." "But it really is selfish of me even so. I am sorry." The words were self-effacing, but when Rem lifted her face, her expression was sunny. Seeing Subaru happily falter from the inconsistent sight, Rem tilted her head. "I thought...it would be nice if you passed on to others a tiny bit of the load you carry. As I am now, that you had no one to do so makes me...unbearably sad." *** In that moment, Rem conveyed her resolve, the firmness of her feelings. Subaru leaned against the trunk of the Great Tree and took a deep breath. "I...love Emilia." "Yes." He revisited the words he had once exchanged with Rem. He knew that the words wounded her deeply, that they were words that made her suffer, yet Subaru spoke them once more. However "But..." *** "But when you're with me, my heart trembles... Go ahead. You probably think I'm a terrible guy now." He wondered if the word terrible even cut it. But they were Subaru's honest feelings. For even though he knew he could not answer Rem's hopes, only her words had warmed his heart so. Somehow, the breath Rem let out seemed hot as she said: "Truly, you are a terrible person, Subaru." "...I know." "That is a lie. I love you." "I...I know that, geez." Subaru's face turned beet red as she stated plainly how she felt all over again. If it were not night, that redness would have surely stood out. Subaru turned his back, as if trying to conceal the red surface of his face, and began to walk away from the tree. "Time to head back," he said. "We need to get mind and body ready right up to when the White Whale appears." Before he passed in front of Rem, he grasped her dangling right hand. When her hand was grasped, Rem raised her voice in a little ah, but immediately hurried to match Subaru's walking pace, staring at the side of the young man's face, one he did not wish her to see, with teasing eyes as she said: "Subaru." "...What?" "I am fine with being your second wife." They were words to make a man unwittingly halt in his tracks. When Subaru, unable to resist, looked toward her, Rem made a face like that of an adorable puppy, seemingly wagging her tail as she awaited Subaru's reply. Oh, good grief, just how far is this girl gonna ? "If Emilia-tan's a very generous first wife..." "Well then, when we get back you must convince Lady Emilia. I shall try hard as well." Rem clenched the hand not grasped into a fist, very animated as she spoke with a smile. Speaking jokingly like that broke all the tension, driving home to Subaru how weak he was. He truly couldn't hold a candle to the girl. No man could hold a candle to a woman, be it Emilia or Rem, in that kind of situation. Not that he really minded accepting that particular weakness, compared with the other ones he had known to date... 3 With the approaching hour growing nigh, the area around the Great Tree grew taut with the tension particular to the field of battle. Having taken meals and sleep in shifts, the condition of the expeditionary force gathered in the battle zone was tip-top. The land dragons and ligers for the cavalry were breathing roughly through their noses, eagerly awaiting the signal. Everyone lowered their breaths and calmed their hearts, continuing to wait for the time to come. In the night sky of the Liphas Highway, the strong wind made the clouds flow quickly. As the clouds obstructed the moonlight, not a moment passed without gazes raised, checking to see that it was not the White Whale's giant body swimming in the sky above. That was how much vigilance ruled the hearts of all present. "It is a short time until the appointed hour." When Crusch made that small murmur, Ferris, standing beside her, nodded briefly, glancing from the corner of his eye. In that moment, not even Ferris, having served Crusch for so many years without ever losing that witty nuance, could voice a single jest. It was not that he'd been swallowed up by the strained tension. It was because Ferris knew his role that of one of the expeditionary force's lifelines and had wholly set his heart upon fulfilling that duty. It was more than likely true that Ferris's actions would alter the final number of victors surviving the battle. Crusch believed that her force would emerge victorious. But she was not so conceited as to think they could slay the White Whale without sacrifices. Nonetheless, she held self-confidence that she could mitigate the number of casualties required. That self-confidence came from the trust she held in Ferris, her knight, so perhaps one could question if it ought to be called self-confidence. *** The sword-armed Wilhelm stood in front of her, on the very front line of the expeditionary force. Of the six swords on the aged swordsman's belt, he wielded one in each hand, poised to rush out in an instant. The quiet antagonism wafting around the Sword Devil was in a polished realm, honed to a fine point as he faced the moment for which he had so yearned. Crusch could not fail to be enveloped by an out-of-place sense of admiration at the Sword Devil's sheer purity that a person could maintain a soul so pure, so unswerving. Crusch thought from her heart that one day she, too, would arrive at the same realm. *** The faces of each brave warrior of the expeditionary force alongside Wilhelm had an expression of hardened resolve, their morale high. They obeyed Crusch's command, but as they awaited the White Whale, surely their hearts harbored doubts of their own both about Subaru, the primary source of information for the White Whale's emergence, and the fact that they had far too little time to develop bonds of trust between them. And yet, they obeyed without a single contrary utterance, for they deeply valued Crusch's judgment. Crusch was strongly aware of her own duty to respond to the trust they placed in her. *** As the time limit approached, the brimming will to fight was reassuring, but inside, Crusch was nervous. Crusch touched the hilt of her treasured sword, ensuring by feel that the engraved crest of the lion was truly there. It was a habit from her youth, a little spell by which she poured resolve into herself. They had to win. She felt the presence of Ferris at her side and the legacy of the Lion King on her fingertips. However mighty the foe, it was all Crusch needed to fight. And then *** Abruptly, it rang across the Liphas Highway, subsumed by the darkness of night. She was slow to realize that the series of light sounds making her eardrums tremble resembled music of some sort. When she turned her eyes toward the source of the sound, she saw Subaru putting his hand on the shining metia. It was from the metia in his hand that the music was noisily flowing. It was the signal Subaru had said would announce that the time had come. "All hands, on alert !" At Crusch's shout, the expeditionary force poised as one. According to Subaru, the White Whale would appear within tens of seconds after the metia alerted him. If he was to be believed, it would not be strange for the White Whale's giant body to be swimming in the sky that very moment. With the metia having alerted him, the place had to be correct as well. She had plenty of room for doubts, but Subaru had given her no reason to doubt him. Crusch set her misgivings and apprehensions aside, honing her nerves as she awaited the demon beast. *** Amid the silence, she felt no sign of the enormous demon beast appearing. The expression on her face was not disappointment,

properly speaking, but after a minute had passed with no change on the field of battle, Crusch could not help herself from being, for one, unnerved. Discrepancies in the information. Mistaken assumptions. Some kind of random accident. There was no change in the silence that had descended over the Liphas Highway; there was no sight of the enemy in the landscape around her. As before, the moonlight was obstructed by clouds, causing a large, dark shadow to fall over the plains, but *** Looking up, Crusch instantly cursed her own shallowness. The moonlight vanished as a shadow fell over the plains. The altitude of the cloud intercepting the moonlight was gently descending, coming before their eyes. But a cloud, it was not. 'Twas a demon beast, floating in the sky in the form of a gargantuan fish. As Crusch sucked in her breath, virtually everyone in the expeditionary force came to the same understanding. Then, as if their minds were one, they tossed their gazes toward Crusch. They were waiting for the command for a preemptive strike. They had succeeded in taking the initiative, catching the White Whale at the moment of its appearance. All that remained was to launch a surprise attack as planned, seizing control of the front. *** Crusch breathed in, as if to settle her heart upon the first command to unleash. The White Whale had yet to notice the puny beings arrayed against it. The way the White Whale was moving its enormous head was as if to check where it was. And as it acted thus, its guard was down, full of openings That settled it for Crusch. " All hands..." Full-scale attack, she went to command when " Nail it!!" " Al Hyuma!!" As signal leaped ahead of Crusch, mana was simultaneously deployed via magical incantation. The world made a sound as if it had frozen over, bringing forth enormous and incredibly dense pillars of ice. Each and every one of the icy pillars rivaled the central pillar of a mansion, with there being four in total. Launched at super-high speed, the pillars raced through the sky and scored a direct hit on the White Whale's torso; with a slight delay, the demon beast's scream and spurting blood poured down to earth. When Crusch hurriedly looked, the land dragon Subaru and Rem were both riding was galloping, cutting across the vanguard. As Subaru clung to Rem's hips, he raised a fist, and Rem, having succeeded in her own duty by launching the preemptive magical attack, wore a very satisfied expression. How the two of them jumped the gun rather, got the jump on the rest rocked the expeditionary force. At the sight of them galloping forth, Crusch could not keep her own mouth from twisting greatly. Not in anger but in mirth. "All hands, follow that pair of fools!!" Crusch's order erased the unrest as the various members of the expeditionary force began the offensive. Dust kicked up in the process, and on the other side, the White Whale's cries grew loud once more, echoing across the night sky of the Liphas Highway. After much waiting, the Battle of the White Whale had begun. 4 No matter how many times Subaru experienced the wind repel blessing, he could not help thinking of it as unnatural. Vibration, wind, posture the impossible phenomenon blocked all those things from affecting them. While Rem sat squarely on the land dragon as it ran, Subaru put a hand around her hip as he strained his eyes. He licked his lips, which had begun to dry, moistening them a bit as he sucked in his breath. The cell phone alarm had rung as it was set to, and the White Whale had appeared in the twilight above the plains. He could only describe the emergence of the giant body as splitting the sky and crawling out of the resulting shadow. Its massive body instilled primordial fear in Subaru, with all the memories of it having menaced his life surging back into his heart. When he looked around, tension was running through the expeditionary force, noticing it just as Subaru had. As prearranged, they ought to be launching an all-out attack at Crusch's order. But for a brief moment, the feeling of oppression had left even Crusch drawing a blank, her breath caught. It could only be called a critical error, but such was the terror of combat the extreme situation had wrought. Accordingly, Subaru patted Rem's shoulder. " Nail it!!" " Al Hyuma!!" A half second before Crusch breathed out, that shout cut the covers of the gun barrels on the front. Responding to Subaru's voice, Rem gave direction to the vast amount of mana she had woven together. This gave rise to four of those vile pillars of ice, with their sharply tapered tips mercilessly gouging holes in the White Whale's underbelly as it floated in the sky. The ice collided with its stone skin, audibly shattering. However, just before the shattered pillars completely spread apart, the force of their stabs broke through the defense of the White Whale's thick hide scattering its blood all over the plains. The scream of the White Whale resounded across the plains. Even as the air shuddered enough to make one's eardrums go numb, the pitch-black land dragon Subaru and Rem rode advanced without fear. Subaru and Rem had not acted rashly. The instant the White Whale emerged, a momentary lull occurred within the expeditionary force. Had they not acted during that time, the preemptive attack would have probably failed. That pause was a watershed moment. And knowing that such momentary hesitation was a matter of life-and-death, even someone of such remarkable character as Crusch had her breath caught before the menace of the White Whale. Even if she had been halfway confident the White Whale would appear, seeing the real thing created a ripple in the human heart. That ripple could create even tiny distortions in one's thought process, and distortion led to stagnation, and stagnation invited defeat. If it had been so, the battle might have begun with their side at a disadvantage. If there was a difference between Subaru and Crusch that moment, he had to call it...love. Crusch's split-second delay had been born from her inability to have absolute trust in Subaru and his metia. Even if her mind believed him, it could not force a statesman of her caliber to forget her misgivings. But Rem had not even the tiniest smidgeon of doubt that the White Whale would appear the very instant Subaru said it would. Accordingly, Rem had prepared magic with the greatest firepower that she could muster, waiting for the moment Subaru had indicated, and slammed an attack into the White Whale the very moment it appeared. If he could not call that Rem's love winning out, what could he call it? "But that analysis is super-embarrassing !!" "Subaru, please hold on to me more diligently. You'll be thrown off!" In contrast to Subaru, assessing his own starting of hostilities, Rem shouted as she gripped the land dragon's reins. She announced that they were shifting from phase one of the operation the preemptive strike to phase two. "Everyone follow that pair of fools!!" A half second later, as Subaru and Rem galloped like the wind, the expeditionary force behind them obeyed Crusch's order, loading one cannon after another or rather, stuffing things like cannons with magic crystals, with the magic crystal cannons firing them like cannonballs. With a roar, that fusillade landed, its destructive power violating the White Whale's flesh. The instant they hit squarely, the magic crystals embedding into it transformed into the magical power of their corresponding mana, be it fire, ice, or light, widening the wound Rem had created, causing soot-black blood to pour down onto the highway. Amid the drizzle of blood, Subaru and Rem's land dragon employed agile movements to circle around to the White Whale's rear. The movement was just as arranged. "I'll get the White Whale's attention, making it turn so that its back is to the expeditionary force...!" "The sky! They are using Night Repel! Please close your eyes!" Rem took in the state of the battle, looking up and gazing at the horn on the White Whale's brow as she shouted. Subaru hurried to follow her instructions, lowering his face and closing his eyes and the next moment, the world became bright. A white light exploded in the sky above, and that white glow instantly burned the night away. The light was so powerful that it permeated Subaru's optic nerves through his closed eyes, making his throat catch in surprise. "Whoaaa! It's just as incredible as you said!" All trace of night had completely vanished from the Liphas Highway. Whatever had happened during those several seconds, the worlds of night and day had swapped places, and a light as bright as midday shone onto the plains. Above their heads, separate from the attacks on the White Whale, a special magical stone with an effect called Night Repel had been launched to shine in place of the purportedly sunken sun. Normally, it was simply a collection of light proportional to the mana infused into it, unable to shine with much more than a dull light, but... "So when you abuse assets to put a mountain of 'em together, you've got a mini-sun on your hands?" "It is difficult to track the White Whale in a dark sky, after all Now, it has only just begun!" Putting together two of the top merchants, even by the royal capital's standards, and having them run around gathering magic stones was playing to their strengths. The effective range was the area around the Great Tree, and the time limit was a bit under an hour more than enough time to end the decisive battle. Having lost the twilight over the plains, the huge body was distinct as it floated overhead. That was "That's...!" To that point, he had not been able to clearly make out the White Whale even once, but now, it was exposed under the light of day. *** The White Whale's enormous frame shuddered as it bellowed, seemingly enraged at having been dragged out of the night sky. The roar it unleashed surpassed the level of noise, closer to an act of raw destruction. The atmosphere rumbled, frightening even the trained land dragons, causing them to roar violently. Though it appeared to be bleeding from its entire body, its swimming showed no effects from the wounds. The White Whale's head traversed the sky over the plains, calmly gazing down at the puny humans daring to challenge it. "What...size...?" Subaru's voice shook as it trickled out, unable to stop the feeling that his limbs were going numb, unable to move. To that point, Subaru had seen, brushed against, and come to hate the menace of the White Whale, but faced with the full sight of it, he understood for the first time that he had seen only a fraction of the being. The White Whale: Just as its name suggested, the demon beast's figure was covered all in white. Countless body hairs sprouted from hide that resembled finely chiseled bedrock. The pectoral fins extended from the underbelly like grim reapers' scythes, with the smaller dorsal and caudal fins shaped similarly. Setting aside the disparity in savagery, the shape of the White Whale very much resembled that of the whales Subaru knew but its size betrayed his expectations twice over. As far as Subaru knew, the blue whale, the world's largest whale, was almost one hundred feet long, give or take, making it literally the largest mammal on Earth. However, the enormous body of the whale he saw in the distance easily surpassed one hundred feet, probably large enough to be close to one hundred sixty-five. Its giant frame was closer to a mountain than a living creature. By some cosmic joke, a white mountain was leisurely swimming in the sky above. "Subaru." With Subaru trembling even then, unable to align his teeth as he bit down,

a voice called out to him. It was the voice of Rem, her back facing him as Subaru clung to the hips of her small figure. She was already right in front of him, close enough for him to hear her breathe, so she didn't look back at Subaru when she asked the question. "Are you scared?" It was not a taunt but a call for trust. Firmly, Subaru clenched his teeth and twisted his mouth as he answered. "Yeah, I'm scared of my shining future, and the praise I'll get for bringing that thing down!" Subaru met Rem's expectations by cracking a joke, patting her shoulder from behind. "I'm putting my whole life in your hands! Now, let's make a run for it!" "My life is yours as well, Subaru now then, let's go." When Subaru, his resolve hardened, declared they would run away in manly fashion, Rem softly made a little smile as she sternly cracked the reins. The pitch-black land dragon neighed, running across the ground, undaunted by even the fantastical White Whale. The White Whale turned toward them as they galloped low and to the right of it, aiming to circle around to its tail. They dashed away from the expeditionary force, and the White Whale's giant eyes turned toward Subaru and Rem as they approached. The maw that could swallow a large dragon carriage whole opened wide, poising its mouth, lined with millstone-like teeth, for a roar. Subaru, sensing baptism by destructive sound, braced himself against the land dragon he was riding. And above their heads "To turn away, you must have greatly underestimated me !!" A moment after the valiant heroine's voice, the White Whale's head was shallowly cut by a single, horizontal slice. The invisible slash, grazing the solid, stone-like hide, drew blood from the White Whale's enormous frame once more. When Subaru looked back toward the source of the attack, he saw a white land dragon running after him at the front of the vanguard and Crusch, standing tall, with her arm out after following through the swing. But in her hand... "She's not holding anything...?!" "A formless sword that ignores range Lady Crusch's famous swordsmanship is able to fell a hundred men in a single blow." Rem replied in a low voice as Subaru gawked. The anecdote Rem spoke concerning Crusch was news to Subaru, but the display was equal to the words. Though she appeared unarmed, such a statement was fitting for Crusch's skill and combat strength. The invisible slash stopped the White Whale's initial response; with its movement halted, more attacks followed. The magic crystal cannons went to work once more, concentrating firepower on the White Whale and landing hit after hit, causing its altitude in the sky to drop as the damage and agony to the demon beast piled up. The White Whale was at the same height as a cloud, but so long as its head was not pointed straight up, it was "Within...blade distance." A single land dragon ran across the ground and leaped, displaying agility that clashed with its large frame as it launched into the air. Even so, compared with the White Whale, it had little size to boast. The land dragon soaring before its nose must have seemed little more than a fly to the White Whale. The vertical sword flash running straight ahead cut deeply up the White Whale's nose. The sight of the flash of metal rending the white, stony hide with such ease made the sound of cannons, echoing across the battlefield, vanish. This was no spell, no magic crystal cannon, nor even the slash of an invisible blade, but human training, proof that steel swung by man could reach even the demon beast. Proof that human willpower, expended over the course of many years, had indeed reached the Demon Beast of Mist. " Fourteen years." The figure crouched as he thrust a sword into the split tip of its nose. He maintained his posture, poising the cutting blade as the other sword thrust deep, and he waved off the demon beast's blood from his blade. Behind him, the hostility he gave off was enough to warp the very air. "For all that time, I dreamed only of this day." As the figure straightened his back, the White Whale twisted its body, trying to fling off the figure that had embarked upon the tip of its head. The White Whale let out a groan as it barrel-rolled in midair. But... *** The White Whale arched as it screamed in pain, its tail dancing wildly in the sky. A single, horizontal cut was added to the vertical one from before, carving a cross-shaped wound into the White Whale's brow; the figure stomped on the White Whale's back with a light sound of his foot. Malevolent laughter came over the Sword Devil as bloodlust glimmered in his blue eyes. "Here you shall fall, and your corpse shall rot filthy monster!" Spitting those words out, Wilhelm poised his swords in both hands as his body became the wind. He ran across the back of the White Whale from its head to its tail, slashing the demon beast's stone hide left and right with the blades in both hands. As he rent the purportedly hard, resistant hide with ease, sprinting as soot-black blood smeared the sky, he truly looked like a Sword Devil. With Wilhelm clinging to the White Whale's body, it had no good method of shaking him off. Unable to dislodge the aged swordsman, even as it moved to somersault in midair with the force of a whirlwind, he proclaimed: "Good of you to help me slice you more!" A moment before the White Whale turned its body, Wilhelm made a short leap and stabbed his sword right under him. When the White Whale whirled its body, the thrust blade created a vivid slash down it, using the White Whale's own body in service of the blade. Amid a scream and a mist of blood that mottled his own torso, the Sword Devil laughed. Laughing, his old bones continued swinging both swords as he headed for the giant frame's flank. With a swing, his blades carved a V shape into the flesh, leaving a reddish-black laceration behind. A bellow tore through the sky as the White Whale aimed to slap the falling Sword Devil with its tail. But a moment before the tail was to strike him, a leaping land dragon snatched Wilhelm's body away. He had slipped away from the menace of certain death. Upon landing, the land dragon instantly broke into a run. The White Whale gave into anger and chased after the elusive Sword Devil. "Hey, don't look away, moron! Yer facin' the lot of us, too!!" The single swing of the huge cleaver struck the White Whale squarely on the jaw with enough force to knock out several of the White Whale's enormous teeth, making a dull sound as yellow molars were sent flying. It was Ricardo, riding a liger, who bellowed as they galloped onto the White Whale's face at an angle. Just as he'd said, the ferocious dog had greater agility than a land dragon, and it was using that nimbleness to the fullest extent, master in tow, traversing the White Whale as its body rose into the sky. "Hey now, we ain't done with you yet!!" Atop the sprinting liger, Ricardo gave a cry more bestial than a beast's as he swung the massive cleaver. The outer hide shattered and flesh was gouged, all in a single charge. And following after Ricardo... "All riiiight, let's goooo!" "Big Sis, you are too far out in front! Everyone, now!" The lieutenant twins, both on the backs of small ligers, split apart, issuing commands to the mercenary band behind them. With ferocious leaps, a pack of ligers grappled onto the White Whale and began to run rampant with its giant body as their foothold. They swung sword and spear, inflicting damage to the White Whale like a swarm of wasps. Save for making its enormous frame dance, the White Whale had no countermeasure for shaking off the interlopers clinging to it. Its very size made small movements difficult, a weakness that was being exposed. Furthermore, at that point "All hands, move away!!" When Crusch's order cracked across the field of battle, the Iron Fangs clinging to the White Whale leaped off its body as one. All the ligers landed agilely, and the White Whale, now freed of them, made a large turn, believing it was finally time to counterattack but it was mistaken in that judgment. "So you've exposed your flank !" Crusch's second attack struck far overhead, her diagonal slash running along the White Whale's side at an angle, and that stroke of her sword was the prelude to yet a third attack this time, from the magic squad, which had not attacked until that moment, devoting themselves solely to concentrating on chanting. " Al Goa!!" From the compounded chants from multiple squad members came a red-hot aurora. In that world, with both a sun and a moon floating in the sky, a new, second sun was born, low in the sky and clad in incandescent flames. Even knowing that it was the power of fire magic bundled together, Subaru could not turn his eyes away, gawking at the conflagration scorching the world before him. The waves of heat given off by the huge fireball, over thirty feet in diameter, could burn the skin even at a distance well removed, burning with enough heat to rob the moisture of his eyes, even with his eyelids protecting them. That great fireball wavered, then it gained velocity. "Uoooo!" Velocity gave way to acceleration, and acceleration, to high speed. The fireball headed for the White Whale's side, then slammed it right in the belly. Through its accumulated wounds, the fire burned inside its body, and the White Whale screamed while its internal organs boiled. Mercenaries hurriedly evacuated so as not to be caught up in the fragments of flame scattering over the plains. Subaru and Rem took part in that evacuation, even as their eyes continued to track the burning White Whale. That overwhelming, even one-sided, circumstance meant nothing less than that the surprise attack had borne fruit. At that rate, might not the demon beast be subjugated without it being able to do a thing? "Feels like that hit it pretty hard! Maybe it'll all go like this?!" At a distance beyond the flames' reach, Subaru watched the White Whale from the back of the land dragon, shaking a closed fist. Until that point, they'd completely overwhelmed the White Whale, surely inflicting no small amount of damage. With the failure of the Great Expedition fourteen years prior as precedent, he'd been on his guard, but this put him into an easy-win mood. It had bitten on the prearranged plan hook, line, and sinker, making him feel exhilarated that a quick victory was just before his eyes. However, with regret, Rem shook her head at Subaru's optimistic viewpoint, glaring up at the flame-engulfed demon beast. "No were that the case, the surprise attack would have caused it to crash to the ground." Her words made Subaru's eyes go wide. He turned his eyes to the White Whale, wondering what she meant. Even then, half of the demon beast's body was being burned by the great magic, with no sense that the flames, spreading over its body hair, were dying out. The magic crystal cannons' direct attacks had inflicted many wounds, and the sight of blood trickling from them was downright painful. But "The altitude...ain't dropping." Looking up, he saw the White Whale calmly remaining in the sky. It was not up so high that the cavalry could not leap up to it, but it would be very difficult for men to challenge it on foot. More importantly, without the demon beast falling to the ground, they could not shift to the next phase of the operation. Ricardo pulled alongside, carrying his huge

cleaver as blood spatter drenched the fur on his face. "We played all our good cards right at the start. That it didn't go down means that thing was just tougher, huh." He snorted out of his canine snout, his pointy ears twitching as he said, "Feels like we scored a point, but it ain't easy breakin' through that thick hide underneath. 'Cept for a weapon like mine with brute force, or Mr. Wil's skills, it's a drop in the ol' bucket." "Maybe that goes for physical attacks, but it looked like magic attacks worked, yeah?" "I am quite doubtful that is the case. At first glance, they appeared to be spectacular strikes, but that white hair scatters the mana, dulling the force. My magic did not do as much damage as it appeared, either." Rem voiced with regret that the magic representing her own greatest firepower had been ineffective. When her words drew Subaru's attention, he saw that there certainly were numerous shallow wounds in the White Whale's flesh, but none amounted to deep wounds that diminished its fighting ability. But at the very least... "Looks like the fire spells from earlier are burning its hair off pretty well, though." "It's simple burn the magic-scatterin' hair off and we can have that fried whale flesh under it for dinner." Ricardo ferociously bared his fangs as he concurred with Subaru's guess. With the massive cleaver in hand, he gave the liger's back a pat, hurtling toward the front line once more. "All riiight, let's bring what we've got left in the sack just like earlier! Crusch, give the big guy one more slug in the gut, will ya?" Drawing up his own laundry list, he slipped under the White Whale and leaped onto its body once more. When Subaru looked, Wilhelm, who he was sure had moved some distance off, was also aiming to get back on the White Whale, this time from the tail end. The expeditionary force had apparently come to the same conclusion as Subaru and Ricardo and was shifting to its next move in other words, a second all-out attack. "In this case, they'll be pouring firepower on the White Whale, so we'd just be in the way if we got close. Rem, can you slam magic into it like you did earlier?" "It would take time for an incantation of identical strength, and water element mana cannot do damage when it is scattered. Anything of lesser might would have insufficient firepower to begin with, so..." If he went by Ricardo's earlier conclusion, the right thing to do was to have Rem join the front line, morning star in one hand, and add to the blunt-force attacks against the White Whale. However, if Subaru made her do that, he'd turn into her ball and chain. It was pathetic, but using his physical condition to implement a decoy operation meant Subaru couldn't send Rem off alone. "It sucks, but I've gotta watch until there's a move I can make..." As Subaru spoke, their land dragon eased away from the battlefield at a slow pace, and a different land dragon pulled alongside. "That annoying feeling's the same for me as it is for you, meow." It was Ferris, riding a land dragon clad in heavily armored plates. "Ferri doesn't have any ways to attack, so watching is pretty much all I can do. I'm kinda, sorta used to it, but it always bums me out, meow." "Maybe so, but your healing is the expeditionary force's lifeline. Can't be havin' you go out in front. I'm begging you, focus on that job, okay?" Subaru bluntly emphasized that to Ferris, taking that moment to approach in his normal demeanor. The reply made Ferris close one eye with a hmm. "You really have changed in one day, meow. What happened to you?" "If I've gotta put it in words, I became a bit more of a man." As his eyes ran across the shifting battlefield, Subaru replied with a reflective expression, biting on bitter thoughts. Subaru's behavior sent Ferris suggestively poking a finger into a cheek as he said, "Subawu, don't tell me Rem made a man out of you, meow?" The answer was both yes and a definite no. Subaru was about to level an angry shout to shut Ferris up for the out-of-place vulgarity. "Master Wilhelm is !" But he was interrupted by Rem's urgent shout. When he hurriedly sent his gaze in the direction Rem was looking, he saw the aged swordsman running on the White Whale's back. With a sword, he stabbed the White Whale's backside, ripping the White Whale's body lengthwise as he ran. As Wilhelm ran from tail to back, the delayed spurting of whale blood made it look like he was being chased by geysers. That moment, Wilhelm's works were truly those of an angry god. The expeditionary force lifted their faces, with morale exploding higher at the Sword Devil's abnormal skill with the blade. The firing pace of the magic crystal cannons and the vigor of the mercenaries and cavalry unit's organized attacks grew greater still. Unable to withstand the agony, the White Whale writhed in midair, completely unable to respond to the expeditionary force's attack. Seeing the Demon Beast of Mist, the calamity that had caused continued suffering across four centuries, in such a pathetic state, Subaru firmly believed the tide was completely going their way. "Cheeeeeiiiiii!" With an energetic outburst, Wilhelm drew his sword in a line all the way to the White Whale's head, maintaining his momentum as his old bones leaped off from the tip of the enormous body. As the old man twisted and inverted in midair "There ya go!" Ricardo's cleaver matched Wilhelm's timing, rising up to greet him from below. Wilhelm descended, aiming for the cleaver as it rose toward its zenith, the soles of the Sword Devil's feet meeting the cleaver's blunt, impending blow. "Shii !!" Ricardo's brawn added to Wilhelm's leaping ability, sending the Sword Devil flying like a bullet. Shot out, Wilhelm's dual blades whirled around, savagely slicing the White Whale's face. It was cruelly shredded from the tip of its nose up its cheek, with Wilhelm unleashing a stab toward its gigantic eye. *** The twin swords sank their hilts into the White Whale's left eye, and clear fluid flowed out of the ravaged eyeball. Wilhelm instantly abandoned the two sunken swords, drawing two new swords in a flash from right and left, his slashes cut above and below the eye; flipping the blades, he added vertical cuts to its left and right. As a result, the White Whale's left eyeball was cut from four directions when "The eye's falling!" Gouged out by four slices, the White Whale's left eye fell freely, and Wilhelm along with it The shout, from whatever source, became truth, and the eyeball, spewing blood and fluid, collided with the ground, squishing and splattering. Wilhelm landed right beside it, the Sword Devil driving a sword into the eyeball, threatening to lose all coherence, and raised it high so that the White Whale's right eye could see it. " Pathetic." Then, the corners of his lips turned up in a ghastly, triumphant smile. The White Whale had been rendered helpless as the Sword Devil's sublime combat techniques made sport of it. It was clear to all that their fighting strength was not determined by the overwhelming difference in the sizes of their bodies. Perhaps it took the loss of its left eye for the White Whale to finally accept that fact... "The color of the White Whale's eye is...!" "It's coming!!" "Subaru, please keep your head down !!" The instant Subaru noticed the change, Ferris shouted, and Rem accelerated the land dragon. Because they had stopped, the wind repel blessing was not in effect. Subaru, clinging to Rem as he endured the ferocious wind and shaking, somehow managed to turn his eyes to the White Whale overhead. Within Subaru's field of vision, the White Whale's state changed at once. *** The White Whale, angry at having an eye gouged out, let up a roar as its one intact eye was dyed deep red. The eyeball, now the color of blood, shot like a dagger through the expeditionary force, pulling back to put distance between it and the beast. Immediately after, the White Whale's body quaked in hatred and rage as a change came over its flesh. ...the instant that change began, Subaru was unable to repress a sense of disgust that defied words. The White Whale opened its mouth. No, those words were both correct and incorrect. To more accurately express the truth... The mouths of countless cavities over the White Whale's entire body opened and began to raise their voices. *** Reverberations like shrieking voices poured out of the countless mouths created all over the demon beast's flesh. The discordant sound one would not think existed in that world seemed to claw away directly at the listeners' spirits, coursing from their hearing to violate their cranial nerves. The damage did not stop at human beings alone. The land dragons and ligers employed as mounts stopped in their tracks, seized by instinctive, primordial fear. The expeditionary force was overcome by its worst instance of defenselessness since the start of the battle to bring down the White Whale. And then... "...Ah..." Raising a chorus, the countless mouths spewed an immense amount of mist. In the blink of an eye, the mist poured onto the plains, and the world illuminated by the effect of Night Repel was blotted out in white. His vision obstructed, his entire body cowering, Subaru understood that the White Whale had acknowledged them as its enemies. It was the Demon Beast of Mist raising its war cry that announced the true commencement of hostilities. 5 Loud laughter echoed across the Liphas Highway. Discordant sounds trickled from the small mouths open across the giant body of the White Whale as it swam leisurely in the sky. When it roared from its proper mouth, it came with such destruction that it made the earth shudder. But the sound given off by many mouths out of sync was twisted and repulsive, like being clawed by the very wind. The unpleasant feeling was not a blow to the eardrums but rather, like having one's brain poked at by slender needles. With that ghoulish change in the White Whale, Subaru sensed that the tide had turned. They'd pounded that immense preemptive strike into it with the expeditionary force, from Wilhelm on down, adding their own concentrated attacks. The damage inflicted on the White Whale was by no means minimal. After all, the combined firepower was enough to kill Subaru a hundred times over; if comparing with other demon beasts, it was attack power sufficient to wipe out an entire Urugarum pack ten times over. The beast, bathed in all that, had taken enough damage to lose one eye. If it was not enough to settle the battle, Subaru had hoped it would at least result in bringing the beast down to earth, but "Crap, the mist...!" Continuing to raise a shrill cry, the White Whale spread mist from its countless mouths. The mist spread in a wide range across the highway, its encroachment progressing as it fell thickly from the sky. Subaru's field of vision became progressively whiter, and the effect of the Night Repel magic crystal waned. The Demon Beast of Mist had come into its own. With visibility worsening, the expeditionary force was unable to maintain tight cohesion over the mist-shrouded plains. Moreover, didn't it look like even the White Whale was melting into the mist, vanishing from sight...? "You're kidding me...?!" " Subaru, please entrust me with your life!!" Rem leaned forward and shouted to Subaru, shaken by the vanishing of the White Whale. Subaru responded to her shout by deepening his arms' embrace of Rem's body. Obeying Rem's snap of the reins, the land dragon whirled around, splitting the ground as it began to sprint. Ferris,

beside them until just earlier, similarly turned the head of his land dragon toward the interior of the mist. With the White Whale entering a state of combat, the counterattack would grow desperate. Naturally, casualties could not be avoided. That being the case, this was where his duty lay as he was called The Blue Knight, the greatest of healers. Yet, in spite of that... "All hands, retreat !!" ...a bellow from inside the mist resounded, halting them before they leaped into the sea of white. It was Crusch's voice they heard. What is she doing? was the look on the face Subaru lifted up, but the next moment "Whoa?!" Subaru's body was shaken by centrifugal force as the land dragon veered left in a spur-of-the-moment decision. In front, Ferris's land dragon was making its own emergency right turn, resulting in them going separate ways. And white came violently surging into the corners of Subaru's tilted vision. " Hey now, hold on?!" The middle of the path that had opened up by their splitting apart was blown away in a single gust of very dense mist. The force of the tall wave of mist shooting through would have surely swallowed up the land dragons had they evaded even a second slower. Without having seen the real thing in action, one might laugh it off as making a big deal about mere mist. But no one seeing the nature of that mist up close with their own eyes would ever dismiss it so lightly. The surface of the plains grazed by the mist was gouged out as if melted away, with the highway surface vanishing all the way down to the foundation. A human body fully bathed in that mist would invariably share the same fate. "If we got hit by that...!" Subaru thought he'd fully taken to heart the briefing beforehand concerning the threat of the White Whale's mist. But the real thing was beyond even his expectations. "So this is the serious mist...!" The White Whale, called the Demon Beast of Mist, had mist that broadly fell into two varieties. The first was the wide-area mist it scattered to expand its own swimming area, such as what it had used to cover the highway. And the second was the annihilating mist, which had erased a good chunk of the ground before his eyes just then. He hadn't seen the means of attack until then, but it was the latter, the annihilating mist, that wrought destruction. And though a single glance was sufficient to understand its destructive power, there was even more to it than that. Namely "Yaaa!!" In a vigorous flash, a gallant voice cut through the mist as something suddenly sliced open the white scene before Subaru's eyes. It was a white land dragon with Crusch on its back that leaped out of the mist. She'd probably used the super-long-range invisible slicing attack to disperse the mist and secure her vision. Crusch brusquely wiped off the sweat on her brow, panting atop the land dragon. Using her as a marker at the center of the cleared mist, the scattered elements of the expeditionary force began to hastily regroup. Crusch looked across her subordinates from each of the assembled squads and asked, " How many people were hit?" "Our squad has twelve people we're three short." "...Who are you missing?" "We don't know...!" Faced with Crusch's impatience, a man in his prime seemed to wring out his reply as he shook his head. Under normal circumstances, such an exchange would be incomprehensible. The squad leader, cognizant of the number of people in his squad, was reporting that he could not remember the names of the lost members. Surely such a crazy thing was not possible, yet... "We have fourteen and have lost one." "Two men in my squad. Similarly unclear." "Six men... I am very sorry! Our position was deep, and we were unable to avoid the mist...!" Similar reports came in one after another, with none able to remember the names of their vanished comrades. It was that bizarre circumstance that was the true menace of the White Whale's mist. "The annihilating...mist...!!" In shock, Subaru's molars clattered as the murmur came running up his throat. Those literally annihilated by the mist had even the memories of their existence erased from the world. Even if proof remained of those erased, no memories of their existence remained. That was the true meaning behind Crusch organizing the expeditionary force in squads of fifteen men each. If the squads were to lose men due to the mist, they would be unable to even discern who had been hit. Even so, by having a set number in each squad, they could at least grasp the fact that they had lost people. Subaru knew that eerie fear for himself, for he had tasted it the previous go-around. For Otto, the traveling merchant accompanying him on the highway, the existence of a fellow merchant fallen prey to the White Whale, and the existence of Rem, who'd stayed behind to slow the White Whale down, had been completely consigned to oblivion. At the time, Subaru was of the thought that Otto had forgotten those inconvenient memories out of fear, but it made more sense that he was under the effect of the White Whale's mist. All memory of his fellow merchant, and Rem, was erased from that world just like when, back at the mansion, even Rem's older twin sister, Ram, had forgotten her. Now, the same thing had happened again. Yet, even in spite of that "I'm the only one...who remembers..." In a daze, Subaru voiced the undeniable fact. Just like in the last go-around, when Subaru never forgot the erased merchant or Rem, sacrificing herself so that Subaru could escape, he alone remembered. Two of the squad leaders gathered under Crusch...had become different people. Bathed by the annihilating mist, the original squad leaders had been erased. Everyone accepted the next in line as the squad leaders in their place, with no one noticing the sudden change in rank. Faced with that abnormality, Subaru knew that the Witch and the White Whale really were cut from the same cloth. Subaru Natsuki continuing to remember the things everyone else had forgotten surely this was not unrelated to Return by Death, a trait possessed by Subaru alone. Crusch looked over the faces of the expeditionary force and cut the conversation short. "Now that it has submerged into the mist, we cannot know from whence it attacks. Crowding together is a poor plan we shall disperse, and employ mana repulsion crystals." Seeing everyone nod at the order in his peripheral vision, Subaru's eyes widened when he realized he didn't see Wilhelm or Ricardo among them. Surely even those two were not erased by the mist...? "So you have returned, Wilhelm." But Subaru's nervousness was belied by a figure's timely return from the mist. Having sliced through the dense fog, the Sword Devil seemed ghastly, his entire body bathed in blood. Wilhelm wiped off his blood-sullied swords, tersely smearing the blood from his cheeks as an afterthought. "I ran too far ahead our losses?" Wilhelm asked. "A total of twenty-one... Essentially one squad was annihilated. We can no longer hope even to properly honor the memory of the fallen." Being erased by the mist literally meant one's existence was wiped clean. With no traces left of them, even in people's memories, there was a complete blank where they had once existed in the world. Subaru wondered if the bonds and feelings, even love, that had been so certain until then, vanished someplace. When he looked closer, Subaru saw a pack of ligers behind Wilhelm, and among them were Ricardo, straddling his extra-large liger, and the two lieutenants. Apparently, just like Wilhelm, those fighting right up against the White Whale had endured minimal damage. "The mist comin' out makes this rough. Mana repulsion crystals are scarce, and we've less than I'd like... If we use 'em in the wrong place, we're done." "If we strike it with one more concentrated attack, it shall surely fall to the ground. Having lost sight of it, this is the right time to employ them, averting a surprise attack among other things. Objections?" When everyone endorsed Crusch's judgment, her gaze turned to the support unit under Ferris's command. "Ferris, launch anti-magic crystals from the magic crystal cannons. Twice only. We must employ them with care." "Preparations are already complete~. Anytime, at your command." When Ferris tapped his chest, Crusch drew in her chin, looking over everyone before the battle recommenced. "From here on is the real battle! The response remaining in your own hands shall prove that our attacks are effective upon the White Whale! Certainly, our opponent is mighty and unfathomable. Worst case, there may be none who shall remember our deaths. However!" Crusch, able to launch cutting blows with her bare hand, drew from her hip the treasured sword of the House of Karsten a sword no doubt long bereft of use and raised it to the sky, declaring in a loud voice: "For the sake of the dead with no name left on their tombstones, for the sake of the weak who would be menaced by the mist in the world ahead, we shall slay it, whatever it takes! Come with me!!" Every manner of weapon was raised to the sky, everyone shouting in exultation as one. The mist shuddered from the incredible surge of morale, ferociously setting their dampened fighting spirit alight. "Launch the anti-magic crystal!!" At Crusch's order, the individuals under Ferris's command fired magic crystal cannons in a salvo the next moment, with a great roar, the magic crystals soared high into the misty sky when... "The mist...is clearing !" ...the glow of the magic crystals shattering in the heavens erased the white mist obstructing their sight all at once. Properly speaking, all the mist covering the four corners of the plains had not been swept away. In the end, all that had changed was the density of the mist, which had thinned so that it was no longer difficult to maintain a clear view. But one could call even that result sufficient. The White Whale's mist was apparently a calamity wrought from the vast mana it possessed. In other words, the White Whale scattered its mana in the direction of its choosing, and this became the mist visible to others. The anti-magic crystals by rights, crystals with the effect of forcing the mana in an area back into a colorless state, thus neutralizing it had used their power to nullify the mana of the mist, blowing it away. It was a dangerous gamble, for if the anti-magic crystals worked too well, it would also diminish the strength of their own magic attacks, but it seemed there was no need for concern so long as they could see remnants of the mist. "Not enough to clear away all the mist, huh?" "In turn, there is no effect on our own magic. I, too, am in peak condition." Rem gave a little nod, but it was the glow of the horn on her forehead that offered the real answer. The fact that it sensed mana swirling around the area and had begun building Rem's magical energy once more was the proof. " All right! I can't get cold feet now. I've come too far to be useless now. It's time for us to take the stage!" "Yes! Let us go!" Rem handled the land dragon's reins, and its neigh matched the bounce of Subaru's rump. He grabbed hold of Rem's hips atop the dashing land dragon, searching for sight of the White Whale in the thin mist above their heads. With Crusch at the head, the expeditionary force set out as well, dispersing as its various parts searched for the White Whale. With the battle resuming at possibly any moment, Subaru felt the tension drying his throat out in a hurry. No one saw the White Whale come out yet. It felt like before

the start of the battle, when they waited for the White Whale to appear in the night sky, when... " Mist." Suddenly, a bad premonition popped up in the back of Subaru's mind. He had no special kind of proof of it. They were still able to use magic within the effect of the anti-magic crystals. When he remembered the various things spoken before the operation, and his experience meeting the White Whale on the previous go-around, that anxiety suddenly bubbled to the surface. There were remnants of widely scattered mist in the atmosphere. The White Whale had expanded its own turf and obstructed their fields of vision, the oldest trick in the Demon Beast of Mist's book. That was all the prior information he had, but could he really say that it was the only reason he was afraid? But before the doubt in his head could take form... *** ...the squeaking chorus that echoed across the slightly misty Liphas Highway came quicker. "What the hell was that?!" The high-pitched echo was like a woman's shriek, instilling a sense of disgust that made Subaru want to cover his ears. It was both roar and laughter, yet repulsive on a whole other level, traversing the mist to mock them across the plains. "Just now...!" Subaru tried to put the question into words when he noticed it that the mist coiled around his entire body seemed to melt into him, as if trying to permeate his flesh. And then "Aaa, aaa, aaa ?!" The first shift came in the mounted dragon unit running alongside. Subaru's shoulders jumped at the strange voices, sounding nothing like ones coming from sane human beings. Guessing that something had changed, he looked over to see cavalrymen racing beside him, tumbling from their land dragons one after another. "Hey! What's wrong?!" Following the shouting Subaru's intentions, his own land dragon did a U-turn and headed toward them. He passed between the land dragons, confused by the loss of their riders, and called out to the tumbled men. "You all right?! Falling from a horse can get you hurt pretty b..." Subaru, concerned about such injuries, unwittingly let his voice die off midway. Having fallen from their land dragons, the knights were writhing around but their state was far more precarious than mere physical wounds. "Uu, uu, uu, aa " The strange voices they raised were not like those of human beings; they were closer to the noises of beasts. One man was frothing at the mouth, convulsing on the ground with his eyes rolled up. Another man let out a moan as he desperately scratched at his own arms. Yet another clenched down on his molars until they broke, pounding his head against the ground. There was no single set of symptoms, but even so, he knew: It was madness, using the mist as a medium to spread. "This is..." "The voice just now directly affected their minds through the mist... It is like mana poisoning, but this is terrible...!" With Subaru restraining his voice, Rem put a hand to her forehead, making an anguished face as she replied. "Mana poisoning...? So this really isn't normal mist after all?!" Judging from Rem's state and the feel of the mist coiled around his body, Subaru realized that this was the real function of the mist. The wide-area mist was an unavoidable trap inflicting abnormal status on the beings within its broad reach. The vastness of the effect, and the damage it inflicted, was in plain sight. Subaru didn't think the effects of the mist were limited to the squads around him and Rem, either. In fact, even as far as his eyes could see, he saw multiple squads stopped in their tracks, trying to deal with the abnormal state of their allies. "So some people are resistant to the mist, and some aren't...? I don't feel a thing...!" "I only feel a little from...my head... I am calm...now." Breathing deeply several times, Rem touched the horn on her forehead as she calmed herself. In the meantime, Subaru dropped from his land dragon, rushing to stop those attempting to hurt themselves. "Hey, cut that out! Your wounds'll... Whoa!" "Yeah, yeah, yeah! Stay baaaaack!" One of the confused men slapped his arm aside, scratching his arm without mercy. When the sharp pain sent Subaru into retreat, the man resumed his self-harming behavior, scraping his face enough that it began to bleed. "That hurt, but ain't this pretty bad? They might not stop till they're dead!" "Subaru! You're hurt?!" "It hurts and I feel like cryin' a little, but it's nothin'! More importantly, everyone'll tear themselves apart if we don't do something! Isn't there anything we can do?" As Rem rushed over, she had a grim look on her face as she shook her head to his reply. "Unfortunately, I do not know how much effect my healing magic would have. This is not simply interfering with the body but the Odo directly through their gates. Only Master Ferris can deal with such powerful mana contamination..." "In the first place, how long can he hold up against mental contamination? Besides the two of us, we're pretty much wiped out here!" The squad running alongside Subaru and Rem was virtually routed and the few unharmed souls were trying to stop their comrades from hurting themselves like Subaru had. "If Ferris gets contaminated, we're totally done for. What do we do...?" This was only as far as Subaru could see. He could only despair that it was like that everywhere else, too. Along with Crusch and Wilhelm, if Ferris, their pillar of support, were to fall, that would be it for them. It would be difficult to even maintain the fight at all. "Everyone who can move, get the wounded to the Great Tree! Use whatever force you have to!" But he heard Crusch's voice from the other side of the mist. A series of voices responded, and apparently, Crusch had escaped the effect of the mist. She was conveying how they would deal with that same menace. Immediately after ordering the entire force to attack, she was instantly changing policies. Crusch's voice was chagrined, and Subaru, too, felt anger as he vented abuse at the White Whale. "Strength-wise, fighting with people wounded is tougher than fighting with the dead, but do monsters even think to do that...?!" "It seems Master Felix is safe. With him going around healing, the effects of the contamination should at least be diminished, but..." Rem hesitated, but Subaru knew what she was trying to say. With this much damage sustained, Ferris would have his hands completely full. With manpower split to gather the wounded, that made their fighting strength that much less. And more importantly "There's not enough time. We can't just be defenseless like this till Ferris heals everyone." "Worst case, with the expeditionary force grouped up together like this, the White Whale's mist could swallow it whole. I do not wish to think it is that intelligent, but...given it has created this situation, that is optimistic." "It's possible it's doing all this out of instinct, but...no, we can't underestimate it either way." Resigning herself to the danger, Crusch meant to entrust the wounded expeditionary force members to Ferris. Naturally, it was necessary to do something to buy time so that the White Whale did not approach the wounded. They needed to tender an attractive piece of bait to distract it from thoroughly pounding its enemy. " Whew." Deeply breathing out, Subaru emptied his lungs. Wringing oxygen out of his body to his limit, he naturally felt stifled inside his chest his heartbeats slowed, and he knew that its rhythm was growing surer. Subaru spontaneously made a strained smile at how unexpectedly calm he was. He'd always been swept around by circumstances, toyed with by the events before his eyes, and Subaru's heart had reflected his emotions, running wild over and over. So why was it he was so calm, then, on the precipice of his decision? "...Borrowed or not, courage is courage, I guess?" Subaru thumped his chest and breathed in deeply. He paused once, closed his eyes, and then breathed out and opened his eyes. He turned forward. Before Subaru, Rem, riding the land dragon, was looking down at him. What was Subaru going to say? What did he desire? That was what she was waiting to hear. "Rem, stick with me through the most dangerous part." "Yes no matter where it may lead." Without hesitation, Rem accepted Subaru's request, a smile appearing on her face. With that accepted, Subaru ran over to the land dragon. Rem lent her hand, and he virtually flew onto the land dragon's back, straddling it as he headed toward the knights restraining their comrades struggling on the ground. "Rem and I will draw off the White Whale! In the meantime, get them treatment from Ferris. After you hand them to Ferris, anyone who seems all right, hook up with Crusch!" "Draw them off?! How in the world will you...?" "Like this." Subaru smiled at the aged soldier raising a voice of doubt, drawing his breath and clearing his throat, then announced, " Everyone who can hear this, cover your ears!! And if you can't, stay right there!!" Subaru's full-force voice echoed across the misty plain. Rem listened comfortably to Subaru's loud voice, and then touched her hands to her ears. The nearby knights also rushed to cover their ears; other expeditionary force members within earshot had surely done the same just as Subaru had asked of them at the briefing before the operation. And then, Subaru willingly invoked the taboo "I've Returned by Death " The instant he spoke it, Subaru's heart was wrenched by a rising fear that, in spite of his intentions, those black hands would stretch toward his comrades, toward Rem. But he forced that fear down, raising his voice so that the Witch might hear. You can have my heart, so gimme a hand here!! Subaru opened his eyes wide, suppressed his weakness, and shouted in his heart and a moment later, it came to visit. "I love you." It was a frail, delicate voice that seemed to whisper into his ears. However, what was the ardor infused within that made his breast tremble? Unwittingly, tears welled in the corners of his eyes, and Subaru's breath caught as he was struck by the urge to chase after the receding voice to embrace the speaker that very moment. His entire body was governed by the heat of love, burning white-hot in his mind "...I'm back." After a brief sojourn, Subaru's mind woke to reality. The fervor that had ruled Subaru until the moment before grew distant, and he became unable to remember the deep feelings he'd had until then. But he did feel unease at the fierce pain he'd supposedly resigned himself to having miraculously failed to arrive. Yet, even so... "Rem, how is it? The Witch's scent on me..." "You stink!" "That was the idea, but isn't that a bit harsh?!" Though not thrilled to receive a black mark from Rem, he'd accomplished his objective. His body shrouded in the Witch's miasma, Subaru looked back and raised his voice to the knights all around. "Get away from us right now! Get as close to the big tree as you can and link up with Crusch as best as you can manage!" "U-understood! Good fighting!" "You too!" Sending off the knights, Subaru's pat of Rem's shoulder was the signal for the land dragon to start running. At present, Subaru's body was giving off the fresh, lingering scent of the Witch setting aside the contradiction in those words, the scent had to be wafting all around him. The problem was how much effect it would have on the White Whale. "With the Urugarums, the effect was enough to cover the entire forest, but how 'bout this time...? To be honest, there's no way to measure it, but..." When he'd encountered the White Whale in the previous world, the White Whale had

tenaciously pursued Otto's dragon carriage after Subaru shifted over to it. At the time, he'd said nothing in relation to the Witch. So if Subaru gave off an even stronger scent than before, he ought to be prime bait for the White Whale Just after he had that thought *** The land dragon, charging straight ahead, sensed something and turned abruptly on its own judgment with centrifugal force drawing an "Ugeh!!" out of Subaru as he hastily hugged Rem, right before his eyes, seemingly clinging for dear life. "What's...?!" "The White Whale!!" As Rem, pressed against him, shouted, a gargantuan maw suddenly emerged from the side, breaking through the mist. By a hair's breadth, Subaru and Rem diverged from their path and escaped, with the White Whale's huge mouth seeming to slide past them a little to the left, biting into the ground, swallowing grass and topsoil whole. Its stony outer hide seemed to be grazed as the demon beast rushed past, and from nearby, they heard the sound of its maw biting the ground apart. Then, with a roar, it chased after the pair. "Whoaaaaa ?!" There was an overwhelming amount of pressure as it chased them from the rear. With the overpowering sense chasing his back that they would be squished, the land dragon that the shouting Subaru rode earnestly kicked the earth. However, the swimming speed of the pursuing White Whale was extraordinary. With an enormous body like a mountain, it swam with such force that it surpassed the wind, closing the distance quickly. Steadily, the maw pressed close, drinking up the world around it. When the tip of its nose was right at their backs, close enough to bathe them in the raw stench of its breath... "Rem!" "Ul Hyuma!!" ...Rem responded with an incantation, sending three pillars of ice thrusting out of the ground as one. Her aim was true, punching into the White Whale pursuing the pair from right below it, impaling its belly in an attempt to halt its movements. Yet "It won't stop !" The icy spears, each as thick as a hundred spears bundled together, were snapped off at the base, giving off a high-pitched sound as the ice shattered. The destroyed spears of ice instantly returned to the mana from whence they came, and though the White Whale, having lost what was sealing its wounds, bled from them, there was no effect on its movement. That it had been wounded and bled so much seemed only to bring into sharper relief the extent of its endurance. Subaru was aghast all over again at just how high a hurdle bringing down the White Whale was. "This ain't like with the Urugarum when it was one-on-one!" *** As Subaru moved farther from the White Whale, he raised his middle finger, taunting it. Enraged at the gesture, the White Whale's roar thundered across the plains. But from the side of its torso... "Ryaaaaa !" ...Wilhelm intervened, flying in with a vertical slash. Driving his blade in, Wilhelm ran up the White Whale's flank. As Wilhelm cut through the bloody mist, the kitten siblings appeared alongside, straddling their ligers and looking at each other's faces. "Big Sis, join with me!" "Let's do this, Hetaro!!" As the ligers crossed, Mimi and Hetaro leaped off and joined hands. The two stood before the gaping wound Wilhelm had carved as they yelled: "Wa !" "Ha !" The pair's voices overlapped; the sound waves broadened with incredibly destructive might. The shock wave coursed in through the open wound, making every injury on the White Whale's body bleed once more. The enormous body shuddered, and the White Whale's altitude dropped precipitously against its will. The White Whale groaned in agony, raising its voice as it endured the pain, and barely managed to avoid crashing as the twins, riding their ligers, leaped off its back. "Trump card compleeete!" "Captain, please!" "Oh yeah, leave it to me! If the runts are tryin' hard, then I've gotta, too!!" In place of the landing twins, a large liger climbed onto the White Whale from the tail end. Swinging his cleaver upward, Ricardo went around smacking the countless mouths that spawned mist. Wilhelm did the same, jamming slashes into the annoying mouths, silencing them one by one. But the White Whale didn't let them smash its means of attack without a response. From the mouths, seemingly infinite no matter how many they smashed, a literal barrage of annihilating mist spewed out. Ricardo, relying on his liger's mobility, and Wilhelm, pushing his body past normal human limits, continued to dodge, dodge, and dodge that mist some more. The expeditionary force and the Iron Fangs had both reorganized, and they began firing magic crystal cannons once more to assist Wilhelm and Ricardo in their precarious position. With the White Whale's own attacks unable to hit, and apparently losing patience from the increasing damage from the pesky attackers, it twisted its massive body, opening its mouth fully to spread mist far and wide. "Rem !!" Faster than Subaru could shout, Rem had their land dragon leap up onto the White Whale's nose. The approach of Subaru, with the scent of the Witch wafting around him, made the White Whale reflexively stare at them, throwing off its concentration; it was looking to send them flying when a slash interrupted that plan. *** "That's very rude of you. Here I am, after nothing but your head for fourteen years, and you look away." With a stab, Wilhelm thrust deep into the White Whale's brow, his movement halting when his blade sank into the skull. But the aged swordsman instantly abandoned his third sword, leaping in and kicking full force the hilt of the sword he had let go of, and withdrew his fourth and fifth swords, both blades dancing wildly across the White Whale's back. Also atop the White Whale's back, Ricardo linked up with Wilhelm, opening his large mouth and laughing. "This is gettin' fun! It's tougher than I thought, but it's not all that strong, now, is it!" "No...the response is a little too weak." While Ricardo exulted, Wilhelm knitted his brows and murmured. Biting his lip, Wilhelm sliced into the White Whale's tail fin as he said, "I cannot easily believe my wife...the Sword Saint...could be defeated by this level of demon beast. Even considering that it did not take the initiative and split us apart with mist at the beginning..." As Wilhelm swung his blades, his thought process was interrupted by the White Whale whirling its body about. "Do ? Waaaah?!" The demon beast's action, differing from all those before it, sent the White Whale's head suddenly rising up, with the force sending Ricardo and his liger flying off. Then Wilhelm, still atop the White Whale, said, "I'll take one more before I take my leave!" With the demon beast wriggling its body as it swam in the air, Wilhelm ran down it with nimble movements. The White Whale's body was climbing, with Wilhelm leaping down in the opposite direction. Finely adjusting his center of gravity and using the stabs of his blades to control his posture by force, the highly experienced old swordsman exercised his body to the fullest, chopping off at the base one of the dorsal fins at the extreme edge of the enormous body. *** Listening to the White Whale's scream, Wilhelm rode the fin he'd sent flying onto the ground below. Normally, you would think a fall from such a great altitude would result in instant death, but the soles of Wilhelm's feet kicked off the fin just before impact, and his land dragon caught him, softening the blow. "Wilhelm!" *** Subaru tried to make sure he was all right, but Wilhelm did not respond, for his eyes were on the White Whale, still rapidly ascending. Drawn in, Subaru looked up, and his vision was caught by the White Whale's tail as it swam in the sky high above. Blood dripped from the fin that had been sliced off, pouring downward with violent force. The grassy plain was dyed scarlet, and Wilhelm was bathed in red rain, his will to fight undiminished. Subaru didn't think the White Whale was going to just turn tail and run, either, but the demon beast's goal in heading up into the sky was unclear. The Iron Fangs and the expeditionary force uneasily looked up at the sky, and Subaru grew concerned for the wounded gathered at the roots of the Great Tree. "It's coming." Wilhelm made a small murmur as he turned his gaze upward. Seeing the aged swordsman narrow his eyes and return both hands to his sword hilts put everyone on guard. And then, as they held their breaths they regretted it. Too late, they knew they should have deployed instantly without waiting for the White Whale, floating above their heads, to act. " Mist, incoming!!" Subaru shouted as loudly as he could. Rem made the land dragon whirl about and move away from the front. The land dragons and ligers all around them started running all at once, but there was no longer any leeway for Subaru to raise his head and see if the others were safe. Billowing, annihilating mist came falling to earth with such force that it seemed to blot out the sky. The mist was like the clouds themselves were falling. There was no way to avoid it save escaping the area. Sheltering behind rocks or trees was meaningless resistance before destruction that would swallow all obstacles whole. There was nothing they could do but start running and pray that they were in time. Too afraid to look up, Subaru merely felt the oppression of the soundless apocalypse hurtling from above. He earnestly squatted against the land dragon's back, lowering his posture as far as he could as they ran "We got through?!" Having apparently slipped out from under the thick mist and entered a clearer area, Subaru turned his head around and looked back. There were several figures on the ground behind them that hadn't made it out in time, swallowed up as the mist pressed down upon them. With expressions of fear and anger chiseled on the human beings' faces, they earnestly fled, but they were engulfed by the mist from the head down and vanished. The land dragons were obliterated with them. With the mist falling and scattering to the ground, no trace of their destruction remained. Not even their names would remain in anyone's memories. None save Subaru, the only one who would remember their deaths. "U...aa..." There were little moans in front of Subaru from distant figures scattered about the mists. It was clear that their numbers had greatly diminished since they had regrouped. That of course went for the expeditionary force's knights, but the Iron Fangs had not escaped unscathed, either. If we at least have our big guns, thought Subaru, shifting his gaze. "Wil..." He spotted Wilhelm, barely keeping one hand on his land dragon's back as he escaped the mist's area of effect. It was when Subaru called out to him from behind that he realized. That from the other side of the dense mist, the demon beast was chasing Wilhelm, opening its huge mouth. " Run!" "Nn ?!" Wilhelm noticed the impending menace at his back at about the same time Subaru shouted. But both came too late for him to react in time. Approaching without a sound, the maw of the White Whale swallowed the ground, the land dragon, and Wilhelm whole. Scraping the ground, everything on the surface around Wilhelm was gouged out, entering the White Whale's mouth. "Aaah...!" Faced with the shock of that spectacle, it was not only Subaru who shouted but Rem as well. Knowing the grudge the old man bore, the sense of loss was all that much greater. More importantly, losing their main fighting strength would make their situation most dire, but... "Oh no, ya don't!!" This time, someone else raised his voice from right beside them. Before they could react, a liger

came in from the side, bumping their land dragon and sending Subaru and Rem flying. "Whoaa?!" Tumbling from the staggered land dragon, Subaru grimaced from the pain of getting smacked all over. From the voice, he knew that it was Ricardo who had committed the sudden act of violence, but before he could ask what the big idea was... " Gaa!" ...Subaru gasped as he saw crimson flowers bloom before his eyes. "Huh?" The liger was sliced apart, pieces of its flesh sent flying as its corpse cruelly rolled onto the grassland. The large-statured beast man who should have been straddling it had vanished, with a vast pool of fresh blood left behind in his place. The White Whale swam at low altitude, swaying its enormous body and waving the tail that was covered in Ricardo's blood. He...shielded us? Then what...happened to Ricardo? There were various questions coming to mind, but Subaru set them aside when he realized something he could not ignore. Before him was a White Whale, which had mowed down Ricardo with its tail. And... "No...way..." When he looked back, he saw the White Whale that had swallowed Wilhelm and the ground around him beginning to bite down. In front, behind and up above, he saw yet another whale-shaped figure high in the sky, scattering mist all around. The infinite mouths of the three White Whales laughed together, drawing out the despair of men. Bit by bit, Subaru once again felt hope being blotted out by a nightmare. CHAPTER 4 *** 1 The chorus grew higher and farther, echoing as they overlapped. In a world thick with mist, there were three fish-shaped figures, their enormous bodies swaying as they swam. The twisted mouths stretching from one side to the other of their huge frames were bizarre, continuing to emit a sound like fingernails on glass. It was a malevolent monster that had swallowed people of many races, extinguishing innumerable lives. That single monster had wielded enough power on its own to inspire despair within the hearts of all people, and now there were three, mocking those who dared to defy them. As Subaru looked up at the White Whale floating above his head, he heard the small sound of someone falling to his knees. A string of similar sounds followed, joined by a chain of high-pitched clatters weapons falling from their wielders' grasps. He saw the shoulders of one of the knights participating in the expeditionary force had fallen, and the man stared at the ground as he crouched low. His shoulders trembled, and none could hold back the weep rushing up into his throat. When Subaru gazed at the man's fellow knights around him, not one had a single word to say. They'd come fully equipped with all the numbers they could muster, seized the initiative and slammed their firepower into it, yet having taken the offensive to that extent they'd come to this senseless situation. Their numbers had already been halved by the depth of the mental contamination, and their remaining main fighting strength had been pulverized in a surprise attack by the newly emerged White Whales. Even if they gathered all their remaining strength together, it would still amount to less than half the fighting strength they had started with. On top of that, the demon beasts they had to fell numbered three surely there was no chance of victory. Everyone grasped it in a single second. They realized that their objective, and their lives, would be ruined in that place. The terror of the demon beast was great. And the bonds that the demon beast had robbed them of weighed heavily. And yet, they were powerless, unable to make it pay for the loss of precious life it had stolen from them. When the weight of all that crashing down, and the hearts that had supported them until that moment had broken, who could blame them for falling to their knees on the spot? In the face of such a senseless, unchangeable reality, could anyone deny that they should give up? " Don't let it swallow him!!" Abruptly, an angry bellow reverberated far across the silence that had befallen the plain. Hearing that voice, Subaru unwittingly lifted his face and he saw a lone figure kicking off the ground, leaping toward the White Whale a girl, with a flutter of her maid uniform and wielding a vile, spiked iron ball with her hand. With a gale entwined around it, the roaring iron ball came to a halt when it slammed straight into the White Whale's nose, easily smashing the hard outer hide, continuing on to gouge out exposed flesh and bone, widening the destructive wound further. The White Whale let out a scream and tried to lift its head up to the sky. But a blade of ice stretched up from the ground to impale its tail, and as it twisted its body around, the small-statured girl whirled her iron ball around, scoring a merciless hit that made the White Whale's enormous frame shudder as blood was scattered all about. "We can still save him if we get him out before he's in its belly !" There was a young man shouting, holding a rent shoulder as blood flowed from his brow. He walked out in front, giving orders to the girl swinging the iron ball. He grimaced, bitterly feeling the powerlessness that kept him from joining the battle himself, but even so, he stepped forward. A land dragon stood at the young man's side. He slowly climbed onto its back, his clumsy posture clearly from not being accustomed to riding, but still, he strongly gripped the reins and shouted, "We're not done yet! None of this is over!!" Before the knights seized by surrender, the young man lifted his face as if he was bolstering his own spirits, bared his teeth, opened his eyes wide, glared at the White Whale, and yelled. " Don't think this is enough despair to stop me!!" 2 Subaru keenly felt the sound of despair's footsteps approaching. One was above his head, one was behind him, and one was right in front of him three in total. This ain't funny. How much fighting strength had they poured to confront just one of them, and how much did they actually wound it? Because things weren't going so well, it called out two of its buddies to start the real fight. It was all a bad joke. Just how many senseless hardships would it take until Fate was satisfied? Shielded by Ricardo, Subaru had been tossed to the ground and remained there as he grit his teeth. Had he not clamped his molars shut, he would have let out sounds of weakness, or even sobs. Gently, he felt everything before his eyes go dark. His brain was unable to bear the strain of accepting the bitter circumstances; his mind seemed ready to give out from hopelessness at any moment. Suddenly, he realized that the familiar despair was mocking him, chummily wrapping an arm around his shoulders. " Whaaaat, is it not about time you gave up once more?" He could not see the face of the faint shadow, but someone was chuckling, the familiar voice suggesting he surrender. With those words, Subaru vividly accepted the weight of the circumstances before him that barred his path. Around him, Subaru saw the knights falling to their knees and giving up, just like him. They, too, comprehended that the situation before their eyes was beyond their means. Robbed even of the ardor to begin to resist, strength drained from everyone's eyes, and the willpower to even hold a weapon evaporated. When that sight broke his spirit, and he gave in to the futility wrapped around his shoulders, he realized something. Right at his side was Rem, thrown from the land dragon at the same time he had been. Having fallen on her side, she sat up, and he saw sadness on the side of her comely face. Her cheeks were taut, her lips blue, and her eyelids shaking. When he stared at her like that, he thought rather casually, Her eyelashes are long, huh. And he believed... A smile suits her so much better. That was why "You're not getting any more stage time, ever!" He brusquely shook off the chummy arm wrapped around his shoulders. With the shadow's mouth twisting in visible surprise, Subaru's next action was to turn a smiling face toward it and deliver a straight right punch smashing the black shadow to pieces and halting the shaking of his body. Stupid. Pathetic. He didn't have the time for doubts or stopping in place. So there were two more whales. So what? His limbs could move. He could lift his face. His eyes could see. His voice came out. It reached her. Rem was there. Rem was alive. There was nothing there, nothing at all, that warranted giving up. Stand up. Over and over, again and again, his heart had been broken. Stand up. A senseless fate had buffeted him, with despair being the conclusion forced upon him. Stand up. When he thought all was lost, he threw everything to the wind, trying to abandon all as he ran, and when even that was not permitted, he faced his own heart. Stand up. What for? "For a time...like this, damn it!!" He rammed a fist into the ground, pushing his torso upright. When Subaru howled, lifting his face, Rem looked at him in surprise. Subaru turned to her, extended his hand, and glared at the White Whale in front of him. "It ain't over yet it won't end like this." "...Subaru." "Let's do it, Rem. It's our big scene." Meekly, she slowly grasped the outstretched hand that then pulled her to her feet. As she rose, Subaru hugged her around her chest, drawing her face close. "Giving up ain't our style. Not me, not you not one of us!" 3 With a howl, Rem ferociously leaped at the White Whale, twisting her body and ramming her fist into its stony hide. Her left arm swung around the iron ball, which crashed into its target with a tremendous sound, causing the White Whale to groan in agony as blood frothed forth. Rem was attacking the one that had swallowed Wilhelm from behind. The maw looked like it was biting down, but it was hard to believe that Sword Devil would be chewed so easily. "As long as the head ain't smashed, we'll drag him out somehow !" Pulling the reins, Subaru didn't feel particularly secure, but he entrusted his body weight to the land dragon. For Subaru to handle the reins himself, rather than Rem, was troubling; he had basically zero training. He only had the time on the road before arriving at the Great Flugel Tree and the free time after arrival to practice using a dragon mount. There was no way Subaru, lacking any experience whatsoever with horses from his old world, could master land dragons with only a few hours of practice. It was all he could do to set direction and speed, and to cling so as not to fall off. Even so, the highly intelligent land dragon perfectly grasped both Subaru's intentions and his capabilities. The pitch-black land dragon Subaru had chosen as his very own mount was being considerate so as not to let its inexperienced rider fall. Good land dragon. Nimble on your feet, sturdy, and more than anything, very quick on the uptake. From this moment on, your name is Patlash. That's the only name I could think of for such a loyal partner. "Let's go, Patlash! Circle around the tip of the whale's nose!" The loud shout and a crack of the reins spurred the land dragon into a run. Patlash responded with a gallop at a forward angle, knowing no fear as it charged toward the mighty White Whale. With Rem clinging to its body, the White Whale was twisting to try to throw her off, but it sensed Subaru's approach and instinctively turned

its head in his direction. "Sniffing Subaru's scent is a privilege for me alone !" Rem leaped to the side of its face, delivering a kick with the force of a cannonball. The enormous face was greatly dented, and there, the iron ball scored an additional direct hit. The whirling iron ball broke through the White Whale's cheek, snapping molars and sullying the grassy ground reddish black from blood and saliva. A yellow liquid dribbled out of the wound as the White Whale screeched. Its body crashed to the ground and began to writhe upon it like a fish out of water. The earth was gouged in the process, with clods of soil violently scattered about. The wildly waving tail split the surface of the ground, mowing the wind and flying toward Subaru from the side with him seemingly unaware and just when he was in danger of a square hit... "Ta-daa, Mimi is here!!" ...the little feline beast person intervened a moment prior to the blow, the staff in her hand swinging to deploy a magical wall. With a yellow glow, the blow bounced off, and liger and land dragon rushed through the resulting gap at once. Taking a breath, Subaru turned back to look at Mimi the kitten that had saved him and said, "Thanks a bunch! I'd have bought it right after starting the counterattack all cool and stuff!" "Hu-huu, you can praise Mimi more! But for today I'll praise you for working so haaard, mister!" "Working...?" Mimi puffed her chest out, then when Subaru crooked his neck, she laughed at him. As she did so, she gave an orange pigtail a flick of her finger before she responded. "Everyone was all blue and couldn't even stand, but you bounced back first, didn't you? Good boy! You're amazing! Not as good as Mimi, though!" "It's no big deal. I'm not about to let despair get the better of me." With Mimi extolling him in a loud voice, Subaru bit his lip and grimaced. That's right. It wasn't anything to be praised for. Just how much bitterness had Subaru tasted along the way? Compared with the impossible horrors he'd faced, how did a situation where he could still fight afford him the leeway to immerse himself in surrender...? If he had time to wallow in surrender, he might as well cough his blood out and go searching for hope, for defiance was far, far, far more comforting than surrender. *** As Patlash bounded, rushing straight forward, a fish silhouette suddenly appeared right in front, opening its huge mouth. Seeing the inside of the grotesque throat at point-blank range, Subaru instantly leaned forward as they took evasive action. But the mist filling the mouth dispersed a little faster than he could evade it "Close your mouth !" From far overhead, an invisible blade swung down, vertically slashing the open maw. The power of the blow closed the mouth by force, and the White Whale writhed on the ground as it passed Subaru and Mimi. When Subaru lifted his head after just barely escaping, he saw Crusch was galloping over from the other side of the battlefield. She ran until she pulled alongside Subaru's land dragon, vilely glaring at the White Whale as she spoke. "From a glance, this seems to be the worst possible case. What happened to Wilhelm?" "If you remember him, that means at least he wasn't wiped out by the mist... It's up to Rem now." Shifting his head, Subaru replied while keeping his eyes on the White Whale turning around and locking its sights on them. Receiving his answer, Crusch looked toward Rem, still in fierce combat. As the iron ball smashed downward, fresh blood spewed forth, and that White Whale made the ground quake as it thrashed in a sea of its own blood. "What do you see, Subaru Natsuki?" "What do you mean by 'what do you see'? If you're suggesting in the sense of winning, I could say something self-serving, like, 'I see various things separating my life and my death,' but..." "Not that. Do you not find it strange?" Crusch sent an invisible blade after the bridge of the nose of the White Whale pursuing from behind. The White Whale groaned, its pursuit crushed at the outset, while Subaru commented, "Strange?" as he looked at Crusch. "The White Whales have multiplied to three. Viewing it simply, the situation is desperate. But if the White Whale was truly a horde of monsters, is that really something we wouldn't notice?" "I don't really get what you're trying to say." "It must be some kind of trick." Crusch said it bluntly, turning her gallant face toward Subaru. By nature, having that powerful gaze shooting through Subaru made him stand straighter. "So we've got to...figure out what it is?" "We shall render aid so as to buy time for your escape. Either way, we cannot hold for long. We must do something retreat is no longer an option." So declaring, Crusch changed the orientation of her land dragon and moved away from Subaru. Making a wide turn, she circled around the White Whale glaring down from above as she showed her face to the scattered units of the expeditionary force, raising her voice. "Stand! Lift up your heads! Seize your arms! What have you come this far for?!" *** The gazes of the men, seized by misery and despair, rose. Before them, Crusch grandly drew her treasured sword and raised it to the heavens as she cried. "Look at that man! He carries no weapon. He is helpless, so weak that the wind alone could carry him away. I have seen this powerless man battered down with my own eyes!" As Subaru ran, Crusch pointed him out with the treasured sword of her house as she cried louder still. "He is weaker than any of you!" Yes. Everything Crusch said was true. Subaru was weak. Weaker than anyone. He had no power to fight. He had no ability save that of surviving. He had been crushed over and over a man who had been beaten down and defeated many times. "Yet, it is the weakest among you who was the quickest to yell it is not over!" It was the most helpless man there who had grit his teeth and said he could still fight. He held back his tears, coughed out his blood, and in spite of that, stood up to resist for all to see. "Then why are we hanging our heads low?" *** "Our power is weak. Even all together, I know not if we can reach the demon beast's throat. Even so, if the weakest among us has not surrendered, how can we be allowed to fall to our knees?!" "Y-yeah..." The broken men with knees that would not stop shaking looked to one another, encouraging one another to stand once more. They picked up their fallen weapons and drew close to the land dragons waiting at their riders' sides. They reached out with their hands, took the reins, and where they had been kneeling now appeared knights astride their land dragons' backs. The mounts neighed as the knights drew their swords and cleared their throats once more. A great shout arose a battle cry to take pride in their own souls, as if to rally their own hearts. Behind the weakest man on the battlefield, they let out a ferocious roar, driving away the foolishness that lowered their heads. People call this emotion shame. It was the fear of shame that made the knights lift their heads, cut through the various emotions holding them in place, or give in, and gave them the strength to step forward. "Let's go!! Charge!!" "Ooooo !!" With their once-yielding souls reinspired, the knights resumed their advance. The force of land dragons kicked up a cloud of dust. Though the expeditionary force now totaled just under fifty souls, they ferociously charged the two White Whales within reach of their swords, with Crusch at the head. Listening to the upsurge in the expeditionary force's morale, and to the scolding from Crusch that had sparked it, Subaru couldn't keep the corners of his lips from making a strained smile. "Rub in how much of a weakling and a beaten dog I am, why don't you...?" The fact that he couldn't bring himself to refute it only proved the severity of his case. They could call him what they liked, use him as they liked. It was the truth that Subaru was helpless, a loser, broken and flung about, and thus he had arrived at that point. It was because Subaru understood it that he could bellow then and there: Losing didn't mean it was over, being broken didn't mean you had to submit, being flung about meant there was still time, and being helpless...was not allowed. "I'm counting on you, Patlash. Go right up close one more time, to the tip of its nose!" The land dragon leaned down at an angle, clawing the ground and making repeated sharp turns, crying out as it rushed the White Whale. With the White Whale trying to shake Rem off before their eyes, Crusch and mixed split-off squads went on the attack in support. The knights' swords kicked up sparks as they rent the White Whale's outer hide, and they pulled away so that mounted dragons running parallel could add explosions via magic crystals. The White Whale let out a cry, slapping the ground all around it. Even that act of writhing in pain was a difficult-to-evade violent force to the human beings around it. One land dragon and mounted knight pair was sent flying by the attack; crushed by a very heavy weight, the sound of bones breaking scattered about. Blood spurted, and a single human life was snuffed out Subaru burned the sight into his eyes. A chill ran up his spine. He could not have saved him in time, but this was the result of Subaru's decision. It was the result of Subaru choosing to start that battle. He could not look away. The instant Subaru rejected that fact would be the moment he lost to the emotion of shame. When he'd lost to his own heart, when he'd faced his most despicable weaknesses, he deeply, gently rejected those weaknesses even so. That was why he could pamper himself no longer. With a shudder, he tasted the sensation of blood draining away as he cut through the wind, trusting fully in his land dragon. The annihilating mist spewed by the countless mouths was right beside them as they grazed past. If even a single one of his fingers should have touched it, Subaru's existence would be erased and brought to an end. His entire body would be engulfed in a sense of loss different than death, and he would vanish, ended without even anyone to remember him. However... "El Fulla!" "Like we'll let you!!" "Where do you think you're looking?!" ...wind magic swept the mist aside. Blades rising with a bellow, and mauls with a roar, pounded and crushed the mouths spewing mist. The knights' support slightly thinned the barrage of mist. Even so, the mist's firepower was cause for despair, but Subaru's entire nervous system had grown finely attuned to the aura of impending erasure. Leaving their course to Patlash, Subaru's flesh took evasive action atop its back. He sprang onto his arms and pushed up. In so doing, Subaru evaded the mist pressing upon him from the rear, but having completely thrown off his balance, he was on his way to a fall when "G-guuuuuts!!" Gripping the reins, he thrust his knees onto the saddle, barely averting the fall. The gripping power he'd honed swinging a wooden sword, something meaningless in his original world, allowed his hands to just barely hold on rather than slip from the shaking and vibrations. Subaru hung on to Patlash, clawing along the ground, as they broke past the barrage. Their vision cleared, and when the considerate land dragon slackened

the pace, Subaru reseated himself, ending what must have looked like the most disgraceful sight ever. His endurance, never great to begin with, had fallen, and at that rate, next time would be one-sided but Crusch and the others advanced on the White Whale, launching their attack. "Gotta rack my brain... Haaa, shit, don't just put your life on the line think, damn it!" Even as he breathed raggedly, putting his life on the line to earnestly act as a decoy once more, Subaru's thoughts wandered to the trick Crusch had brought up during their prior conversation. Where the White Whale's "ecology" was concerned, Subaru was the least informed person there. He had no way of appreciating the damage the being had wrought beyond the extent of the words Great Expedition. There had to be something Subaru could notice, something that only he could notice, that others could not. Wilhelm had been chasing the White Whale for fourteen years to avenge his wife. The notion that the Sword Devil, having nursed that grudge to arrive at that field of battle, could overlook such critical information as "There are multiple White Whales" was simply unthinkable. Naturally, that meant the phenomenon was unknown. Then why hadn't anyone been told? No, why had it escaped their knowledge? "Why did more come out all of a sudden? ...The premise that there were three to start with is just weird." He felt like he was about to catch on. But before he could, Patlash's earnest sprint had brought them within smelling range of the White Whale. Crusch was chasing the White Whale, adding slashes from her treasured sword to it, but its gaze was shifting heavily toward Subaru. Simultaneously, it opened its mouth, releasing a roar that seemed to shatter the air along with the dense, vastly destructive mist that had filled its oral cavity. Patlash stomped down, sharply changing directions. That got them out of the oncoming tyrannical mist's immediate reach but was half a step short in getting them out of its effective range yet... "We'll handle this!" "We won't let ya!!" ...Hetaro and Mimi intervened, buying them the time to take that last half step. The twin cat people opened their mouths, unleashing overlapping roars of "Wa!" and "Ha!" The sound waves intermingled to combine into one, entwining as they transformed into destructive power. Then, the vast oscillation wave rippled across the plain, striking the onrushing mist head-on and blowing it apart. "Whoaa!! That's awesome!!" "Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah! Praise me more! Woo-hoo!" "There you go again, Big Sis..." Subaru's honest praise made Mimi puff her chest out, her cheeks loosening in satisfaction. Running alongside her, Hetaro exhaled, the two sandwiching Subaru as they darted close to him. "We will support you. Without you, Mr. Natsuki, I do not see any way of winning this battle," Hetaro said. "So can we go bam, boom, badaboom, and stuff?" Mimi asked. "Big Sis, we've been going bam, boom, badaboom, but we still need Mr. Natsuki's help." "Heh!" The low-stress conversation continued with Subaru stuck in the middle. Leaving aside Mimi acting like she didn't grasp the situation in the slightest, Subaru turned his head toward the receptive-looking Hetaro and said, "That team-up attack, that's the one you smacked the White Whale with midway, huh. Can you do it again?" "Mana is tight, so one more and I will be at my limit Big Sis and I will defend you until the captain finishes healing up." "That Ricardo guy, he's alive?!" When Subaru raised his voice at the unexpected good news, Hetaro said yes as he nodded. That gesture spread the relief in Subaru's heart. When the liger Ricardo had ridden was cruelly slain, he'd seen the large amount of blood and feared Ricardo might have been blown away without even a trace. "Our gravely wounded captain had a message for you, Mr. Natsuki." "A message... It's not something like, 'You owe me big'?" "I believe he will say this to you later from his own mouth, but...it goes as follows. Ahem. 'Wha ? It got lighter. Fact I ain't dead is proof o' that.' End of message." Hetaro conveyed the message, mimicking Ricardo down to his Kararagi dialect. Subaru made no comment on the quality of the portrayal as he mulled over the meaning of the words spoken to him. It was a message Ricardo had literally put his life on the line to get to him. If he could only wrap his mind around the meaning within, and the real message behind it "You don't sound anything like him." "Yeah, not one bit! You have no talent for this, not at all!" "Is this the time to say something like that?!" Mimi innocently concurred with Subaru's insensitive remark. Hetaro refuted their thoughts with a voice on the verge of tears, but Subaru let that slide off him and looked up at the sky. Two of the White Whales were still tangling with the expeditionary force, engaged in fierce combat. On the other hand, the White Whale floating in the sky, with a commanding view of the battle, was calmly watching from up high. Subaru felt that its behavior was somehow...unnatural. The expeditionary force had lost its main fighting strength, and the diminished squads were split apart, fighting on two fronts. Even with Subaru fulfilling his role as a distraction, if the White Whale floating in the sky were to join either front, it would be enough to decisively shift the course of the battle. If either force was gobbled up, they were finished. And yet, that White Whale did nothing. Why...? "Ricardo's message..." Lighter, Ricardo had said. He was conveying the reason he hadn't died after putting his life on the line. So what did that mean? Lighter, but what was lighter? His life? Certainly life was lighter on the field of battle, but he didn't think that's how it was meant. Lighter, lighter meant... "This is a heavy, hard situation. What the hell can be lighter...?!" He put all his weight on Patlash and charged toward the tip of the nearest White Whale once more. With Crusch and the others all over it, the White Whale's oral cavity aimed their way, but an invisible slash from Crusch at the magic crystals lobbed into it inflicted explosive damage. A cry went up among the knights. Even as their numbers diminished, one here, one there, they were currently maintaining the battlefront on inexhaustible morale alone. Was this how strong human beings became when they resolved to defy death before their eyes? After all, the expeditionary force had challenged the White Whale with its full roster. Having lost their main fighting force and even much of their numbers, the fact that they were still resisting by force of arms could only be said to be the power of will "You can't expect even the power of will to explain all this, though." Having thought that far, Subaru gasped, lifting his face. He looked back at the White Whale left in the lurch behind him, glaring at the demon beast's distant visage. Then, he realized what felt so off. "If that's the case...!" Subaru gritted his teeth, a chill running through his entire body when the possibility rose and coursed through him. Transmitting his intent through the reins, Patlash made a sharp turn and ferociously approached the other White Whale. Rem, fighting furiously with her full Oni power unleashed, rode a liger as she smashed hole after hole in the White Whale's torso. Even with her apron dress sullied by demon beast blood spatter, she smiled firmly when she sensed Subaru's approach. Seeing that happy expression while she was daubed in whale blood was disconcerting, but imprudent as it was, Subaru watched Rem with fascination. Even with the situation at such a disadvantage, Rem trusted in Subaru's reckless resolve. Her faith, her love, could not go unanswered. *** Without any exchange of words, Subaru's land dragon crossed Rem's liger, with Subaru going toward the tip of the White Whale's nose, and Rem turning her mount toward its tail. There was no need to stop and discuss it. Both knew that Subaru had his own role to play, and Rem had hers. When Subaru circled to the front of the White Whale, the demon beast, sensing his approach, shifted his head in his direction. Above its gigantic eye, multiple mist-spewing mouths appeared, drooling as they emitted white mist. "Ta-daa! Ba-baam! Whoosh, scatter, scatter!" The liger Mimi rode jumped to the left of Patlash, to the right, above, and all around. As Mimi made decisive poses and voiced sound effects atop the big dog's back, the staff in her hand glowed, blocking the mist with a magic wall, buying Subaru and Patlash enough time to evade before the barrage reached them. "This is gonna cost you big, mister!" "I'm grateful enough; when this is over I'll thank you a hundred times over!" "Okay, then!" At Mimi's laconic reply, he turned his back and ran parallel in pursuit of the White Whale. Then he overtook it, and got out in front. Subaru turned, and he and the White Whale glared at each other. The demon beast, its one eye dyed crimson, let out a high-pitched cry at the defiance of the boy, as annoying and small as a pest. But the beast's appearance lent conviction to Subaru's own thoughts. Neither that White Whale, nor the one facing Crusch and the others, had a left eye. "Just like I thought! There ain't three of ya, damn it you split apart!" The one floating in the sky was surely wounded in the same places as the first, including the loss of its left eye. The missing left eye was the battle wound Wilhelm had inflicted on the White Whale in the early fighting. It was crystal clear there could be only one reason the same wounds were on not a single beast but the two others as well: The one in the sky had split itself, bringing the other two into being. "The hits are lighter because the offshoots only have a third of the fighting power! That trick explains why we can fight them even with way fewer people!" It explained why Ricardo, struck in the surprise attack, was not killed in the process. So, too, did it explain why the expeditionary force, diminished in numbers, was able to keep fighting against multiple White Whales. Subaru had abandoned the convenient thinking that would peg it on the miraculous power of will. And it was precisely because Subaru was such a contrarian that he had arrived at the offbeat answer. The power of the annihilating mist was absolute. Accordingly, the White Whale had increased its manpower at the cost of its own endurance. If the tyranny of numbers broke the spirit of the expeditionary force, the battle would surely end there. Subaru had a hard time believing that the White Whale understood the weaknesses of the human heart and had resorted to the tactic with that knowledge. But the White Whale having the power to split itself was an incontrovertible fact. What would have happened if Subaru hadn't rebelled against surrender when he did? Subaru could not grasp what would have happened had he not howled. The current Subaru would not allow himself to perceive a future where he hadn't. He never wanted to stare at the White Whales' ugly mugs so long ever aga " What the...?!" Before Subaru, forming that conclusion, the movements of the White Whale pursuing him changed. Where it had once floated in the sky, it now rubbed against the ground, as if some foreign object inside its body was causing it agony. "Big Sis, now!" "Mimi understands! It's hard when you have an itch you can't scratch, huh!" Hetaro, sensing a favorable opportunity, leaped forward, and Mimi, misunderstanding the White Whale's movements, followed suit. The twins matched their movements in a pincer attack on the White Whale from right and

left, opening their mouths at the same time when "Wa !" "Ha !" The howling waves from left and right greatly warped the White Whale's torso, and the shock wave punched through the outer hide to the innards. They bounced off the hardened hide, cracks ran across it, blood flowed out, and the next moment " Zuaaaaaa!!" The part of the belly that rubbed against the ground's surface swelled from the inside, only for flesh and blood to break part. Reddish-black fluid flowed out like a muddy stream and spewed out; riding that stream was... "Wilhelm?!" The Sword Devil, his survival uncertain after being engulfed by the White Whale, had returned. Subaru rushed over to Wilhelm while the expeditionary force restrained the thrashing White Whale. Wilhelm, his entire body smeared with blood, fell to one knee, holding half his body up with a sword. "I was...rash...and...careless...!" he groaned. "You don't need to talk! Aw, crap, I don't know what to do here, but at least you're alive. Let's get back to Ferris first thing!" When Subaru reached out with his hand, he drew in his breath; the state of Wilhelm's wounds was far beyond his expectations. He still had the willpower to grip a sword, but he was knocking on death's door, his mangled left arm included. The torch of his life threatened to burn out at any moment if Subaru didn't find a healer, pronto. And yet, when Subaru rushed over, Wilhelm politely refused his hand. Planting his weight on the sword he leaned upon, he clenched his teeth, trying to stand on his own power. "Not...yet. I can still...fight..." "This ain't the time! You'll die in front of the whale! So none of this 'it's not enough to kill me,' or 'I'm sleepy' crap! When it comes to life-and-death, I know more than you do!" "What...are...you saying...?" Scolding the mangled Wilhelm, Subaru grabbed his body and dragged him up. During the time the two bickered, the cat-people siblings linked back up with them. "The old man came out!" "Mr. Wilhelm, are you all right?!" When the twins came rushing and saw Wilhelm's grave injuries, both instantly went into action. Mimi applied simplified healing magic to the aged swordsman's wounds, and during that time, Hetaro looked up at Subaru and said, "Even Big Sis's healing magic cannot do much to heal these wounds. Mr. Natsuki, can you get Mr. Wilhelm as far as Mr. Felix?" "Yeah, I can see for myself Wilhelm's in bad shape! If he isn't treated, it'll be too late! I really wanna bring him myself, but..." Subaru glared at the White Whale as it began to rouse itself once more. The belly wound ran deep, and the bleeding from the opening hadn't ceased, but the demon beast continued to spew mist from the mouths all over its body, showing no more sign of giving up the fight than Wilhelm had. There was no mistake: At present, Subaru's distraction was no small part of their fighting strength against it. If Subaru carried Wilhelm off, the fighting would only take a turn for the worse. "Even besides that, I might end up leading the White Whale straight to the wounded. Can I leave Wilhelm to the two of you?" "We can do that with our ligers...but do you have something in mind?" Hetaro accepted Wilhelm from Subaru, groaning a bit at the disparity in body weight as he put the man onto his liger. After that, he looked up at Subaru, taking the hand of his blissfully laughing sister as he said, "If there is a chance to win, I will listen. If not, I must take my sister by the hand and flee." "Ehh, why?! We haven't beaten them yet!" "Big Sis, be quiet." Her little brother's statement made Mimi pout her lips in visible dismay. Watching the exchange between the twins, Subaru said, "I suppose so," and accepted with a nod. "You're mercs. You're just working for money, not like me, Crusch, and the knights with a grudge against the whale... No obligation to risk your lives." "Do not misunderstand. We are not obligated to throw away our lives." His face and demeanor were meek, but Hetaro gave Subaru his opinion with fortitude. Gazing down at the little beast people, not even reaching his own hips, Subaru exhaled deeply. "Sorry, but there's no time," he said. "I think there's a chance to win. For now, just get Wilhelm to the rear... I've gotta...talk to Rem and Crusch." With Patlash beside him, Subaru practically jumped onto its back, straddling it as he ran his gaze overhead. He looked up at the sky above, glaring at the abominable, fish-shaped figure leisurely swimming therein 4 "The White Whale split itself, then?" "Yeah, I don't think there's any doubt. The locations of the wounds and the combat strength bear that out. Put bluntly, you and the other people fighting it directly must've felt it, right?" "For my part, I was in a daze, but...you may well be correct." Subaru had regrouped with Rem and Crusch, and both made accepting faces and nodded as Subaru explained. Having entrusted Wilhelm's retreat to Hetaro's liger, he'd joined the twins, now riding on the same liger, and had just finished explaining the "trick" to the battlefield's main fighting force. With the main force out of action, the cavalry unit and the Iron Fangs were keeping two of the White Whales busy. Their high morale and excellent teamwork oddly glossed it over, but there were mere minutes of time available for a strategy meeting They had to come up with a plan to defeat the White Whale during that time. " I accept your hypothesis that they are weaker than the original, single one. But what does comprehending this avail? Even if they are wounded and weakened, the menace to us is greater than before. Even with Ferris's healing, we cannot hope for those who have withdrawn to return to the battle lines." "It hurts not to have Wilhelm and Ricardo, but I'm not asking the impossible. We've gotta win this without them." "So we must kill three White Whales. It is easy to say but a high wall." "We don't need to kill three killing one should be enough." With a twitch, Crusch raised an eyebrow at Subaru's words. Subaru returned her look of deep interest with a nod and pointed at the demon beast in the sky above. "Whaddaya think that bastard's doing, making its two offshoots fight every which way while it watches from high up there?" "Perhaps it is refraining while it heals its wounds...?" Subaru shook his head at Rem's unconfident reply. From what Subaru could see, demon beasts were not so different from other creatures. At the very least, the White Whale didn't seem to possess any kind of off-the-charts self-regeneration ability. If that was so, the role of the White Whale high in the sky was "That is the main body, then?" "That's how I'm seein' it." Subaru nodded, concurring with Crusch, arriving at the same conclusion as he. Put plainly, it was all no more than a guess. But it was pretty certain that the White Whale high in the sky was the original out of the three. And when considering how to defeat the additional White Whales, the fact that it was playing a waiting game was beyond all dispute. "I think the fact that it doesn't come down and help either of its buddies can only mean one thing that it can't let itself get taken down." "The reasoning matches up. However, put differently..." "It might mean that killing the bottom two might not even hurt the main body." Even if they defeated one at great pains, there was no guarantee the corpse would not simply be replaced by a new version. If that was so, the battle would plunge into an infinite loop with no end in sight. As a result, in contrast to the White Whale, playing with infinite continuations, he could see them crying uncle soon enough. Hetaro, quietly observing, posed a very realistic question. "So the reason it does not descend is linked to how to defeat it. But what should we do, then? We don't have any way to fly that high and attack it." The little cat's question made Crusch shift her sharp, amber gaze to the White Whale overhead as she said, "Even using my blessing, my blade cannot attack at that range with appreciable force. I might be able to strike it, but the White Whale shall not fall from that." The White Whale had fled to the upper sky, reaching an altitude roughly equal to the clouds. It was as if the White Whale was displaying its nastiness by occupying a position higher than when it had first appeared. At that range, even the accuracy of magic crystal cannons would surely take a heavy hit. "Rem, could you, say, float a mountain of ice right up close to the bastard...?" "I am sorry. Mana is more difficult to control the farther away it is. I think it would be possible for Master Roswaal, but my skill is..." Rem appeared chagrined, feeling the limits of her own power with a plan to break the deadlock before their eyes. Subaru gave her reply a wave of the hand to say, It can't be helped, and looked up to the sky. He'd thought up a plan. Given Crusch's reply, Hetaro and Mimi's reply, and Rem's reply, the best plan was out, leaving the next best, one he hadn't wanted to use. "I have a plan, but it depends a lot on rolling the dice... Wanna give it a shot?" Closing one eye, Subaru checked how far the girls were willing to go before revealing that next-best plan. But one might even call it a rude thing to ask. The very fact that they stood in that place meant they would not shirk from any gamble... ...for they were a pack of great fools a fact of which Subaru was well aware. 5 From far in the sky above, the White Whale quietly watched the conflict below. The battlefield was neatly divided into two halves, right and left, by the tree at the center that seemed to pierce the sky. On both sides, little humans were clinging to the demon beasts' enormous frames, stabbing with the steel they gripped in their hands, brandishing stones that created light, defying the beasts in a superficial manner. As flames rose up and the demon beasts' anguished cries reached it from below, the White Whale swam through the sky, spewing mist. The mist it poured onto the plains was the ally of the offshoots beneath its gaze, steadily but surely whittling down the diminutive foe. The figures scurried around, but as time passed, their numbers dwindled; one here, one there, swallowed by the mist, their existence erased from that world. Everything would be swallowed up, and the end of that fruitless battle would not be long in coming. It was only a matter of time before the opposing fighting force began to develop fatal cracks and collapse. If the White Whale possessed human intellect, it would surely have thought this, certain of its own victory. But in fact, the White Whale possessed no such thing. The White Whale was simply following instinct, acting to destroy the opponent so as to preserve itself. There was no use asking a beast's instincts why it delivered such a judgment. In accordance with its instincts, the White Whale calmly, purposefully set about toying with and killing its prey. *** It spewed mist, progressively dyeing the surface white. Though pests had interrupted it, the White Whale's mission was to cover the world in mist. This, too, was the command of its instinct, and doing so was the purpose of the White Whale's existence. Thus, the White Whale's mind pulled away from the spectacle below when suddenly, its enormous eye shifted about, its mind reorienting toward

the earth once more. Having detected mana gathering with enormous force, it looked at the flow with its naked eye. "Al Hyuma." A blue-haired girl was standing in the center of the vast vortex of mana. Over time, the mana swirled around her legs, building up as the girl gave it direction, gently constructing a very long lance of ice with a sharp tip protruding from it. The vile frozen weapon was in the thirty-foot range, and its sharp spear tip was aimed at the center of the White Whale. Even from a distance, its might appeared menacing, but the White Whale noticing it before she fired it was fatal. " Please!" The girl shouted a prayer as the icy spear launched from the ground toward the sky. Of course, its target was dead center in the torso of the swimming White Whale. The icy bloodlust accelerated rapidly with force sufficient to break through the sky but the time it took to achieve that acceleration, and being seen at the moment of its launch, meant the plan had failed, its objective unfulfilled. The White Whale waved its tail, swimming through the sky by slicing the wind. That alone threw off the icy spear's aim. The pathetic spear of ice sailed wide of the mark, passing by the White Whale's flank on its way to the distant sky *** The instant the icy spear passed by, the very gentle sound of something shattering reached the White Whale's hearing. Taking into account the vast disparity in mass between the two, that was little short of a miracle. That devil-wrought heavenly miracle told the White Whale that it was the sound of an irreparable mistake. " Heya. I've gotta say, it feels real icky seein' you up close like this." An exceedingly light sensation mounted the White Whale's nose. At the same time it realized that a being had landed atop its brow, the icy spear, supposedly flying past, vanished without a trace, and the White Whale caught a scent of the wave of scattering mana. And next, he discovered the source of the unbearably foul odor was right on top of it. "You're coming with me. Gotta warn you, I'm a man considered too annoying to ignore." A wicked smile came over the source of the foul odor as the White Whale listened to his words. 6 To summarize Subaru's wild scheme, he'd ride an ice spear from Rem's magic up into the sky, whereupon he would break a mana repulsion crystal to get off it and climb aboard the White Whale. Of course, Rem fiercely objected, but he got his way with repeated cries of "I trust you, Rem!" wearing Crusch and the others down by insisting it was not reckless, procuring a mana repulsion crystal from them in the process. They'd anticipated that the White Whale would evade obvious great magic, and it was therein that Subaru laid his trap. To the contrary, had the White Whale not evaded, it was possible the icy spear, with Subaru clinging to the end, might have hit squarely and smashed to pieces. In one sense, it was the greatest danger to befall his life in that battle. "But if I'm gonna say that, I'm in a pretty big pickle now this is really scary!" Desperately clinging to the tip of the White Whale's nose, Subaru got a good feel of its rough hide and body hair on his palms while his face grimaced from the wind in the upper sky and the raw scent of the mighty creature. The clinging Subaru in other words, the concentrated scent of the Witch brought an about-face in the state of the White Whale. From its posture of solemn observation, the demon beast had clearly fallen into an agitated state, with mist, drool, and loud laughter flowing out of the entirety of its mouth, giving the rude Subaru a hearty welcome. " Okie." Accepting the White Whale's unhappy greeting, Subaru took a deep breath and calmed his heart. Of course, Subaru did not have any special attack with which to send the White Whale crashing to earth. He wasn't naive enough to think that a bit of enlightenment and resolve were enough to bring that about, and even if he smacked it with Shamak at great cost to his body, he'd probably slip like a brain-dead idiot, falling to his death so that was out. So Subaru was clinging to the White Whale for one thing. "Well, let's give this a try hardened resolve an' all." Before the White Whale shifted to action, Subaru let go and slid down the body's stony hide entering a free-fall course. He hadn't slipped like a brain-dead idiot, but he'd begun falling to the ground nonetheless. The White Whale shifted its head toward the sight of Subaru committing a spectacular act of suicide, making a slight movement of its body to pursue, but then, it stopped, as if something had made it hesitate. If it just watched Subaru go, its advantage from air supremacy would remain unshaken. The White Whale instinctively understood this, halting, as if it was resisting the lure of the scent. I see, stubborn instincts. Well, that's inconvenient. Accordingly, he played his trump card. "At this height, there's no worry about anyone else hearing. Listen up! Big freebie here. Thanks to you, Rem died and I went through huge trauma, you bastard!!" The instant he said it, Subaru's flesh, buffeted by the gale, was disconnected from the world. All the senses of his body grew distant, and his mind, ruled to that point by the feeling that his internal organs were floating upward, lost track of reality. He was invited to a place where the notion of time did not exist. The next moment "I love you." He felt like someone had whispered in his ear. An instant later ferocious pain shot through Subaru's entire body, as if a thunderbolt were turning him to ash. From a place he could not see, the hands had invaded from the back side to grab his heart, wringing it roughly, but with care, as if checking to make sure it was still there. He truly felt the organ that governed his life being treated roughly, the foreign sensation of having someone else freely manipulate such a vital part. At the end of the world, not even allowed to let out a scream, the sounds of the wind and his own scream told him that... "I'm...baaaack!!" *** Before Subaru's eyes, the White Whale's huge mouth was open as it ferociously plunged after him. His confession of the taboo had increased the scent of the Witch, and the increased hatred had overridden the demon beast's instincts. It let out a roar, its eye losing all sanity, seemingly forgetting about the conflict below as the White Whale came rushing, seeking to erase Subaru's existence alone. Shrouded by a whirlwind, the White Whale rapidly closed the distance between them, making Subaru afraid. In that situation, unable to do anything but free fall, Subaru had no way to evade the charge. At that rate, before ever reaching the ground, the White Whale would catch him, and he'd hurdle toward BAD END 11: "Whale Food." At that rate, anyway. " Rem!!" "Yes, Subaru!" Subaru's shouting voice seemed to die on the wind, but she replied loud and clear. Simultaneously, with the White Whale focused exclusively on Subaru, a flying spear of ice flew in right from the side and collided intruding upon its open mouth, breaking a number of its yellow teeth, and dulling its movements. Seizing the opportunity, Rem, on Patlash's back, wrapped her morning star around Subaru's free-falling body. The chain wrapped around his hips, forcibly twisting him off his crash course and sending his innards to one side. "Gwah!" was the cry Subaru raised as he remembered tasting the same impact once before. It was the second time Rem had saved his falling body in that fashion. The first time was when Subaru's feet had slipped from the dragon carriage on their way to the royal capital. "I guess you can get used to anything..." After all, this time he had managed to avoid fainting. Manipulated by the chain, Subaru's body fell somewhat roughly onto Patlash's back. With Rem spreading her arms wide to receive him, Subaru ended up flying into her bosom. With a soft impact, Subaru's head was buried in a warm sensation as he exhaled. "I'm saved!" "You are getting a treat." "What are you saying?!" Subaru's cheeks reddened, and he hurriedly lifted his face from the embrace of Rem's breasts. Right beside them, the face of the White Whale moved past *** The White Whale had crashed into the ground headfirst, its momentum undiminished. With a great roar, the surface of the ground exploded in a cloud of dirt, the force making the earth shudder. As they became enveloped in a gust like a blast of wind, Subaru directed Patlash to sprint full force and behind them, the White Whale was taking flight, bursting out of the dirt cloud. The incredible force had messed up its head, and on top of that, the White Whale forgot itself, raising a scream as it bore down on Subaru. In its tremendous excitement, he saw not even the slightest trace of when it leisurely swam in the sky. Its swimming had grown choppy, and its speed, outstripping the wind, was a good match for Patlash. But in raw vigor, it was overwhelming. The earth split, and as its tail slapped the earth, the White Whale ferociously chased them from behind. Subaru put all his weight forward, entrusting his life to Patlash's reserves of strength. This was the land dragon that had earnestly and desperately exhausted all efforts for Subaru so far. Though it had been a short time, Subaru held enough faith to put his life on its shoulders. "I'm counting on you, Patlash! You're a dragon, right?! Show me how cool you are!" *** Patlash neighed, and it felt like the speed went up a notch. The roar of the White Whale resounded, and from the violent shaking of his eardrums and the world going blurry, he knew. Straight ahead. Straight ahead. We just need to run and go right past it. The White Whale swam, ferociously chasing down Subaru to devour him whole. And then "Take this, damn it !!" *** A second roar reverberated, and right after, there was a series of sounds like something was being ripped apart. The intervals between the flagrant sounds narrowed, drew closer, and finally, a mighty shadow was born, making a very heavy sound as it the Great Flugel Tree fell straight toward the White Whale. *** Magic crystal cannons, invisible blades, roaring attacks destructive forces piled one on top of another had gouged out the roots of the Great Tree, which had grown over the course of four centuries and had been planted by a sage. As it came down, it crushed the enormous body of the demon beast flat. The great weight of the tree jutting to the heavens crashed straight into the White Whale, pressing into it from above. Against an attack that was in a different dimension compared to everything that came before it, even the defense from White Whale's tough outer hide was rendered meaningless. A scream and an incredible shock wave ran across the Liphas plains, with the blast blowing the mist away. Crushed under the Great Tree, the immobilized White Whale shrieked in anguish, curling its tail. And yet, its vital energy was such that its body had sustained a blow so great, but its life had not been extinguished. The White Whale writhed, trying to escape from the super-heavy mass, when at the tip of its nose " I dedicate this to my wife, Theresia van Astrea." Raising above his head the treasured sword he had borrowed from his master, a lone Sword Devil swooped down to lower the curtain on that ferocious battle upon which hung life or death, vindictiveness spanning fourteen years, and a history

of conflict between man and the White Whale spanning four hundred. CHAPTER 5 *** 1 Let us speak of the man named Wilhelm Trias. Wilhelm was born the third son of the Trias family, a family of local nobles in the Kingdom of Lugunica. The Trias family was an old, storied family granted land along the kingdom's northernmost border with the Holy Kingdom of Gusteko. This said, its fame as a family of warriors was a thing of the past; by the time of Wilhelm's birth, it had become a small, weak baronial family, with only a meager fief and a tiny populace to its name. In real terms, it was no more than an example of nobility fallen from grace. Wilhelm's brothers were well removed from him in age, and his upbringing had no connection to inheritance of family leadership. Furthermore, he, lacking the aptitude for civil government of his brothers, encountered wielding the sword as his one path leading to a future. The sword decorating the great hall of their mansion had once been used by a string of men in the Trias family to gain fame as warriors for the kingdom, but to the present Trias family, it was simply a treasured sword to be admired on a wall. Even Wilhelm did not remember what triggered it. But when he drew the treasured sword, which he had never before even set hands upon, out of its scabbard, the way he was instantly captivated by the beauty of the steel that, he remembered distinctly. Before he knew it, he'd been taking the family sword on his own to the mountains out back, swinging it from morning till night. The first time he touched the sword, he was eight; he became accustomed to the length and weight of the blade, and when his limbs grew so that they were no longer mismatched, Wilhelm was fourteen, and the finest sword wielder of the domain. "I'll go to the capital and enter the royal army. Then I'll become a knight." And it was at fourteen years old that Wilhelm spoke those words and ran off from home, carrying the brainless dream any boy had thought of at least once. The trigger was on the night of a storm when he had an argument with his oldest brother. His brother had begun a "What will you do for your future?" lecture to Wilhelm, immersed in only the sword and minded to associate with brats and scoundrels in the territory. Through swinging a sword, he'd felt himself growing stronger and stronger, and that by itself had made him happy. And so, the older brother's words toward his younger, lacking any ambition for the future, were very strict. He had piled sound argument upon sound argument, and Wilhelm, deficient in words, spoke those words as the prelude to his flying out the door. He followed them with his trademark phrase, "You can't understand how I feel!" and left, and in truth, the result was that Wilhelm left his family with nothing but a sword and a small amount of money. It was an unplanned departure, but Wilhelm was able to safely reach the royal capital. Wilhelm, triumphant as he arrived, made his way to the Royal Palace with all haste, and records note that he entered the royal army as a common soldier. If it were the current era, a stray ruffian arriving in an attempt to pass through the castle gate under such circumstances would have been rightfully and properly turned away. However, at that time, there was a civil war with an alliance of demi-human tribes centered upon the eastern lands of the kingdom the Demi-human War had long continued, and the urgency was so great that no number of volunteers seemed enough. It was then that a boy appeared, selling himself as having fair skill in the sword. He was welcomed with both hands, and Wilhelm entered the royal army without the slightest hindrance. Thus, unconnected to setbacks or travails, Wilhelm stepped onto the field of his first battle. There, for the first time, the boy came to know the wall called reality. His skill with the blade, unmatched on his home soil, served nothing against veterans of the field of battle, and he was confronted by his own recklessness and conceit. Such was the hardship of youth, the baptism of one's first battle. Yes. By rights, it should have been like that for anyone. But in truth, without ever having faced live combat, Wilhelm's skill with the sword easily surpassed fifteen normal youths put together. "What? They really weren't as tough as I thought." In his first battle, the boy soldier had built a mountain of demi-human corpses, and from atop that mound, he thrust his sword into his attackers. No one could behold him and not feel afraid of the bloodstained future that awaited him. Wilhelm's abnormal strength in the sword was multiplied over the days he swung a sword in his homeland. From morning to evening, until his energy gave out, Wilhelm had lived by continuing to swing the sword every day, from age eight to fourteen, six years without pause. Even once he had entered the royal army, his lifestyle of devoting every free moment to the sword did not change. Within the same unit, there were perhaps one or two people who reached out to Wilhelm, but he rebuffed their overtures, immersing himself only in the sword for days and months until the boy became a man. Unbroken by reality, yet unsatisfied with himself, Wilhelm continued to swing a sword on the field of battle, unable to quench the feeling of gloom within him. With his blade, by rending the flesh of others, bathing in their blood, and taking the lives of his opponents, he proved that he was stronger and he knew that only in those moments did a dark joy sprout within him. As knowledge of his skill with the sword spread, the name of the rural-born swordsman who refused all promotion, to knight or anything else, became known in both the royal army and the Demi-human Alliance by the alternative name of Sword Devil a devil of the sword, rushing across the battlefield, and smiling only when cutting a person down. It was a name that became synonymous with fright and hatred, and both friend and foe steered wide of him. His exploits were beyond counting, and yet, there was no question of promoting Wilhelm to knight. He did not associate with others, stoically devoting himself to the sword, rampaging on the battlefield without regard for his allies, leaping into the enemy formation, dancing as he made flowers of blood bloom. Such a man could not be worthy of a flowery title such as "knight." In a kingdom with a long tradition of chivalry, Wilhelm's existence was loathed as an interloper regardless of his many services to the nation. And Wilhelm himself never once thought of changing that circumstance. He did not think like a knight, with their high pride, regard for the lives of others, and their tendency to polish the nobility of their own souls. When he fought, he killed people; he made their blood flow and smashed their lives to pieces. He, who took more joy in that than anything, was not suited for knighthood, and if it stopped him from being able to enjoy that, he wanted nothing to do with being a knight. His longing for battle was warped, but over a great deal of time, the heart of the young man named Wilhelm rotted. And it was when he was eighteen when he had been in the royal army for three years, and when none in the army knew not the name "Sword Devil" that a gap in that heart was born. 2 She had beautiful, long red hair, and from the side, her face was so pretty it made him shiver. With the enlargement of the battle lines, Wilhelm was temporarily sent back to the royal capital from the front lines, forced to take leave that he suggested was unnecessary. Separated from the battlefield, and the rampant smell of blood, gunpowder, and death, Wilhelm, with too much time on his hands, slipped out of the castle gates with his beloved sword in hand, heading for the lower parts of the capital. Since running out on his own family, the treasured sword he had taken with him in lieu of a parting gift of coin had become greatly worn, but over the course of ten years, he was used to that beloved blade like none other. It was not that he could not use other swords, but when he was bent on taking the lives of others, that sword was indeed best. Walking all alone, Wilhelm headed down a street in the lower quarter with no sign of life. His destination was the very edge of the royal capital, a run-down district that had been abandoned midway through its construction. The capital went from the Nobles' District through Market Street, continuing through the Commons, and the abandoned district had apparently been conceived a ways back, but construction had been aborted quite some time prior with no sign of resuming anytime soon. The word was it would likely stay that way until the civil war was resolved. *** In the morning, the unfinished district had no signs of human life, and if any did exist, it would be scum gathering there for no good purpose. They were cowards that would scatter like baby spiders if a little antagonism hit them. Of late, not even those outlaws had come close to the Sword Devil, wholly devoted to the blade, unafraid and unawares when he entered the unfinished district on his days off. "Just as well, I suppose." The reason Wilhelm swung his sword in the lower city rather than at the parade grounds of the Royal Palace was so that his ears would be undisturbed by annoying voices, immersing himself into a silent world where he was alone. Wilhelm no longer sought to measure his skill by crossing swords with others. He turned toward the swordsman he imagined in the back of his mind, counterattacking his unleashed steel. The training he had continued since his youth always had Wilhelm crossing swords with the person he considered his greatest foe. "Aren't you a bad looker?" His eyes oozed with bloodlust; his lips were contorted in madness. The empty-eyed swordsman with whom he crossed swords every day was his reflection in the mirror. To Wilhelm, his greatest enemy was always himself. This was not in a philosophical sense but rather, a realistic view of his might. On the battlefield, he confronted his opponents in other words, he took their lives. Having survived the battlefield, on the edge of life-and-death, there had been none on the field of battle to date that was mightier than he. Then what worthy rival was there to cross swords with than he, a man he could not kill no matter how hard he tried? Therefore, during his leave, he went to a place devoid of others to immerse in a sword dance against himself. For it was only there, in a sword drama none should ever yearn for in reality, that he truly felt what it meant to be alive "Ah, I'm quite sorry." That day, the sight of a beautiful girl was the foreign element wedging itself into the Sword Devil's world. To swing his sword and meet himself in deadly combat Wilhelm, on his way to the unfinished district with that aim, stopped when he noticed a different guest ahead of him. Normally, the heart of the unfinished district Wilhelm used was a completely empty space. The footing was comparatively level, and the breadth made it an ideal place for him and yet, a foreign element rested in Wilhelm's place of relaxation, tilting its head slightly toward him. "To think someone would come to a place like this, and so early in the morning "

*** The girl addressed Wilhelm with a little smile. But Wilhelm responded to the greeting with a simple slap of his antagonistic aura to drive her away. He felt as if he was shooing away an annoying insect. An amateur amid such antagonism would beat a hasty retreat; even a man of skill would likely perceive Wilhelm's level of skill and do likewise. But the girl did nothing of the sort. "...What is the matter? Such a scary face." She parried Wilhelm's antagonism, continuing her words as if it were nothing. Wilhelm felt annoyed, clicking his tongue. This was an opponent upon whom such hostility was ineffective in other words, someone completely unrelated to the martial arts. At the very least, someone upon whom violence was effective would have shown some reaction to Wilhelm's antagonism. But to someone unconnected to such things, it was simple coercion. Depending on the opponent, someone might even receive it with a simple narrowing of the eyes. In the case of the individual before him, she was a shining example of the latter. "Woman, what are you doing here on a morning like this?" He hurled abuse at her, but she had yet to release Wilhelm from her gaze. The girl made a little "hmm..." at Wilhelm's words, then said, "I would like to ask you the very same thing, but that would be a bit too mean, yes? Your face says you have no sense of humor." "There are many dangerous men in this area. I cannot approve of a woman for walking around it alone." "Ah, are you worried about me?" "It is possible that I am one of those dangerous men..." Wilhelm replied sarcastically to the girl's lighthearted comment, making a sound with the hilt of his sword to announce the presence of his weapon. But the girl did not turn an eye to Wilhelm's action, pointing behind her as she said, "Over here." The girl, sitting on a stairway, shifted her finger to a building opposite that against which she leaned. As it was a place Wilhelm could not see from his position, his brows furled at being invited to come closer. "It is not that I do not wish to see, but..." "Never mind that, come on, come on." Wilhelm's cheek twitched at the tone, like that used when coddling a child, but he calmed himself and went over to her. He walked alongside the woman higher up on the stairway, leaning forward to peer at what lay on the other side. *** On the other side, the hot rays of the morning sun were shining on a broad, yellow flower garden. With Wilhelm at a loss for words, the girl lowered her voice and confessed her secret to him in a whisper. "They stopped maintaining this district quite some time ago, yes? I thought no one would come, so I planted some flowers. I came over to see the results for myself." Wilhelm had walked that way many times, but not once had he noticed the presence of the flower garden, even though all it would have taken to see them was for him to stretch his back a little higher and broaden his vision. With Wilhelm's mouth remaining closed, the girl looked at the side of his face and asked, "Do you like flowers?" He turned to her, seeing the small, gentle smile her face made as he stared. "No, I hate them," he replied in a low voice, curling his lips. 3 From then on, Wilhelm and the girl continued to encounter each other from time to time. On his days off, Wilhelm would walk to the unfinished district in the morning, only to find her having arrived ahead of him, bathed in a quiet wind as she gazed at the flowers. Then, when she noticed that Wilhelm had arrived, she would ask him, "Do you like flowers now?" He would deny it with a shake of his head, immersing himself in swinging the sword, acting like he had forgotten her very existence. When his sweat flowed and he raised his head, finishing his deadly struggle with himself, he would see the girl still there. "You really have a lot of time on your hands," he'd always say in a sarcastic voice. He thought that, bit by bit, the amount of time they spent speaking gradually increased. They always spoke after he'd swung his sword, but he began to exchange a few words before swinging his sword as well, and the conversations after he swung his sword also became a little longer. Gradually, he went to that place at an even earlier hour, sometimes arriving to the flower garden before the girl. "Ah, you are so early today," the girl would say, a regretful smile coming over her. It must have been three months since meeting her like that before they'd exchanged names. The girl called herself Theresia, adding, "For now," sticking out her tongue a little. When Wilhelm replied with his introduction, she pouted when he said, "I've been calling you Flower Girl until now." He thought that exchanging names meant intruding onto each other's circumstances to some small degree. To date, their exchanges had been harmless and inoffensive, but their quality steadily began to change. One day, Theresia asked him, "Why do you swing the sword?" Without a moment's concern, Wilhelm replied, "Because it is all I have." As was typical, Wilhelm's return to military duty was greeted with days filled with the scent of fresh blood. In due course, the civil war with the demi-humans had intensified; over and over, he casually carried out his missions, slipping past an enemy's magic into his flank, slicing him from toe to chin. He rushed overland, broke through the wind, flew into the enemy camp, and sent the general's head flying. He returned to his own camp with the head impaled on the tip of his sword, and bathed in gazes of acclamation and fright, he exhaled. Suddenly, he realized that on the battlefield below his feet, even as blood flowed, there were flowers blooming, swaying in the wind. And now, without being conscious of it, he took care not to tread upon them. "Do you like flowers now?" "No, I hate them." "Why do you swing the sword?" "Because that is all I have." It was his ritualistic exchange with Theresia when they spoke about flowers, Wilhelm was able to reply with a small smile. But when they spoke of the sword, somehow, it felt painful to give his stock reply. Why did he swing a sword? I have nothing else, he thought day after day, and there, his thought process had ended. When he seriously pondered the question in search of an answer, Wilhelm turned back all the way to the day he had first held a sword in his hand. At the time, Wilhelm was yet to know that the sword in his hand would be bathed in blood. When Wilhelm saw himself reflected in the light gleaming off the pristine steel blade, what had he thought? One day, still in a vortex of thought, unable to come up with an answer, his feet took him to the usual place. His steps grew heavy, for he was filled with gloom at how he would face the girl waiting for him. Perhaps it was the first time in his life that he had worried his head about such a thing. Had he not continued swinging a sword without needing to think? Just when he had resolved to give such a nasty reply... " Wilhelm." ...the girl, there in place ahead of him, looked back with a small smile as she called his name. Suddenly, his soul shuddered. His feet halted, and he could not help feeling nauseous. Suddenly, Wilhelm was assailed by a realization that seemed to crush his body. When he sought to cast everything aside with such a conclusion, that he had swung the sword without a thought, a variety of things he'd stopped thinking about and set aside suddenly spewed forth. He didn't understand the reason. The trigger wasn't set in stone. That moment, the bulwark he had raised so long ago had abruptly reached its limit. Why did he swing the sword? Why had he started to swing the sword? He yearned for the glimmer of the sword, the strength, the purity of living by the blade. There was that, too. There was that also, but surely, it had begun somewhere else. "I have to do what my older brothers can't." It was because swinging a sword was a field largely neglected by his older brothers. Yet even so, it was because his brothers sought to protect their family in their own way that he, so useless to them, sought his own, different way to defend them. Was that not why he was captivated by the strength and glimmer of a blade? "Do you like flowers now?" "...I do not hate them." "Why do you swing the sword?" "It is all I... I could think of no other way to protect others." Ever since, the previous ritualistic exchange of words ceased to be. In place, he thought that their topics shifted around quite a bit. Before he realized it, he was heading there not with the aim of swinging a sword, but to meet Theresia. In a place where he should have been swinging his sword without a thought, his head somehow came to find that insufficient, and topics shifted to places away from the sword. Until then, his fighting style had been to charge single-handedly into the enemy formation and take as many heads as he could, but somewhere along the line, that changed to him running around with a focus on diminishing harm to his allies any way he could. The sight of him prioritizing his companions' safety over slaying the enemy naturally resulted in a change in how others saw him. Old war comrades that had stuck with Wilhelm since his bad-behavior days were both delighted at the change in him and conflicted by it... ...for the number of people who spoke to him and that he spoke to both increased. Previously unheard-of calls for his promotion to knight arose, and he spent only a small amount of time weighing the matter before accepting. Deep down, he, too, found having such prestige better than not. "There were calls for my promotion, so I became a knight." "I see. Congratulations. That makes you one step closer to your dream, doesn't it?" "Dream?" "You took up the sword to protect people, didn't you? And a knight is someone who protects others." He felt that, among the things he wanted to protect, her smiling face stood out. 4 More time passed. Having become a knight, and coming into contact with more people within the army, the information reaching his ears naturally increased. The deeply bogged-down civil war continued, with an advance on one front matched by retreat from the next. Wilhelm, too, experienced not only victorious battles but defeats as well. Along the way, he spent his days continuing to struggle to protect those within reach of his sword, while bitterly regretting those things that were beyond his reach. It was by happenstance he heard that the fires of war had shifted to the land of the House of Trias. That fact casually reached Wilhelm's ears from a newfound companion inside the army. Namely, that the civil war that had begun in the kingdom's east had broadened, reaching all the way to the Trias domain in the north. There was no order given. So long as a knight did not forget the position allotted to him, it was impermissible for him to act on his own. But to Wilhelm, embracing once more his feelings from the time he first grasped a sword, such things meant nothing. By the time he rushed to his beloved homeland, the advancing enemy army had already turned it into

a sea of flame. When the scenery that he had abandoned over five years before faded before the reality of more familiar sights, Wilhelm drew his blade, raised his voice, and dashed into the bloody mists. He cut down his foes, trod over their corpses, and shouted until his throat grew parched as he bathed in blood spatter. The enemy's numbers were overwhelming. There were no reinforcements, and it was a land weak in fighting strength to begin with. Until that point, he had meant to fight in battle on his strength alone, but he learned the price, taking one wound and then another becoming unable to move. Collapsing atop a pile of corpses, crushed before the numbers of the enemy force that still showed no signs of running dry, Wilhelm understood that death was coming before his eyes. The beloved sword that had long been with him fell by the wayside, for his fingertips were too numb and lifeless to hold it aloft. With his eyes closed, he looked back at half his life, during which he had done nothing but swing a sword. It was a lonely life a life with nothing. Along with that conclusion came a momentary sight and along the way, one face after another flashed before him. He remembered them one by one: his parents, his two older brothers, the bad friends he had hung out with in the domain, his comrades and superiors from the royal army and finally, that of Theresia, with flowers behind her. "I don't want to die..." It should have been his true hope to live by the sword and die by the sword. But faced with the actual result of his way of life, devoting everything to steel, Wilhelm, with the end he should have desired before his eyes, was stricken with an unbearable feeling of loneliness. The enemy soldier that had cut down so many of his comrades would not honor the final words he had let slip. Inhumanly large in body, they mercilessly swung their great sword down at Wilhelm *** He would eternally remember the beauty of the slash that lashed out. A storm of swords blew, and in course, the demi-human's limbs, head, and torso were cleanly severed. A great uproar spread among the enemy force, but the racing silver flash was faster, easily inflicting death in large quantities. Splattered blood rose up, the death cries did not cease, and the demi-humans' lives were shaved away. The all-too-vivid slashes did not register even with those struck by them, managing no expression as their lives were snuffed out. Whether such acts were cruelty or mercy, no one knew. As to what was known, there was but a single thing Surely he could not reach that realm of the blade in a lifetime, or even eternity. He had lived by swinging a blade, devoting the majority of his not-overly-long life to that purpose. And because of that, it was Wilhelm who could keenly comprehend the heights of the swordsmanship repeated over and over before his very eyes. So, too, the fact that it was a realm he, a man of no talent, could never reach. If Wilhelm had created a valley of bloody mist in his homeland, it was truly a sea of blood that spread before his eyes. The literal mountain of corpses piled atop one another had no comparison. The silver flash did not cease its dance until every demi-human invading the Trias lands had ceased breathing. Having witnessed the overwhelming slaughter to the end, he was carried out by late-arriving comrades from the royal army. They shouted various things and tended to his wounds, but Wilhelm never took his eyes off the sight. Finally, the slender long sword wavered, and the sword fighter finally walked off. Wilhelm shuddered when he realized that the sword fighter had not been bathed in a single drop of spattered blood. He reached out with his hand but could not reach the back moving away. Most likely, the distance between them was not a physical one alone. It was when he returned to the royal capital that he heard the true name of the one bearing the alias of Sword Saint. It was around the same time that the name of the Sword Saint began to reverberate in every land in the stead of Wilhelm the Sword Devil. Sword Saint once upon a time, that was the legendary being who had cut down the Witch bringing calamity to the world. To that day, the men beloved by the sword god were of the blood of that single family, and it was through that direct bloodline that one generation's superman was born after another. The name of the Sword Saint of that generation had never been public even once so, too, until that time. 5 It was several days later that his battle wounds had healed and he made his way to the usual place. Gripping the hilt of his beloved sword, Wilhelm quietly trod the soil as he headed for the flower garden. He was certain she would be there. And in accordance with his firm belief, Theresia was sitting in that place, no different from before. *** Before she could look back, Wilhelm drew his sword and leaped at her. Just before the semicircular cut would have split the girl's head she caught the tip of his sword with two fingertips, bringing it to a halt. A sound of wonder caught in Wilhelm's throat as a malevolent smile came over his lips. "Humiliating." "...Is that so?" "Were you laughing at me?" *** "Go ahead and laugh, Theresia...no, Sword Saint Theresia van Astrea!!" With all his might, he raised his sword high and sliced at her again, but she evaded by a single hair in an undisturbed motion. A moment after the dance of her red hair stole his eyes, his feet were swept from under him, unable to break the fall as he was cruelly sent crashing down. Even without a sword in her hand, the Sword Devil's blade could not reach the Sword Saint. An impregnable wall, a preposterous difference was now evident between them. "I will not be coming here anymore." Several times more, Wilhelm went slicing after her, and each time, he was struck by a counterattack and beaten to the ground. At some point, his beloved blade was snatched from him, and as it rested in her hand, he was beaten by the hilt until he was unable to move. So far. So very weak. He could not reach. It was not enough. "Don't hold a sword with...that face..." "I do, for I am the Sword Saint. I did not understand the reason why I was, but I understand now." "Reason, you say...!" "You swing the sword to protect others. I think I can do that, too." It was Wilhelm who had given Theresia, the girl who loved flowers, who could find no meaning in gripping a sword, that reason all the more because she was stronger than anyone, the furthest beyond the reach of anyone's sword. "W-wait, Theresia..." *** "I'll take your sword from you. As if I care about your blessing or your role. Don't underestimate swinging the sword...or the beauty of the blade, Sword Saint...!" The woman did not stop. Her back grew distant. All that was left behind was a lone, foolish devil, speaking of the sword to her, who was loved by the sword. Afterward, the two would never meet there again. 6 The Sword Devil vanished from the royal army; in his place, the name of the Sword Saint spread within it. A knight worth a thousand men with hard fighting by Theresia, the embodiment of those words, the civil war tilted in their favor. Though a single person, her martial feats were beyond the realm of any individual, and the alias of Sword Saint resounded even the demi-humans versed in the old legends despaired. It took two years after the Sword Saint emerged on the battlefield for the civil war to end. The Demi-human Alliance lost those who carried it upon their shoulders, and when peace talks were carried out somewhere between the current leaders on both sides, it announced that at minimum, the fight between those bearing swords had come to an end. Blessed by the end of the long-running civil war, the royal capital gently opened up and began to flower. A ceremony had been planned where a powerful, beautiful Sword Saint would be granted several medals. People throughout the kingdom traveled to the capital to glimpse the sight of Theresia, the red-haired Sword Saint the hero whose passion had single-handedly brought the long suffering from wild war to an end. It was then that the Sword Devil unexpectedly descended, as if to slice that passion asunder. The soldiers on guard became agitated from the incredible antagonism rising from a man with a naked blade in his hand. But it was none other than the Sword Saint, the flower of the ceremony, who checked them and advanced to the fore. Each turned their sword toward the other, almost as if walking onto a prearranged stage. When her long, red hair fluttered in the wind, none failed to hold their breath at the sight of her facing the intruder. It was difficult to find words for an appearance with such refined beauty, yet so at one with the blade. The malevolent antagonism of the individual facing the Sword Saint was the polar opposite. Both the brown mantle over him and the skin underneath were filthy all over from rainwater and caked mud. Even the sword in his hand was meager compared to the ceremonial holy blade the Sword Saint held in hers. The blade of the well-made sword was crooked, with reddish-brown rust all over it. Though the king was seated on the same stage they were on, he halted the knights attempting to go to the Sword Saint's aid. When the Sword Saint stepped forward and her swordplay glimmered, all pulled their chins back, and none raised a voice, watching in silence. At the beginning, no doubt many found the two figures having vanished from their sight. Blade recoiled from blade again and again; high-pitched sounds shot past the spectators. There was a chain of glimmers and sounds of steel as the two figures danced upon the stage at a dizzying speed. Soon, those witnessing the spectacle had lost their voices, their hearts going to and fro, overwhelmed with a vast sense of admiration. They battled with incredible force, switching where they stood, from the ground to the walls to the very air as the swordplay of the two sword fighters blurred. Some even realized that the sight had brought them to tears. But as they listened to the orchestra of echoing steel, they instinctively shuddered, intoxicated by the sublime sight. They thought, is this really a realm that people can reach? Can the beauty of the sword truly instill such deep feelings in others? Their swordplay intermingled, with locked swords, flashing tips, and repeated recoils. And finally... *** ...the discolored blade snapped in half, its tip sent flying, spinning round and round in the air. Then, the hand in which rested the Sword Saint's ceremonial sword "Victory..." *** "Victory...is mine." The holy sword audibly dropped to the ground, and the broken sword's warped tip came to rest just short of the Sword Saint's throat. The spectacle made time stop, and all knew. The Sword Saint had lost. "You're weaker than me, so you have no reason to wield a sword." "If not me...then who?" "I'll carry on your reason for swinging a sword. You just need to become...my reason to swing one." He lifted up the hood of his outer garment. The sullen face of Wilhelm glared at Theresia from under the dark, filthy cloth. Theresia shook her head a little at Wilhelm's behavior. "You are a terrible person. You've made a person's determination, resolve, everything all go to waste." "I'll carry on everything that's

gone to waste. You can forget about gripping a sword and just take it... Yes, that's it. You can raise flowers and live in peace and quiet behind me." "Protected by your sword?" "That's right." "You'll protect me?" "That's right." Theresia placed her hand against the flat of the sword thrust toward her, taking a step forward. The two faced each other, close enough to feel each other's breath. Tears welled in Theresia's damp eyes, but they only conveyed her little smile as they fell. "Do you like flowers?" "I stopped hating them." "Why do you swing the sword?" "To protect you." The distance closed as their faces drew close; finally, it vanished. When she drew back from the touch of their lips, Theresia's cheeks were red. She gently stared at Wilhelm as she asked, "Do you love me?" He averted his face and bluntly stated, " You know I do." Just then, the people enthralled by the dancing of swords regained their senses, and a great throng of guards pressed close. Wilhelm's shoulders sank when he saw familiar faces among the soldiers rushing over. Theresia's cheeks puffed up at his dismissive demeanor. Their smiles were like those they had exchanged during the days they spent gazing at the flowers. "Sometimes a woman wants to hear the words." "Er." Scratching his head with a guilty expression on his face, Wilhelm reluctantly looked back at Theresia, drawing his face close to her ear as he whispered, "Someday, when I feel like it." And thus, he glossed over the embarrassing words. 7 He raced like the wind, and the gleaming, treasured sword rent the stone-like hide with ease. "Ooooooooooo !!" The shout the aged swordsman raised seemed to trail behind him. Whale blood spewed from the fresh blade wound, dying the sky scarlet. He appeared wounded all over his body. Then as before, blood seemed to be dripping from his left shoulder, but the blood spatter drenching his entire body had mixed with his own blood, turning its color to black. Over such a brief period of time, no more could be expected from healing magic than stopping the bleeding and restoring a small amount of endurance. He was still in a gravely injured state, told he must have complete rest. But seeing Wilhelm as he was that moment, none could laugh him off as an old man on death's door. Seeing the gleam in both his eyes, seeing the strength in his steps as he raced, seeing the vividness of the slashes of the sword he wielded, hearing the earsplitting cry echoing forth, and captivated by the glimmer of his soul, none could laugh off the old man's accumulated life as that of a fool. His blade ran, a scream rose, and the White Whale's enormous, suffering body was wracked with intense pain. With the demon beast crushed under the Great Tree, unable to move, the Sword Devil racing along its back did not hesitate to use his blade. The slash begun at the tip of its head ran down its back and reached its tail, and when the Sword Devil stood upon the ground, he turned right around, rending its belly on his way back to the head. In one swing sharp, deep, and very, very long the single flash of silver cut the White Whale in two. With a leap, the Sword Devil came down onto the tip of the unmoving White Whale's nose once more. He shook the blood off his drenched sword as he and the White Whale looked each other eye to eye their two fates merging together. "...I have no intention of speaking ill to you. There is no use explaining good and evil to a beast. Between you and me, there is only the law of life and death: The weak are cut down by the strong." *** "Sleep eternally." Leaving behind one last little murmur, light faded from the White Whale's eyes. Its enormous body went limp, and when it collapsed, the earth shuddered; the droplets of its fresh blood formed a muddy river. No one could put the feeling of blood running underfoot into words. A silence befell the Liphas Highway. And then "It's over, Theresia. It's finally..." Atop the head of the immobile White Whale, Wilhelm turned his face skyward. When the treasured sword fell from his hand, he brought that hand up to cover his face, and with a quivering voice, the weaponless Sword Devil said, "Theresia, I..." The voice was raspy, but there was boundless, undiminished love within it. "I love you !!" They were words of love only Wilhelm knew. Things he had never told her. They contained feelings accumulated over many years, words he had not spoken even once to the one he loved most, right up to the day he lost her. Finally, after the passage of decades, Wilhelm had voiced the words with which he should have answered her question so long ago. Atop the corpse of the White Whale, his sword fallen from his grasp, the Sword Devil cried out his love for his departed wife, and he wept. 8 " Here, the White Whale has fallen." Haltingly, the sound of a stirring voice echoed across the silence of the nighttime plain. At that voice, the men, lost for words, lifted their faces. Their gazes poured over a young woman calmly advancing to the fore on the back of a white land dragon. Her long, green hair was frayed, and she was cruelly adorned by wounds suffered at the height of the battle, her face sullied by her own blood, a most sorry state for her to be seen in. And yet, in their eyes, the girl had never shone brighter. That was natural for those who judged the worth of others by the glimmer of their souls. *** With the knights gazing upon her, the gallant young woman lifted her face and took a deep breath. Having lent her treasured sword, Crusch's scabbard was currently empty. Accordingly, she thrust her fist toward the heavens, as if to show her closed hand to all present as she announced: "The Demon Beast of Mist that menaced the world across four centuries of life has been slain by Wilhelm van Astrea!!" " Aye!!" "In this battle, we are victorious !!" With their lord loudly proclaiming victory, the surviving knights raised shouts of joy. With mist clearing over the plains, signs of night returned once more a proper night, with moonlight illuminating the people on the ground far and wide. And there, after four hundred years, the Battle of the White Whale came to an end. CHAPTER 6 *** 1 An elated clamor spread across the moonlight-filled plains. The light of the moon reflected off the swords the knights raised high, with the glow of that light making the scene beautiful indeed. The White Whale's enormous body rested on its side beneath the Great Flugel Tree as a zealous throng rushed to surround it. Everyone exulted in victory, with tears of gratitude flowing that their long-cherished wish had been fulfilled. As if to pour water over their joy... *** ...two powerful roars made the air over the Liphas Highway shake, as if to paint over everyone's pleasure. Separate from the White Whale that had been slain, there were two White Whale offshoots that had lost the main body. Acknowledging the death of the main body, the offshoots above the ground writhed around, and their vastness and solidity began to diminish. With their supply of mana from the main body severed, they were increasingly unable to maintain their flesh. They looked pathetic; left to their own devices, they would surely dissipate within minutes. "Crude." With that one disparaging word cutting them off, an arm swung, unleashing an invisible blade. Accompanied by a gale, the slicing wind entered one whale through its head, slicing the agonized White Whale's outer hide in half with ease and with its giant body neatly divided into left and right, the being literally dissipated. With a single blow of an expeditionary force magic crystal cannon, the remaining whale broke into the mist from whence it came, its mana blown away, melting into the wind, whereupon its enormous body vanished completely. That told them, in a true sense, the battle to subjugate the White Whale was at an end. However "We cannot simply exult in this." Touching a hand to her breast, Crusch was aware of the jubilation inside herself, but she shook her head, refusing to let the deep emotions show on her face. With everyone's cooperation, they defeated the evil demon beast, and everyone lived happily ever after, the end. In reality, the tale would not end so neatly. Such an ending was only permitted in fairy tales. Reality continued after the end of the tale, with a never-ending supply of things that had to be done. They had to provide relief for the wounded survivors and courteous burials for the dead, leaving no corpses behind. And when Crusch thought of such follow-up, she realized... At a place a little removed from the White Whale, a man who had served with distinction was desperately raising his voice. 2 "Rem! Rem, open your eyes...!" Subaru lifted the girl in his arms, his face pale as he desperately called out to her. The land dragon came right up to them, nuzzling them with its black nose in an act of concern. But at that moment, Subaru harbored a sense of nervousness so great that he did not respond to even that land dragon's consideration. Subaru's plan to make the White Whale chase his scent and crush it under the Great Tree was a splendid success. Some had raised their voices in objection, reluctant to cut down a historical tree. But the beast-man mercenaries were rationalists with no such compunctions, and when even Crusch deemed it necessary, opinion easily shifted to his favor. Accordingly, Subaru, drafter of the plan, saw the operation through, shouldering no small risk in the process, resulting in achievement in battle that one might call second to none. But if this was the price he had to pay, it was the smallest of small comforts. "This...is no good... Please, Rem...if...you're not here...!" Before his eyes, Rem calmly rested with her eyes closed, completely unresponsive to Subaru's voice. There was no sign that conscious will was conveyed to her limp limbs, and the tearful voice calling her name seemed to pass right through her ears, a cry into empty space. Under ferocious pursuit by the White Whale, they'd raced as the falling trunk of the Great Tree loomed near. The heavy weight of the Great Tree struck the demon beast squarely, with a loud crash to earth and a shock wave that flew indiscriminately throughout the area and amid it was the sight of Subaru and Rem, running right alongside. They were engulfed by the shock wave, losing track of which way was up, and Subaru recalled that he was protected by a warm sensation during that. The instant he grasped that feeling, there was a roaring sound from an incredible impact as he, and the sensation, were slammed onto the ground. Slipping through the gaps of Subaru's vague consciousness was the realization that he was lying on the ground. And lifting his head, he realized who had embraced him and that it was her body that had embraced his to the very end. "...Suba...ru..." "Rem ?!" With a twitch, her eyelids shuddered, and Subaru was reflected in the dim gleam beneath them. Reflected in her eyes, he looked so very weak, almost as if he was subconsciously recognizing the reality of what was unfolding before his eyes, when he said, "I'm so g... Yeah, it's me. You know, Subaru. Rem, your body..." "Subaru...I'm so glad...you are safe..." His throat choked up. For Rem, seeing Subaru unable to even get out the tearful words of concern for her the way he wanted, was smiling at him in visible relief as if taking no heed of her own injuries, happy so

long as Subaru was safe. "What happened to...the demon beast...?" "...It went down. We nailed it. It worked out. Everything worked out! I'm...not hurt, either... It's all...thanks to you..." "Is that...so? Then, Master Roswaal and...Lady Emilia...shall...surely be all right..." "It'll work out. Leave it to me. So, Rem, you don't have to say anything right now, just rest... No, don't...close your eyes... Aw, crap, what should I do...?" She didn't need to force herself to speak. But if Rem spoke no words, he couldn't wipe away his own unease. Subaru was nervous, almost as if the relentless coercive power of Fate might yet snatch her life from his hand. He didn't know what he ought to do. He didn't know what was best to do. Not knowing what to do, Subaru couldn't help holding her hand and embracing her with his other arm as strongly as he could. "That...hurts, Subaru..." "Sorry, my bad. But if I don't do this, you'll go off somewh..." "I shall not go...anywhere... I shall be at...your side, Subaru..." Rem gave Subaru a little smile, like that of a mother consoling an unreasonable child in tears, when strength suddenly left her body. Subaru's throat froze in fear as he felt her body go soft in his arms. Inside his ears, he heard the sound of blood draining, of anything and everything leaving him behind. "Rem...? Rem! Please, Rem...open...your eyes..." "Somehow, I'm very...sleepy... I'm sorry. Let me sleep just a little, and when I wake...soon, for your sake, I shall be..." "Never mind all that! You don't need to do anything. It's fine if you're just together with me...so please, Rem...!" Even though she was right within his arms, Subaru wrung out his voice, desperately trying to hold fast to her as she began gradually slipping away. And yet, though Rem was right before his eyes, his voice did not reach. "May I say something...selfish?" "...! Say it, say anything! I'll listen to anything, I'll do anything, so...!" In a broken voice, in a frail tone, Rem looked up at Subaru and made a little murmur. "I want you to say...that you...love me." Tears welling up forced Subaru's eyes open as he shook his head side to side. Then, he drew his face close to hers and told her: "I love you." *** "I really love you. Of course I do... I can't...manage without you." They were words from his heart of hearts. Subaru poured all his unembellished true feelings into the words he spoke that instant. He couldn't have made it that far without her. He couldn't live without her. "Ah...I'm so happy..." Receiving Subaru's confession, tears came out through her closed eyes. Rem's cheeks suddenly reddened as she happily accepted the words tossed toward her. With that, Subaru felt that the last of her strength had truly left her. "Wait..." "I love you, Subaru." "Don't kid around stay with me! Am I gonna have...nothing but regrets again?!" He could not bear a future that did not have her in it. He understood that well before, and now, her existence loomed far, far larger. That was why... "I don't wanna...laugh and talk about the future without you...!" "In that future, can I be by your side?" "...Of course. I won't let you be anywhere else." Closing his eyes, Subaru wiped away the rising tears before staring straight at Rem. And then, he stated firmly, "You're mine. I won't...hand you to anyone." " I shall take that...as a commitment." "Huh?" Abruptly, Subaru let out his voice like an idiot at the highly intellectual reply. As he did so, Rem slowly opened the eyes she had kept closed all that time, proceeding to sit up inside his arms. Then, with Subaru dumbfounded, unable to grasp the situation, she tilted her head and smiled at him. "You have promised I shall be at your side, Subaru... You cannot take it back now." Where had the sight of her dying gone...? In a teasing, toying way, Rem closed one eye and gently touched Subaru's lips. Crestfallen, Subaru's strength gave out from his shoulders down as he sank to the ground. "Why you...you, you...youuuu!" "Yes, I am Subaru's Rem. In name and fact." Hearing her trademark reply, now even more brazen, Subaru could not follow up his words. Even so, even if by rights it was a scene where he ought to be shaking with anger, the fact that the girl before his eyes was safe took precedence, leaving him too happy to do so. "We've both aired our true feelings, so that's really overkill..." "Girls are strong when they become honest about love, Subaru." Subaru was flustered by how Rem no longer had any intention of hiding her love for him. More embarrassed than anything else, Subaru's face reddened as he let out a small breath and confessed, "...If you'd died, I was about to die, too." "I am a lucky woman that you think so much of me." "I'm not kidding, either." Rem replied with a little smile, but Subaru had answered with his true and sincere feelings. If Subaru had lost Rem, he would have most certainly attempted to do it all over again. Even if the chance to do things over was not granted to him, there was no doubt he'd have tried anyway. That was how large a place Rem's existence now occupied in Subaru's heart. "I absolutely must not die, then." "Darn right. I won't let you die, even if it kills me." Subaru drew his face to hers, and their foreheads touched as they looked at each other from so very close. Rem gazed adoringly at Subaru's gesture, and it was hard for Subaru to just stay there with her close enough that their breaths touched. Naturally, his gaze was drawn in by her pink lips, and he felt his heart beat just a little faster " Could you two wrap it up already, meow?" Ferris, looking exasperated from having watched from a distance as the two flirted, butted in to break things up at the most important juncture. Apparently, he'd been watching the whole time. Subaru was sure he'd done it on purpose. 3 "You're so cute, Subawu, calling out to her so desperately, meow...I can't live...without you...!" "Shut up, you're annoying! You should reflect on your bad taste of staring so much!" "In the first place, if you thought about it calmly you'd have understood, meow. Ferri has to go around treating the wounded immediately, so that meant Rem's injuries weren't life-threatening, meow!" "Like I can think about it calmly! An important girl...who told me she loved me...was hurt and unconscious. Of course I couldn't think straight!" "Boys are so pure of heart, unable to say certain things except in a few places, meow." As Subaru vented with angry shouts, Ferris smiled flippantly as he turned his palm toward Rem, a blue glow coming over it. Even while the look on Ferris's face struck Subaru with unquenchable annoyance, he couldn't conceal his relief at how Rem's expression gradually grew softer. There were many things in what Ferris said that he couldn't just come out and agree with, but the part about triage, prioritizing healing the most heavily wounded, was no doubt the honest truth. Giving shabby treatment to Rem, part of another camp's fighting strength, and to Subaru, both key players in bringing down the White Whale, was not something his master would ever permit. As Subaru's thoughts reached that conclusion, that very same master Crusch appeared, calmly stepping over grass. "You are all right, Subaru Natsuki?" Even sullied by blood and mud, the sight of Crusch walking straight with her back tall was beautiful. Naturally, the elegance she had in no way lost wafted around her, and so, too, the vestiges of the battle; the beautiful woman seemed like the living embodiment of the word Valkyrie. "Somehow or other, yeah. Glad you look all right yourself." "I am. But the expeditionary force is depleted to no small extent. Nor will those slain by the White Whale return." When Subaru responded, waving up to her, Crusch drew her chin in, shifting her head pensively. Her gaze shifted toward the corpse of the White Whale, still crushed under the Great Tree. Over there, the survivors of the expeditionary force with comparatively light injuries had gathered together. Apparently, their first order of business was to get the Great Tree off the White Whale. "What are they doing over there?" "We must transport the White Whale's corpse. With even the Great Flugel Tree sacrificed for the operation, some sort of evidence is required. It is what comes after the battle that concerns me." "Transport...that huge corpse?" Subaru wanted to make sure he hadn't misheard, but Crusch's demeanor was unchanged. Subaru hurriedly returned his gaze to the White Whale, observing the giant body over maybe one hundred and fifty feet in length as he remarked, "Doesn't seem doable, does it?" "Failure is not an option. The creature was a menace that swam through the skies for four hundred years. At worst, we may have to return with the head alone." Crusch's words seemed like an exaggeration, but Subaru thought it over and realized her judgment was correct. To begin with, from Crusch's point of view, the subjugation of the White Whale was a success she wanted all to see to advance herself in the royal selection. Naturally, Crusch was not someone of such low character as to prioritize achievements over all else, which the battle had amply demonstrated. But the achievement was simply that grand. She was already the most influential of the royal candidates, with high support among the populace, and if this earned her favor with the merchant faction, which had been the final holdout, Crusch's position would be even more rock solid "Wait, did I wind up pushing us into a bad spot...?" The degree of aid he had provided an opponent finally dawned on Subaru. There was no going back, either. He'd done everything so that he could return to Emilia's camp, but he wondered if he'd overdone it even so. Fearing as much, Subaru held far-too-late regrets. "Your face has become rather dark it does not look like the face of the hero who brought down the White Whale." "I'll get raked over the coals as Emilia-tan's biggest traitor... Er, what...did you say just now?" "The hero who brought down the White Whale I do not wish to be so shameless as to claim your exploits as my own house's feats." Returning her gaze from the corpse of the White Whale, Crusch's expression seemed to impale Subaru like a sword. Subaru blinked at the sincere glint in her eyes, turning to face her squarely. As he did so, Crusch gently put a hand to her own breast and stated, "I cannot thank you enough for your cooperation. Were it not for you, we would have failed to subjugate the White Whale, and I would have surely fallen halfway along my path." Speaking those words, she adopted a stance of deep thanks toward Subaru. *** Subaru unwittingly froze at the heat of the noble Crusch's sincere gesture of thanks. He had no memory of any human being in her kind of position speaking such words to him ever. "Er, ah...no, cut that out. I...didn't do anything big like that..." "You discerned the time and place the White Whale would appear; by your efforts, the expeditionary force, insufficient in strength, was bolstered; when the knights' morale was broken, you roused them; you proposed a plan to rescue the hopeless situation at great danger to yourself, and on top of that, you executed it splendidly, guiding us to victory." When Subaru replied with halting words, Crusch enumerated Subaru's actions during the battle and their results. Told of his own actions in such an orderly manner, and examining the result, Subaru could only conclude, "Sounds like nothing but the work of a crazy man, if I do say so myself..." "Perhaps it

would not be accurate to compare your actions to that of a ferocious, raging lion. However, there is no mistaking that you were the driving force behind this battle. If others should belittle your actions, I swear upon my honor that I shall correct them." Crusch extolled Subaru honestly and with a serious look, without any calculation or hesitation. Surely she, the living embodiment of sincerity, truly had not a single smidgeon of falseness in the words of gratitude she had spoken. Thinking back to the relationship he had with Crusch until the night before their departure, Subaru could only make a strained smile. "I'm surprised. Seems like your assessment of me has improved quite a bit." "This is nothing to be modest about. And I am compelled to recognize that my view of you until a short time ago was very mistaken. Properly speaking, a suitable repayment for such achievements would be to welcome you into my own house, but..." "I'll have to pass on that." Crusch had narrowed her eyes and, in a low voice, invited Subaru to her own side. But Subaru raised a hand and interrupted her cordial invitation. "It's not the same thing as loyalty, but my trust's already been put where it ought to be. I genuinely feel like you're a good person, and you'd probably do a great job if you became king, but..." Crusch would no doubt be a king to nobly lead the people more than any other. Such was the extent of her character, and he knew just a tiny bit about the powerful reason that compelled her to act in such a manner. A proper reason, and the resolve to endure, was probably something she'd inherited, entrusted by another. This included, everything had served to shape the lone woman known as Crusch Karsten. A small human being like Subaru who'd continued lying to everyone could only look at her dazzling form in admiration and envy. " I will make Emilia king." *** "Not for anyone's sake. It's what I want to do." "...Though I understood as much, to think your reply would be to that extent." Subaru's reply made Crusch's lips break into a broad grin as she drew her chin back. Then, she uncrossed her arms, hardened her white fingers into a fist, and pointed it toward Subaru. "Very well. Your exploits shall be repaid in a different form. I swear upon the name of Crusch Karsten that this promise shall be fulfilled." So solemnly declaring, Crusch opened her hardened fist and looked at her own palm. From then, the tone of her voice dropped slightly as she said, "Now that I think of it, this is the first time I have felt so good about having an invitation of mine rejected. It is a most refreshing sense of defeat, and I can make no show of being troubled by it." "...Crusch, I think you're an incredible person. If I were out here on my own, I think it's a sure thing that I'd let that hand prop me up." If he had nowhere to go back to, with nothing certain in his life, and someone on Crusch's level offered him her hand, he'd likely leap at the chance without hesitation and cling to her, relying on her for everything. But the current Subaru had someone else whose hand he wanted to reach out and hold, someone with a wavering back he would support with his own palm. Thus, he could not take her hand, but... "I'm counting on you for the alliance thing. Even if we've gotta become rivals in the end, we can probably get along nicely till then, so let's do that." " Subaru Natsuki, I shall correct one thought of yours." Subaru's reply made Crusch's smile vanish. She put on a solemn face and pursed her lips. Surprised at feeling the atmosphere grow tense once more, Subaru's eyes widened as he looked at Crusch. To him, Crusch raised a finger, then pointed it at herself. "I shall regard you favorably, even when the time comes to determine my mate," she remarked. *** "Even if the day we must part ways shall inevitably come, I shall never forget my debt of gratitude toward you this day. Furthermore, even should a time of rivalry come, I shall regard you with the greatest favorability and respect." Crusch lowered her arm with the raised finger downward, firmly declaring it in a crystal-clear tone of voice. This time, her conduct sent a chill running up Subaru's spine. It was not a negative feeling. It was simply his feeling overpowered by something so grand. This was the woman named Crusch Karsten, Duchess of the House of Karsten. "This would be a pretty dangerous spot if the number one and number two places in my heart weren't already taken..." " Hmph. I am not thinking as far as accompanying you as a woman. Though my heartstrings have been tugged upon in certain places, my heart is set on fulfilling a dream and so it shall remain, until someday, I achieve the dream he yearned for." Subaru tried to gloss over his agitation with flippant words, and Crusch smiled thinly as she replied. But the latter half of her words became extremely soft, and those did not reach Subaru's ears. With a blink, Crusch forgot that sentiment, going, "Now, then," as she continued her words with a sober glance. "If possible, at this juncture I would like to return to the royal capital with the wounded and the White Whale's corpse. But it seems some mission yet remains for you." "...Can tell that 'cause of the blessing, huh?" "The power of the blessing is not necessary. I know that look in a man's eyes." Crusch closed one eye, peering into Subaru's eyes as she replied thusly. Then, she checked Subaru's appearance from head to toe and said, "Surely you are not without injury. So you have something you must do in spite of that." "I've gotta do it whether I'm hurt badly or not. In one sense, the whale hunt was so that I could do it. I feel bad saying it like that, though." "Oh, really, after subjugating the White Whale?" He said it in a way that surely came off poorly, but Crusch showed no sign of annoyance. She seemed curious about the objective Subaru spoke of so seriously. "Most interesting you surely took the alliance with our house in account for that. If so, it is hardly unthinkable for you to request something of us... You require aid?" "I do. But...to be honest, I didn't think it'd be this tough, so..." Subaru's shoulders sank when he looked over the expeditionary force members wounded far beyond his plans. With the subjugation of the White Whale finished, it meant returning to the Mathers domain, where Emilia awaited, and confronting the abominable group there. Fighting such a powerful foe required Crusch's power, but "With all these people hurt, I won't ask anything reckless of you. Besides, you have to see this with not just your personal feelings but your place as a ruler. Asking you to lend a hand beyond this is just..." " Then how about using these old bones until they fail?" Abruptly, a tall figure walked over with quiet footsteps and interrupted the conversation Wilhelm, the aged swordsman still appearing as ghastly as before, his entire body bathed in demon beast blood. The Sword Devil approached, walking with a gait that showed nothing of the wounds to his flesh, and offered the treasured sword in his right hand to Crusch. "Lady Crusch, I return that which you lent to me. In addition, let me offer my thanks concerning this matter from the bottom of my heart. It is because of your cooperation that my long-cherished wish has been granted, Lady Crusch thank you very much." "Your long-cherished wish and my objectives aligned, that is all you may hold on to that sword for a little while longer. You can serve no role unarmed." " As you wish. My thanks." Crusch responded briefly to Wilhelm's words of thanks and looked at Subaru. Accepting her reply, Wilhelm turned his head back to Subaru as well. *** Now that they were in close quarters again, the stench of blood wafting around him was incredible, and Subaru felt nervous from that surging, aimless antagonism, which felt like a slender blade poking into his liver. But the tense atmosphere from before the battle that had been lifted, and it was a fact that Wilhelm seemed like his spirits had been lifted with it. The aged swordsman looked straight at Subaru and, after that, fell to one knee on the spot. It was a gesture demonstrating the greatest of all respect to another, one he had seen the night before they'd set out. And then "Sir Subaru Natsuki. It is because of your cooperation that this subjugation of the White Whale was successful. It is you who has granted meaning to all the long years of my life until this day. I thank you. I thank you I offer my thanks, with the whole of my being on the line." *** This was Wilhelm, he who had offered half his life to the sword and then spent over a decade of life devoted to vengeance. Subaru, engulfed by the vast passion of the gratitude such a man directed to him, was so afraid of blurting out the wrong thing that he was at a complete loss for words. It took a while to settle his mind, waiting for the proper words to direct to the old man before him to coalesce for it would not do to have Wilhelm, a man of such resolve, put on such a shameful display. "It's your own sword that did it, Wilhelm. You thought about how to fight the White Whale, you studied it, you trained, you didn't give up, you fought it..." Having tasted setback after setback over and over, he must have been on the verge of giving up his grudge. Subaru didn't think he'd thrown everything away, never once attempted to abandon those deep-rooted convictions. It was Subaru, who knew more than anyone about the weakness of the heart, about being defeated, about being obstructed by the irrationalities of fate, who could understand the suffering Wilhelm had undergone until his strong feelings went fulfilled. "You stuck with it until the White Whale went down because you reaaaally loved your wife. If I helped with that even a little bit, I'm glad. I'm not sure this is the best thing to say, but...congratulations. And well done." *** Prompted by Subaru's words, Wilhelm lifted his face, his blue eyes opening wide. Subaru had arbitrarily drawn comparisons between what he felt and what he imagined Wilhelm felt. He didn't think his brief words from just then could convey that, and for Subaru to speak as if he understood probably didn't amuse Wilhelm. But Subaru couldn't restrain his desire to say it anyway words to thank Wilhelm for his love for his departed wife still burning fourteen years on, and for his labors, continuing to fight Fate day after day until they led him to victory... " I thank you." Briefly, and with a quavering voice, that was how Wilhelm replied. After that, he leaned forward slightly, and after a silence of but several seconds, he rose to his feet. Then, he turned his gaze to Crusch, and when she nodded, he said, "I have received Lady Crusch's permission. Sir Subaru, I place this body in your hands. Please use it to the fullest for your objective." "That's super-helpful, but you're serious?" When he glanced at Crusch to make sure, she drew her chin in and nodded affirmatively. When he looked Wilhelm over in all seriousness, he felt both the dependability and the fearsomeness of the man, his antagonism undiminished in spite of having one arm wounded. To Subaru, Wilhelm's cooperation was a wish come true. In the current situation, where every bit of fighting strength

was desperately yearned for, he wanted the Sword Devil's strength enough that a hand might sprout from his own throat. But even an amateur like him could see that Wilhelm's injuries were grave. In the face of Subaru's doubts, Crusch shook her head. "That is not a problem... Ferris!" "Yes, Lady Crusch!" When Crusch called sharply, Ferris seemed to instantly glide into view in response. With a skip in his step, he lined up alongside Crusch, and as the kitty ears on his head made a little flutter, he said, "What is it, Lady Crusch? Ferri's in the middle of going all around and doing a big job, but of course I'll prioritize anything Lady Crusch has to ask before everything else!" "Hey, don't drop your responsibilities halfway through the sentence!" Ferris, the butt of Subaru's comment about easily casting aside all sense of duty as a healer, made a sour face. He was still like that when Crusch gazed at the expeditionary force and asked him, "How many of the wounded are in mortal peril?" "I'm treating gravely wounded people, but I can clearly say the number in peril is zero. Other people's field dressings were excellent, and I'm a capable kitty, so it's okay to praise me, meow." With Ferris flirtingly touching a finger to his cheek, Subaru put a hand to his chest in relief. At the very least, Rem didn't seem to be in any serious danger. The exchange after the battle had been decided had put him at ease, but hearing all over again that she was safe was a relief nonetheless. In the meantime, Crusch nodded as she stroked Ferris's head. "Understood. So the remaining wounded can be transported. Ferris, you can leave the existing healing as it is, then. Afterward, you will accompany Subaru Natsuki and fulfill the role of his ally." " Eh?!" It was Subaru who raised his voice in surprise at the order Crusch issued. She was splitting Ferris off and making him accompany Subaru. That order meant nothing less than prioritizing her ally, Subaru, over her own camp's wounded. Of course, Ferris would object to Crusch's decision to split him off from the Crusch ca "Understood. Ferri will accompany Subawu from here. I'll have to heal Old Man Wil on the road anyway, meow." "Quite the trouble for you." "Old Man Wil's the one swinging his sword, so that makes it about even, meow?" There was no beating these people. Ferris accepted the order like it was a matter of course, and Wilhelm betrayed no expression of surprise at the order, either. Subaru couldn't conceal his bewilderment at the interplay between the two servants and their master. With Subaru in such disarray, Ferris glided his eyes over to him and said, "So that means half of the people left in the expeditionary force look all right...? About twenty people, give or take? They'll be coming to cooperate with you, Subawu. Take good care of us." "That's putting it pretty lightly! You're okay with this...?" "Okay with what, meow?" "Whaddaya mean, what...? Lots of things. Can you trust my judgment...?" As far as he could remember, back in the royal capital, there had been none he'd come into contact with that had acted to gouge more wounds in him than Ferris. No matter how friendly a smile came over his face, no matter how adorable the attitude he dressed it up in, Subaru somehow understood that he harbored a deep disdain for Subaru's weakness. Subaru naturally thought that he'd feel reluctant to follow such a person, but... "It's not that I trust you, Subawu. It's that I have faith in Lady Crusch's decision that Subawu is to be trusted. It's not like she's wrong, meow?" "O-oh...thanks." Ferris laughed loudly, as if rubbing Subaru's thoughts into his face. That behavior made Subaru feel guilty, and while his words caught in his throat, he somehow expressed his thanks. Ferris's smile deepened when he added in a little voice, "...It's a bit like...you're disgusted by the one most like yourself." " ? Did you...say something just now?" "Not reawwy? Nothing Ah, that's right." Leaving the unclear statement hazy, Ferris deliberately clapped his hands together and said, "I forgot to mention this, but Rem's holding the fort or rather, she'll go back to the capital with Lady Crusch and get some rest. Understand, meow?" " Why?!" When Ferris made that declaration with a wink, a strong voice of protest arose. It came from a line of wounded, from which Rem had overheard the exchange. She glared powerfully at Ferris as she asserted: "I I will be all right. Why, why would I not be with Subaru when he is heading into such danger from here on...?" "That's what you say, but your body won't move, meow? You pretty much took out one White Whale all by yourself, and you fired off high-end magic back-to-back on top of that... Rem, your body's really depleted right now, scraping the bottom of the barrel, meow. As a healer, I cannot allow you to push yourself any further. Understand?" "But!" I cannot accept it, Rem surely meant to get up and protest. But when she tried to even sit up, she could put no strength into her arm, and with it unable to support her shaking body, she threatened to tumble over on the spot. Subaru hurried close and gently supported her shoulder. "It's too dangerous... I'm begging you, do as Ferris says. Don't do anything crazy." "But I do not want this. It hurts. I cannot bear it." As Rem looked back at Subaru, now beside her, large tears filled her blue eyes. It was not being left behind that she feared. No, what she feared more than anything was "When you are in distress, Subaru, I want to be the one offering my hand faster than anyone. When you hesitate along your path, I want to be the one pushing on your back. When you challenge something, I want to be at your side, stopping you from shaking. That is that is all I wish for. So please..." "You don't need to worry 'bout any of that stuff." "Eh?" Naturally, Rem's tearful-sounding voice weaving those lovely words brought a bashful expression to Subaru's face. Supporting her shoulder, he gently stroked her head as he said, "You've been holding my hand nonstop, and you've pushed my back lots of times. When I'm shaking, just thinking of you lets me manage somehow you've been saving me all this time." "...Ah..." "It's all right, Rem. I'll manage somehow, all of it. I'm your hero. I decided this was the first step toward that. So you don't need to worry." When her quivering eyes looked up at Subaru, her cheeks grew red and hot. With her like that, Subaru turned a smiling face toward her, baring his teeth as he smiled ferociously. "The whale hunt's done already. Your hero's super-bedeviled, I guess." "Suba...ru..." Unable to restrain the emotions welling up inside her, Rem's call of Subaru's name faltered midway. From there, she seemed to anguish, as if restraining her impulses over and over, and after breathing in several times, the tears she could not hold back trickled from the corners of her eyes. " Yes. My hero is...the greatest in the whole world." She cried with a smile on her face. 4 Crusch gathered up the wounded, Rem included, and the head of the White Whale, and departed for the royal capital. Half of the remaining expeditionary force escorted Crusch and the others, and the other half went with Subaru, heading for the Mathers domain. Headed by Wilhelm and Ferris, the expeditionary force accompanying Subaru amounted to twenty-four souls. It was somewhat below the numbers Subaru had hoped for, but it was reassuring fighting strength nonetheless. Besides, it was not just people from the expeditionary force accompanying him but also "Captain! Mimi! Mimi worked hard, too! Worked incredibly super-hard!" Two beast people were riding ligers as they quarreled loudly. One was Ricardo, recovered after withdrawing from the battle lines after being wounded shielding Subaru. The other was Mimi, who had not lost any of her childish extravagance, even amid a battle with her life on the line. It was not only the two of them joining the battle but also the ten-odd surviving members of the beast-man mercenary band, the Iron Fangs. Apparently, the other lieutenant, Hetaro, had taken command of the wounded, returning to the capital with Crusch. "Come to think of it, how'd your little bro get that wiped out when you're that full of energy?" "Hetaro's a little weakling! Goodness, so pathetic!" Mimi cackled, laughing loudly as she made sport of her little brother's weakness. But Subaru judged that it was probably just the older sister's stupid amount of endurance. She was the berserker type who couldn't help laughing in battle or more precisely, an extremely positive thinker who saw fun in everything. Subaru couldn't help being envious. "Welp, I didn't do much for the last half of the whale butt kickin', but don't worry. The Lady Anastasia asked nice an' proper. I'll be doin' plenty for the real job comin' up." "The real job Wait, you know what I'm trying to do...?" Subaru said. "Tangle with the Witch Cult, right?" The words Ricardo quietly spoke made Subaru's throat tighten. Naturally, when he strongly gripped the reins of Patlash, the land dragon bearing his weight, he heard the pitch-black dragon make a little sound of concern for him. Seeing the side of Subaru's tense face like that, Ricardo bared his sharp fangs and smiled. "Go ahead an' look surprised. To merchants, fresh info comes number one, and the miss has us on the payroll for a reason. We don't have these ears for nothin'. They pick up lots of things, not just 'bout you." "That's right! Mimi's awesome!" "I wasn't talkin' 'bout you, runt." Mimi's reaction threw Ricardo's joke off on a tangent, earning a strained smile from him. While standing on the side, Subaru scratched his head, feeling surprised at Anastasia's poor actions. That said, now that they were sticking together thereafter, sharing info with Ricardo and the other Iron Fangs was inevitable. If possible, he'd love to sit everyone down, expeditionary force included, and properly talk things over. And along with them, the insurance Subaru had arranged before departure, though he didn't know if it would work, or "Oh, looks like we can link up." "Ah?" Beside Subaru, sunk in thought, Ricardo's eyes faced forward when he suddenly spoke those words. Subaru's gaze quickly followed suit, but he could see nothing through the darkness of the plains at night. Unable to see what Ricardo did, all he could do was tilt his head. "You don't hafta strain like that; I can tell they're waitin' for us. Relax." "So says the guy who can tell, sheesh. Showing off and all." "Hey, if you've got it, flaunt it. They're a bit far, but comin' from thataway is the other half of our band of mercs." "Half?" Subaru knotted his brows at Ricardo's words. The other half of the Iron Fangs ought to have meant the wounded withdrawing to the royal capital, but... "By half, I mean exactly that. We put only half the members o' the Iron Fangs on bringin' down the White Whale. The other half had the other half to do." "Doing what?" "Had to make sure no other humans on the highway got involved in the fight, right? So they were shuttin' off the highway from the other side. They set out durin' last night, so ya never had a chance to meet any of 'em." Hearing Ricardo's explanation, Subaru accepted it, drawing in his chin. He wasn't exactly thrilled they hadn't devoted all their forces to subduing the White Whale, but they had lent Ricardo and Mimi, their main combat strength. Considering that the subjugation failing might have meant complete annihilation, Anastasia wasn't wrong to hedge against that risk. He just didn't have

to like it. It was Subaru's envy at work, for he had few cards in his hand and no options save tossing fastballs full force. "So the ones coming now are the rest of your buddies. Who's leading 'em?" "Mimi's younger brother TB! He can do combo boomies with Mimi just like Hetaro! Incredible!" Mimi stuck her chest out as she proudly replied to Subaru's inquiry. Just from hearing her vague, energetic reply, he had some concerns about their remaining comrades. "Er, but that younger brother was a straight shooter. Does this younger brother take after the sis, the bro, or is it fifty-fifty...?" "I get why yer worried, but TB's the smartest o' the bunch. He handles our accountin' and negotiations, and he's the lady's right-hand man. He's an expert at handlin' Mimi, so he's a step up over Hetaro there!" "Don't say that, I'm gonna feel bad for Hetaro..." The various rankings the older sister and the captain had issued made Hetaro something of a tragic figure. Either way, setting pity for him aside, Iron Fangs reinforcements was good news. It was surely best to link up with them, then talk to everyone and think about what was to come. A strategy session aimed at the awaiting Witch Cult Wilhelm and the others from the Crusch camp had likely surmised the circumstances. The problem was how Subaru would explain it. Just like with the White Whale, he had to explain things without touching upon Return by Death. "But that's not an easy thing to do...mm?" As Subaru's brain agonized, he saw a pack of ligers kicking up a dust cloud up ahead. Just as Ricardo had said, this was the other Iron Fangs group linking up with them. However, Subaru felt unease. *** With a corner of his head giving off an uneasy feeling, Subaru's eyes strained, and then, he discovered the source. Among the pack of ligers, there was a single figure to the fore with characteristics differing from those around it. As the distance closed, and as those vague contours became better defined, Subaru understood that those characteristics were that of a land dragon. And mounted atop that blue land dragon was... " Why are you here?" "That is quite a thing to say to one's reinforcements. Most typical of you." Both groups stopped, and Subaru, still on his land dragon, faced the individual. His pale-violet hair was meticulously combed, his body was clad in the solemn, white armor of a Knight of the Royal Guard, and the corners of his handsome mouth were curled up in a thin smile. Subaru stared at the elegant figure before him, connected to him by karma Julius Juukulius. 5 As Patlash furled the folds of its nose, the blue land dragon before it screeched with a sharp glare. Subaru stroked its neck, trying to pacify the comrade that felt the same way he did. Though they had not yet been together long, the bond between Subaru and Patlash had been strengthened by escaping the edge of death together. Subaru felt like Patlash's thoughts were conveyed straight through the reins. "This might trouble you at an inopportune moment, but could you stop soliciting my land dragon? Your land dragon seems quite fine as well, but such invitation goes too far." "Hey, Patlash! Why, you You're flirting?! I go thinking we feel the same way and you betray me?! Chasing tail before a do-or-die battle?!" "Hey, bro, that land dragon don't wanna hear that from ya. You were checkin' it out so much before we left and all. Besides, bro...your land dragon's female." "Wait, you're a lady?!" Patlash, the center of discussion, looked annoyed at Subaru's surprise over his partner's gender. Seeing Julius shrug his shoulders at the exchange, his statement just earlier seemed to be an unfunny joke. Subaru was about to yell at him for it, but before he could, Ferris cut in. "Why, it's quite something to meet you in a place like this, Julius. We were fighting for our lives until just a few hours ago, meow." "I have nothing I can say in my defense. However, I must correct you, Ferris. I am not the individual known as Julius. Let us see... I shall call myself Juli." When Ferris stared and offered sarcasm, Julius toyed back with a serious face. Everyone was giving him cold looks for his meaningless use of an alias, but he accepted their gazes with a slight, serene smile and said, "If, for argument's sake, an individual of knightly rank were to join a band of hirelings, it could only mean he had fallen to the station of mercenary. Thus, it is untrue that the knight named Julius Juukulius has joined the Iron Fangs, but rather the lone man before you named Juli." "I see, meow. Typical, families with proper chivalry are so much twouble. Ferri's so glad to be from fallen nobility." "I do not think of being a knight as troublesome at all. I believe the only problem lies in the willingness to help out a friend coincidentally, I should also declare that the punishment by house arrest received by Julius Juukulius was last night, so whereupon the day has changed, it has been lifted." "Puttin' up all those stupid distractions... Is there even a point to an alias, then?" Listening to the conversation between Ferris and Julius, Subaru clicked his tongue and levied abuse. Averting his gaze with a twist of his lips, it felt like he was pouting, but given that this was actually the case, he could make no excuse for it. Hearing such abuse from Subaru, Julius abruptly looked his way, advancing his land dragon forward to take a position directly facing Subaru when he remarked, "It is good you are in better spirits than I expected I wondered about the condition of your body." *** Julius's statement of concern for his physical condition made something in Subaru's brain audibly snap. Although Subaru's humiliation was nearly two weeks ago from his perspective, if only a few days from Julius's, the question, which could only come off as some kind of dry sarcasm, was more than enough to make him remember. As a slap in the face, the statement delivered like nothing else could, and Subaru just barely managed to lock his jeers in his own throat, holding his anger in. He cleared his throat, took a deep breath, put on a calm face, and gave his short forelocks a little flick. "Yeah, well, it was just a scratch, right? Like, a little spit and polish and I was all better? Anyway, aren't you a little late to think of yourself as reinforcements? What? Were you busy writing apologies to the higher-ups because you got serious against an amateur?" Subaru countered with his specialty, fanning the flames, using a guess based on the house arrest punishment he'd previously heard discussed. As he did so, Julius's face grew sterner, ever so slightly daunted. "I did not wish to speak of that but rather, the valiant wounds sustained from the subjugation of the White Whale...but it is good that those scrapes have healed as well. In the first place, the wounds should not have been as severe as they appeared...though you rolled around in exaggerated pain, specializing in earning sympathy as you are." "Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha." "Hu-hu-hu-hu-hu." As the two exchanged dry laughter between them, the atmosphere began to feel like a powder keg. When Subaru thought of how those around him were taking this, he saw that Ferris and Ricardo were watching with the look of amused bystanders, while Mimi mingled with the other group in search of her younger brother. Naturally, the duty of calming things down fell to... "It is good to warm over old friendships, but perhaps this is not an appropriate time?" Advancing to the fore, riding a land dragon and making that argument, was an aged swordsman Wilhelm. Reproaching the two as they glared at each other, his calm, blue eyes reflected Julius within them as he said, "I cannot thank you enough for coming in aid. Our fighting strength is rather depleted from the battle with the White Whale... As a man coming along for his own self-satisfaction, I was concerned." "Wilhelm, that's not..." When Wilhelm lowered the tone of his voice and stated that, Subaru interjected. To Subaru, subjugating the White Whale was the first must-clear hurdle on his list. Subaru had intervened firmly out of his own self-interest, so he could not possibly think of Wilhelm as a burden. It pained him that he could not explain everything, but he at least wanted to wipe away that sense of being indebted. But before Subaru could raise his voice "It is a fine face that you have become able to make, Master Wilhelm." In a quiet voice, it was Julius who addressed Wilhelm. Moved by Wilhelm's eyes, which no longer looked haunted, he nodded deeply and said, "It is as if you are a different man from the one I met previously... Surely, this shall also be some small comfort to Reinhard." "I...suppose it might." Wilhelm put a hand to his chin and lowered his eyes. How deep, Subaru wondered, must the conflict within the old man's chest have been to give rise to that momentary hesitation? The various people around them took their exchange in a variety of ways. Sympathy, relief knowing the circumstances, many must have had those reactions. Subaru, the only one not to know, was left behind. "Regarding that, I was unable to face up to it. Even if he did no wrong, even if he meant no harm, I could not forgive him one day, I shall pay the consequences." "Even those thoughts alone are surely enough to ease his heart." Wilhelm held back something bitter in his reply, but Julius took his words well. Then he slowly turned a gentle gaze back toward Subaru, as if all was water under the bridge. Naturally, Subaru girded himself for a resumption of the earlier war of words, but... "I must give you my thanks." " Ah?" In front of Subaru, unwittingly raising his voice, Julius lightly hopped off his land dragon onto the ground. Then, he looked up at Subaru, still riding Patlash, and went down on one knee. "Properly speaking, this subjugation of the White Whale was the longstanding desire of the Knights of the Royal Guard. For bringing a final end to the disaster neglected by every nation for many years, I thank thee." When he proceeded to display his gratitude with an elegant gesture, Subaru, who had held only enmity toward Julius to date, was unable to muster an immediate reaction. Meanwhile, beside the perplexed Subaru, Ferris interjected. "Now, hold on! Don't misunderstand, the subjugation of the White Whale was led by the Duchess of Karsten so it's Lady Crusch's achievement, meow. And importantly, Old Man Wil's the one who slew it." "I understand very well that there is no power within him to directly slay the White Whale, having crush having heard from Julius, who crossed swords with him directly." Julius showed every sign of sticking to the notion that he was the mercenary Juli to the bitter end. But having recognized Ferris's statement, he continued his words. "However, there is no mistaking that his existence was a major impetus for the subjugation of the White Whale. Ferris, is it not right that you, too, acknowledge this?" "Meow!! That's... Well, that may be so, meow..." When that was pointed out to him, Ferris hemmed and hawed as he wilted. Having put those kitty ears in their place, Julius turned his gaze to Subaru once more. "Thanks to you, people can forget the days they spent in fear of the mist Lady Anastasia shall surely be overjoyed as well." "Even though I can accept the first half straight-up, it's a lot harder to accept that second half as is." "And my friend can...begin to put his regret of many years behind him." Subaru understood that by "friend," he

probably meant a certain red-haired hero, but Subaru didn't know the fine details of what regrets that complete super-human had harbored for many years. Did someone like him really have a past he needed to regret...? At any rate, Subaru had no intention of fiddling with how to take all those words. It was right to be happy for Wilhelm having achieved his long-cherished desire, and at the very least, he recognized that his own cooperation had been useful to that end. But even so, Subaru felt extremely conflicted having Julius praise him so. *** He put on a strong front, but he couldn't wipe away his weakness, flinching and recoiling from the handsome man. Even had he overcome his own weakness, all that awaited him was the unsightly image of a rebellious child having a tantrum. Even though he felt genuinely grateful for the reinforcements, the fact that it was Julius was hardening Subaru's heart, enough that deep down, he wanted to give his superior, Anastasia, a piece of his mind. Taking pains not to let such negative emotions come out onto his face, Subaru exhaled at length. "So in the end, what are you doing here? What'd you come for?" " You really pulled it off, didn't you?" "Ah?" Julius did not reply to Subaru's question, but somehow, Julius's murmur sounded like he was deeply moved. When Subaru prompted him, he commented, "Nothing," and shook his head before saying, "I wished to ask if you comprehend that the contract with Lady Anastasia lends the Iron Fangs to Lady Cru Rather, to you, only during the subjugation of the White Whale?" "Huh? Was that the deal? But I'm sure the lady said that..." "Big Sis, please be quiet." Hearing Julius's declaration, Mimi tried to interject, but a little feline beast man with identical facial features sitting right beside her stopped her from doing so. That was probably the talented younger brother. Glancing sidelong at the exchange, Subaru grimaced at Julius's words. "What are you trying to say exactly?" "It is a simple story. Having succeeded in subjugating the White Whale, we no longer have any reason to cooperate with you. The job is done yet here you are, trying to take them somewhere this very moment?" "Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha! Julius, you're so forgetful! The lady said this and that before we left and everything! Mimi's forgotten what it was, though!" "Be silent." Though the kitten-sibling interplay tugged at his mind, Subaru finally grasped what Julius was trying to say. In other words, it went like this: "You want me to choose, here and now, whether to let the Iron Fangs pull out or stay on as reinforcements." "I am under instructions to sell our services at a high price, you see. Or perhaps our strength is not necessary at this juncture?" Julius indicated the others watching from behind him, pressing Subaru to decide. In spite of himself, Subaru could not easily permit his irritation to slip into the decision. It would be simple to give in to anger and chase them off, but that would be a fool's choice, diminishing his fighting strength while the tallest hurdle loomed ahead of him. That said, readily accepting the "high price" Julius had invoked brought its own problems. It was a bad move in negotiations to make promises you couldn't keep, and moreover, Subaru's decision had numerous lives, and the future of a particular girl, hanging on it. *** With Subaru pushed into silence, Wilhelm and the others beside him watched without saying a word. Even if Subaru had requested support from them at that juncture, it would turn the negotiation into the Iron Fangs entering the employ of the Crusch camp. But that would only serve to create one obligation to satisfy another. At present, Crusch was lending support to Subaru from a position of equality between them; put bluntly, he didn't want to upset that balance. *** When he looked next at the mercenary band under Ricardo's command, Ricardo was folding his arms, keeping his silence. Beside him, Mimi copied her captain, folding her arms as she twitched her ears. When he thought back to Ricardo's earlier display of willingness to fight the Witch Cult, it all came together. He was getting in Subaru's good graces in anticipation of this negotiation with Julius. "That's dirty. You Kararagi folk sure play dirty..." "That's a harsh thing to say to someone, ya know. By the way, I ain't really into this whole 'takin' advantage of people's weaknesses' thing. I just like money more, so..." "You're so shallow it's depressing! Not that I was expecting more to begin with!" Even if he was boss in name only, he still had no intention to seek aid from Ricardo, part of the enemy camp. At any rate, it was disgustingly obvious that the negotiation left Subaru no option but to say yes. Unlike the Crusch camp, lending him help so they could call it even, Anastasia was creating a one-sided debt. It was a painful decision, but there was no move to make save for grudgingly accepting the situation. Declining reinforcements would be a far stupider decision. If only there was some magical means to make the Iron Fangs fight the Witch Cult under the existing contract "Magic, magic...? Mist, White Whale...and the contract for the highway..." Subaru, searching for some kind of convenient means, suddenly lined up side by side what had been mere words in his head. Upon examination, they seemed to be unconnected terms, but that little nudge made his thoughts burn white-hot. Bit by bit, a vague image began to take form inside Subaru's mind, turning into a coherent answer. And then "...How about this: The subjugation of the White Whale...ain't over yet." " That is an...interesting statement." Julius narrowed his eyes as he replied to Subaru's desperate-sounding words. Subaru's statement unsettled not only the Iron Fangs behind him but the expeditionary force as well. Among them, Wilhelm's wide-eyed look tugged especially strongly upon Subaru's conscience. But in a meaning separate from Wilhelm succeeding in his long-cherished aim, it was his idea for addressing a problem that could not be set aside. "It's possible that the White Whale is a demon beast acting for the Witch Cult. I'm...aware of people in the Witch Cult saying something like that." It was the third time around, in other words, the final scene before that world came to an end. Facing off against Petelgeuse in the forest, he'd lost to the madman's Unseen Hands. After that, Subaru thought Petelgeuse's kicking of Emilia's remains was like he intended to force Subaru to feel powerless. At the time, as the madman's filthy mouth berated Subaru, he definitely ran his mouth to the effect of... " The highway is sealed by the mist, so there is no one to interfere with my love!" How did he know that? Why did he speak of it like it was his own doing? And buttressing that was a word spoken afterward by the Beast of the End, freezing the world over with its breath. "Someone who knew the White Whale called it 'Gluttony.' If I'm not wrong in thinking that means something to the Witch Cult, the cause of the demon beast appearing is where I'm heading." If Petelgeuse had called the White Whale to the highway, obstructing entry to and exit from the Mathers domain, his objective could have only been to further his own mad ends. In other words, covering the highway in the White Whale's mist was preparation for the attack on the mansion and Emilia. "The Witch Cult's got a chip on its shoulder, so we've gotta knock it off. With this added, that'll be four centuries of failure set straight. When we've done that, then we can say we've finished taking care of the White Whale." *** Subaru looked Julius's way as he continued with a strong declaration, "The job of the employer is to give orders and dish out rewards. Don't cut out on me midway, merc. Or are you gonna pay compensation for cutting and running?" The basis of his statement was so thin that, on the inside, even he was amazed. But Subaru was now able to maintain a bold, smiling exterior while saying such a thing. He'd gathered scattered bits of information from each repetition, piling them together to hazard a guess. He'd had that experience several times before, but this time, the guess was on spectacularly thin ground. After all, the crux of the information was gleaned from things he'd overheard while his mind was clouded. Even linking them together in some semblance of coherence, he had no idea if it would sway them. If it could not, at least it could be the thread leading to further negotiations "Mm, I think I shall grant you a passing grade." "Huh?" "You could make it sound a little better for our ears, but in general, your claim passes muster. Nor shall Lady Anastasia lose face." "W-wait a minute!" Subaru raised his voice in haste at Julius's know-it-all reply. In response, Julius casually looked at the agitated Subaru. "What is it? You need not be concerned; the Iron Fangs shall continue their assistance in accordance with the collateral that has already been paid to Lady Anastasia. There is no problem, is there?" "That easy...? I mean, what's with that know-it-all stuff! Why, you...!" When Subaru began to voice the words that were to follow, he came to realize a very disagreeable part of himself. Julius had considered Subaru's circumstances, cooperating by taking Subaru's guess at face value. Subaru just hadn't wanted to notice his benevolence. Subaru wanted Julius to be a hateful person he could never see eye to eye with. He realized the vulgarity of his own feelings in wishing that it were so. "Well, it ain't like we're doin' this for free. A dumb robber only takes from ya once, but a clever one gets as many chances to take from you as he likes." "Doesn't change that in the end, you're getting hosed, huh..." Ricardo wedged himself into the conversation, and fortunately, he was on Subaru's side. In so doing, the easy way became easier, and Subaru hated himself for running from it. When Subaru's self-hatred mixed with the self-hatred of others, things only got worse and worse. But even Subaru knew that. He'd learned it long before. "I'm...in the wrong... Crap, sorry. Aw, damn it, that's not even what I wanna say. Even back then, I knew I was..." Putting a hand to his forehead, Subaru finally voiced the logical answer he'd agonized over. However, even though he understood in his head, it was hard to find the words for it. This was where he ought to be thanking Julius for bringing reinforcements and committing to the fight. Now that he could look back at it calmly, he could understand just who had been in the wrong, and that the previous antagonism between them was the result of Subaru's quick temper. Or perhaps even the reason Julius had done what he did at the time was *** Julius simply waited, saying nothing to Subaru's difficult words. He surely understood what Subaru wanted to say. If Subaru couldn't say it, and he wanted to get out in front and voice a reply, surely he could. But he did not, and Subaru could not help hating him for not doing so. It would have been so much better if he could simply keep hating the man through and through. "I...was wrong. Sorry. I apolo...gize." To Subaru, they were abominable memories to think back upon, but he'd have had to face them sooner or later, and that was the place, in front of the man he'd have to settle things with someday. Julius closed his eyes at Subaru's apology, slowly drawing in his chin. "Allow me to apologize for my own rudeness. I do not take back everything I said and did in that place, but even so,

I take back my belittling of you, from the bottom of my heart." Those were the words with which Julius answered Subaru's apology. Sincerity flowed from Julius's words, and Subaru knew that the resentful, hateful feelings inside of him had melted away with exceptional ease. Understanding this, he dismounted, standing on the same ground as the knight before him, squarely facing him on a level playing field. He was reflected in the other's yellow eyes, and Subaru's own black eyes reflected in the knight's as Subaru admitted, "I was wrong. But..." "Mm." "I really hate you I think badly of you, and right now I'm thankful you came, but I really hate you. I truly, from the bottom of my heart, hate...your...guts!" The last sentence of his rude declaration was broken up, with shakes of his head to the left and right for extra emphasis. And slammed in the face by all that hostility, Julius looked taken aback. Then, his expression abruptly collapsed. "That is well. After all, I am not very minded to become your friend, either." With that, Julius snobbishly stroked his hair upward and laughed. 6 "Ahh, to be honest, this sort of thing really isn't my cup of tea. It's like, having people watch me with those serious looks is gonna make me blush..." With the group of fifty sitting in a circle, Subaru stood at the center, embarrassed, as he let those words slip. The place was the Liphas Highway; the time was before daybreak, and the participants were everyone in the expeditionary force. The group that had persevered through the battle with the White Whale had been joined by reinforcements, the Iron Fangs under Julius's command, making them a rather large gathering, but the time had arrived when it was necessary to share the objective and information concerning it to all. For that purpose, Subaru had proposed to sort out all their information in one sitting, but "I didn't think I'd be standing in the middle of all these people for it, though..." Surrounded by veteran soldiers, beginning with the likes of Julius, Ferris, Ricardo, and Wilhelm, Subaru could not help flinching. In the first place, he'd often anguished over his low interpersonal abilities since back in his old world. He was well aware that he lacked experience in standing before people like that, let alone the character to stand above others. But even if Subaru was timid from having them look at him with a certain level of trust in their eyes, he didn't mind it at all. It just put him in quite a bind. "Anyway, let's straighten this out. Ahh, from here on, we're heading to the Mathers domain...or rather, Roswaal Manor. There, the Witch Cult will probably no definitely show up." "The Witch Cult, you say..." When he invoked the name of the Witch Cult, conflicted emotions came over the expressions of various people. Given conversations to that point, there were surely many among them resigned to where it would lead, but even so, it was a different feeling knowing for sure who you were up against. Though, Subaru did not know exactly what this world understood of the Witch Cult or how they would act on his information. "As far as I'm concerned, though, they're the worst of the worst." Based on everyone's reactions, they all seemed to share that thought. When Subaru took comfort in that, Julius addressed him casually. "Subaru. How did you come to realize the White Whale and the Witch Cult are connected?" Ever since Subaru aired his real feelings about their quarrel, Julius's demeanor had softened considerably. To be frank, that transformation left him conflicted in and of itself, but at the moment, answering the question took precedence. "Burns me to say it, but I had a run-in with disciples of the Witch Cult. I didn't get out unscathed and I have a pile of bad memories from it...but there was one guy who ran his mouth," Subaru explained. "I see... It would seem the knights' guess was not in error." "I suppose not, meow. The research Old Man Wil put together seemed to come to the same conclusion." "Wait, you knew?" Julius accepted Subaru's words, and Ferris nodded and concurred. Their behavior surprised Subaru, but Wilhelm gently shook his head and said, "It was mere chance that I noticed the connection. I thought it was unnatural how often the distribution of the White Whale's appearances coincided with records of the Witch Cult's activities it was nothing firm enough to call concrete evidence, but..." "To Old Man Wil, the White Whale was the main course, and the Witch Cult is like dessert, meow. Ferri wasn't sure to believe it or not when hearing about it the first time, either..." "There has been similar talk among the knights. Though to be precise, they were never considered anything but old wives' tales, tales to amuse one another with." As Julius shrugged his shoulders, Wilhelm replied, "That is a small wonder," and exhaled. Listening to their exchange, Subaru roughly scratched at his head and said, "For starters, it's lucky for me that there's a foundation for you to believe what I'm saying. Either way, if we believe what that Witch Cult guy was saying... Er, that might not be very trustworthy, but I think it's almost certain they're connected to the White Whale. The Witch created the White Whale to begin with, right?" "So it is said. The existence and origins of demon beasts are mysteries to us. Some propagate in the same manner as ordinary living creatures, but some suddenly appear out of nowhere like the White Whale. Though, properly speaking, the only exceptions on par with the White Whale are the Black Serpent and the Great Hare." "Feels like some words I shouldn't just let go are flying around, but they scare me, so is it okay if I move on?" Everyone nodded as if to say no problem. Seeing this, Subaru cleared his throat and advanced the conversation. Now that everyone knew that they'd be facing the Witch Cult, there were things that had to be known to all. "The Witch Cult's target is Emilia. They intend to burn away the mansion, the nearby village, and everyone inside. That's why we have to drive the bastards off somewhere." "Drive off? Subawu, you're saying a really naive thing, meow." Ferris narrowed his eyes in a flirtatious manner; there was a suggestive inflection to his words as he looked at Subaru. It was a sensual gesture that sent a cold shiver up Subaru's spine. However, it still came from a guy. "Whaddaya mean, naive?" "Shouldn't you just cut down every last one of a bunch like that? Given what they've done until now, isn't that the proper and just way to deal with them?" *** Hearing Ferris unflinchingly propose slaughtering the lot of them, Subaru's mouth opened in surprise. It was not the extreme statement that surprised him but the statement that he himself was naive. He, who had gone over and over in his head that they ought to die and had to be killed, was surprised at the change in his mind-set that had made him use such soft words. That was probably because the order of what ultimately mattered most had changed inside of him. "Right now, to protect the people in the mansion and village, that's fine. Whether it's driving out the Witch Cult, blowing them away, crushing them, beating them to death, twisting their heads off, turning them into mincemeat, roasting 'em, pounding 'em to little bits..." "I...understand. I see that you're very angry toward them, so...!" " Er! Darn it. No, you're wrong. I didn't go picking a fight out of anger and hatred. And it's unjust to say I got close to Emilia-tan just on account of that!" "No one said anything like that, meow!" Subaru's anger was gradually rekindled as he spoke, with Julius and Ferris ending up calming him down. However, he also gathered that it was unnecessary to smooth such things over. During the previous go-around, people had tended to distrust Subaru, but apparently, this time people didn't feel even a hint of suspicion about him. That's wrong somehow, thought Subaru, wrapping his head around it, but... "After bringing down the White Whale at so much risk to yourself, no one's saying anything unjust like that, meow? Subawu, you're surprisingly untrusting of people." "I'm not being untrusting..." In fact, he'd experienced Ferris and Crusch doubting him in just those words. But he hadn't just frivolously smiled and acted to hide his misgivings from them. Perhaps that transformation, too, reflected a change in Subaru's way of thinking and acting. "In any event, surely there is no room to doubt that the Witch Cult is on the move. Given their faith and their past activities, it was anticipated given the fact that Lady Emilia has publicly declared herself a royal selection candidate." Separate from Subaru's internal thoughts, everyone seemed to be concurring with Julius. Their knowing reaction made Subaru finally voice a question he'd neglected to ask at previous opportunities. "I've wanted to ask this for a while. How did you go from Emilia's name going public to accepting that the Witch Cult is on the move? It's a bit weird to me how everyone just accepted that so easily... I thought the Witch Cult was pretty much a mystery to everyone?" "You're saying that considering you know which way the Witch Cult is moving?" Subaru had expected to be laughed at for his ignorance, so he paid no mind. "Well, there's no time, so let's get on with it. So how'd you get there?" "Ain't it weird for the one not knowin' to put it like that...? ...Well, ya know to the Witch Cult that the Witch of Jealousy, Satella, is more important to them than life itself. Y'know that, right?" Ricardo said. "More or less. To be honest, I've only touched on that. I read it in a picture book, that's about it." "Well of course, it ain't like there's anyone left who's actually seen her. I've only heard of 'er, too. Well, if y'know that the Witch Cult disciples worship Satella, it's all good. So ya knew that Satella witch is a half-elf, right?" "That, too, kinda." That information hadn't been written in the picture book, but he'd heard it when Beatrice had explained the Witch of Jealousy to him. Besides that, even in the royal capital, the issue of Emilia's appearance compared to that of the Witch of Jealousy had come up time and again. Each time, Subaru had indignantly insisted that it was no reason to put her down, but... "Emilia's outside appearance is a dead ringer for the Witch, right? So back to the Witch Cult... It's simple to them a half-elf is in the way, y'see." "What?" Subaru, beside himself, unwittingly let his voice jump out of his throat. But from the reactions of those around him, no one else thought anything special of Ricardo's attitude. In other words, it seemed to be a shared opinion. "Why's that? By any normal thinking...not that I'm sure these guys think normally... But normally, why would you persecute someone who's a half-elf, the same as your dear, precious Witch...?" "It's 'cause they worship her and think there ain't nothin' better than her, that they can't allow someone else that's the same kind. That she's kind of the same but not the same an imposter." The voice was exceedingly cold, infused with bloodlust down to its frigid core. Subaru blinked hard and instantly looked toward the individual who had let that voice loose. As he did so, that individual turned to Subaru as well, and the two ended up staring eye to eye. Subaru flinched from that gaze, as if it could see everything inside of him, when the individual said, "Well that's the guess Ferri just wanted to try and see, meow." The expression easily crumbled as he stuck his tongue

out, acting like the atmosphere just then had never existed. Subaru couldn't form the words to follow up on that virtual about-face in his demeanor, but with him so rocked back, Ferris put on an innocent look and leaned forward as he said, "In the first place, the Witch Cult guys being weird in the head isn't a recent thing, so is it a big deal, meow? With the Cult after Lady Emilia, the real problem is who's leading them." "An Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins, I reckon." " ?! Wait, you know that name...?" When Ferris changed the subject, Ricardo concurred, and Subaru bit on the term that came out. Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins that was the position Petelgeuse had claimed to have, though he had also babbled about being charged with Sloth on top of that... "The Archbishops of the Seven Deadly Sins of the Witch Cult, are they pretty famous?" "Well, at least enough people figure they exist. Plus, way back before the Witch of Jealousy went on her big rampage, the titles belonged to witches besides Satella." "Pride. Wrath. Sloth. Greed. Gluttony. Lust. Six witches bore the names of those deadly sins, it would seem. Either way, it is said that once Satella claimed the mantle of Jealousy, she swallowed all of them." In other words, "Witch" meant Satella, the Witch of Jealousy, and other witches of the deadly sins no longer existed within that world. "But and I do not know if this is the proper wording I have heard that those in the Witch Cult acting as leaders have taken the names of those deadly sins in place of the lost witches. Satella is the symbol of Jealousy, which is what they worship. In other words, besides that, there are six six Archbishops of Sin." "Six..." Listening to Julius's explanation, Subaru's breath caught at how little was known of the Cult they were facing. Since Petelgeuse had claimed to be Sloth, he'd expected that there were others charged with different deadly sins. To Subaru, they were wonderful, familiar words straight out of rich middle school subculture. That said, what stopped the term from making his heart flutter was that his first-hand impression of sloth was just too awful. Were there really five more people like that? "But we brought down the White Whale that was supposedly Gluttony, so the other Archbishops of the Seven Deadly Sins should show their faces in the Mathers land where we're headed. It's our chance to take 'em all out in one shot." "Whoa, so stwong~! But Ferri agrees with the view that this is a chance to squish those Witch Cult weirdos. They've really underestimated Lugunica, huh?" "As with the White Whale, they have inflicted damage the world over. The knights have also long suffered at their hands. Many other knights are surely as grateful as I for this opportunity." Ferris and Julius concurred with Subaru's view, and Ricardo made a belligerent smile as well. Wilhelm responded with merely a solemn nod. That being the case, what Subaru needed to do was make good use of his future information to draft a plan using the fighting strength currently on hand though really, the plan itself was exceedingly simple, for all the necessary pieces were already on the board. "Worst case, I'd have to pull this plan off with half the people we have now, but with Julius and them linking up, no more worries about being short on people. I think we can do this." "I would like to correct you about one thing. My name is Juli. Certainly, I am on close terms with the eldest son of the Juukulius family, but I would prefer you pay that heed." "In a nonpublic setting, that's just in the way, you know! It's holding back the conversation!" "The key to not slipping up at a critical juncture is to pay heed even during normal times." "If you wanna warn people about normal, don't come dressed as a Knight of the Royal Guard! You're out of character!" After yelling at Julius for his thin commitment to the ruse, Subaru breathed raggedly while looking at everyone's faces. Then, he cleared his throat. "All right, let's start this Witch Cult Hunting Made Simple, so that even a monkey can do it." With a twist of his mouth and a villainous laugh, Subaru laid out his plan. The moonlight waned, and one could begin to see daybreak over the Liphas plains. It was a quiet beginning to the morning of the last day of that loop. CHAPTER 1 *** 1 Subaru Natsuki began the strategy meeting he'd dubbed Witch Cult Hunting Made Simple. It was before dawn on the Liphas plains. A group of about fifty warriors and mercenaries had gathered together. Standing at the center of attention of so many accomplished people was a little rough on Subaru's nerves. These people were older, veteran soldiers or rough-and-tumble beast people mercenaries. From Subaru's perspective, they were from a different world. Barring very specific circumstances, Subaru would never have had the opportunity to cross paths with them. And now these residents of a world unconnected to his own were sitting in a circle with Subaru at the center. That his meandering path had put him in command of such people sent a gale of anxiety and weakness through Subaru's heart. But his passion and will to fight were every bit as intense. "Figures..." The scene before Subaru's eyes was what he had yearned for every time he experienced Return by Death, something that had seemed almost impossible to reach. Subaru's piddling readiness and self-respect gave rise to an urge so great that it was almost painful; he didn't want to fail the innumerable people who had guided him so far ever again. He criticized himself for this more harshly than anyone else could have. *** "What is it, Subaru? You went quiet all of a sudden." When Subaru put his fist to his chest in self-admonishment, someone watching him from the side called out to him. It was the other man who stood out even among their current company, a gorgeous man wearing the uniform of a Knight of the Royal Guard Julius Juukulius. "I hardly think you're getting cold feet, but...time is of the essence. You said yourself there's not a moment to spare, no?" "Yeah, yeah, I know. You don't need to snap at me every time. The first thing you say at times like these is important, so I was just thinking about how to put it best." "Such concern is unnecessary. Everyone here already knows your conduct before large numbers of people is problematic. Pay it no concern and simply be yourself." "Gah-ha-ha-ha! Ya sure said it, Julius! Hey, bro, he really got ya there!" "Grrr...!" A vein bulged on Subaru's forehead as his darkest moment was dragged out into the open. Ricardo, commander of the beast-man mercenary band called the Iron Fangs, broke into laughter as sympathetic expressions spread among the knights of the expeditionary force. Apparently, news of Subaru's humiliation at the royal palace had traveled further than he'd thought. "That's so humiliating...!" "Yes, yes, now that's enough feeling ashamed of yourself! Subawu, it's your duty to work hard to clean the slate so you can live without shame, right? And Julius, I understand your urge to needle him, but think about how you say things!" "It seems you misunderstand, Ferris. I had no such intention. Certainly, it would be a happy day if he has become a better speaker for it." "You really have a roundabout way of doing things..." Ferris sighed, looking thoroughly annoyed at Julius's sardonic reply. Seeing his reaction, Subaru finally understood the purpose behind Julius's words and deeds. That only gave him the same feelings as Ferris, though. "A little banter is fine. That said, I believe we should finally address the subject at hand. Our priority should be countermeasures against the Witch Cult." It was the sharp-looking Wilhelm who dragged the conversation back from the tangent. Of all his companions, Subaru expected the most out of the Sword Devil, both mentally and in terms of combat. Subaru had cooperated with him in slaying the White Whale, the elderly warrior's mortal foe of many years. In return, he unreservedly lent Subaru his strength. Joining Subaru and Wilhelm's force were the survivors of the White Whale expeditionary force as well as the Iron Fangs' reinforcements. These fifty-odd individuals formed the Anti-Witch Alliance, which would challenge the Witch Cult. "Well, since Wilhelm asked and because time's a-wasting, I'll get to the point. The topic of discussion today is Witch Cult Hunting Made Simple... The actual contents are pretty simple. Like with anything, simpler methods give more intense results." "Logical. What is your plan, then?" "How about we kick their asses go in for a preemptive strike to take the enemy commander's head and victory along with it." *** Subaru's conclusion sent a faint whiff of surprise through those present. His words were the very definition of audacity. That "commander's head" belonged to one of the Archbishops of the Seven Deadly Sins commanding the Witch Cult. "Well, that's definitely simple. Assuming we pull it off, it'd be a huge blow to the Cult." Amid the group's unease, which was beginning to border on unrest, Ricardo was the first to speak up in admiration. The huge dog-man showed off his fangs as he smiled, touching those sharp canine teeth with a finger as he spoke again. "That's if we can pull it off, though. Anyone can talk big. Can't go countin' our chickens before they hatch." Ricardo was the first to show he understood Subaru's aim, but he also made sure to call for caution. Subaru thumped his own chest in response and immediately followed up. "Of course I have a plan. I proved I'm not reckless enough to hunt a whale without a fishhook, didn't I?" "Man, I already believe you. That's why I wanna hear your reasoning, get it?" While Subaru was brimming with confidence, Ricardo prompted him to get on with it as he ground his fangs together. Subaru realized his other comrades shared the dog-man's feelings when he saw how they drew closer, eagerly awaiting the details of his proposal. "Okay, I'll lay this out one part at a time. First, the Witch Cult is targeting the Mathers domain, where Emilia is. This is due to all sorts of background information. We'll leave it at that for now, okay?" "So those are the starting conditions? Very well. In truth, we anticipated that it was likely an incident related to the Witch Cult would occur in the Mathers domain. The appearance of the White Whale at the same time cannot be dismissed as mere coincidence." "So what...the Witch Cult used the White Whale to seal the highway with its mist and isolate the Mathers domain, meow? Looks like the Cult is getting serious. Well, considering their dogma, that almost goes without saying." When Subaru began going over the situation, Julius and Ferris both added their thoughts. Apparently, though the Witch Cult was still unfathomable in many respects, the fanatics' obscure activities were underpinned by a pervading hostility toward half-elves. Given that, the current attack on the Mathers lands was no doubt due to the announcement that Emilia was participating in the royal selection. That indiscriminate cruelty would eventually result in a massacre of the villagers. Subaru genuinely believed the cultists were beyond redemption. "The Witch Cult is after Emilia's life. But that doesn't mean they'll ignore the humans near her. They don't discriminate they'll kill women and children without mercy." "There is no room for doubt on that point, however repugnant it may be." Seeing Subaru's anger, Julius nodded. His eyes held no surprise in them only furious indignation. The Witch Cult's capacity for evil was common knowledge in this world, after all. "I want to save Emilia, the people at the mansion, and of course all the villagers. Now, I thought

about getting everyone in the area to the mansion and holing up there, but..." "Against the Witch Cult, whose members can appear anywhere without the slightest warning, sheltering in place seems a poor plan." "Yeah, we're gonna pass that one up." The point of holing up was to maintain one's forces and hold out for some kind of impending victory. Subaru's force couldn't count on reinforcements, so it wasn't much of an option. Besides, wasting the fighting strength currently in Subaru's hands on a defensive battle would foolishly squander the one clear advantage he possessed. The information he'd gleaned from Return by Death would be worthless the instant events greatly diverged. If an armed group paraded into the mansion, even Petelgeuse would probably revise his plans. He might change the method of attack, or even call off the attack altogether. Furthermore, if Subaru was to maximize the value of what he'd obtained through Return by Death " We need to go after the Witch Cult lurking in the forest before they figure out what we're up to. While they're prepped to strike first, we've gotta strike even before that, and crush 'em." "I appreciate the enthusiasm, meow, but how do we find the Witch Cult in the forest? No one's managed to grab their tail in four hundred years. We need something to go on." "Yeah, about that... Long story short, it's like fishing for the White Whale." "Meow...?" Subaru's suddenly cryptic explanation made Ferris's big, round eyes bulge even bigger. "I used my scent to lure the whale in, right? I can do the same thing with the Witch Cult, too." *** "Yeah, this condition I have is scary stuff. It's a real pain in the butt, ha-ha." *** "Ha-ha-ha..." Subaru's dry laugh was the only sound in the silent atmosphere; when it trailed off, an unsettled air hung over the plains. He looked at the faces of those around him, wondering how they would respond to his long-awaited, long-delayed plan. Subaru himself could not explain it any better; he had no reasoning for why he could lure demon beasts and Witch cultists save his physical makeup. All he could do was recognize the fact and say, That's how it is. Someday the truth behind that would become clear, but even if there was some terrible reason it was so, the best thing he could do right now was rely on it. Hence "I figured in advance my story wasn't gonna sound very persuasive." Subaru surveyed the silent knights and beast people, speaking the truth in the most honest way he could think of. "I think calling it crazy talk, unbelievable stuff, is the natural reaction to have. But still..." "Sir Subaru." "...Please believe me. I've said a lot of stupid things in my life, but I meant everything I just told you. That's how I decided to be, and that's why I want your help." Up to that point, those around Subaru had reached out to him time after time, only for him to reject them and trample on their feelings. He only realized this now that he was facing his first true challenge. Subaru was powerless and ignorant before the task that loomed before him. On his own, it would be impossible. He needed help from others from everyone. "I only have one head, so it's the only thing I can ask you with. But if this single head won't do, I'll bow it as many times as you like, so please, lend me your strength." *** Subaru pleaded with them, lowering his head for all to see. Those around Subaru were silent; the only sound was that of the wind crossing the plains. After several moments, the first to speak was a small beast man, a lieutenant of the Iron Fangs called TB. With an adorable face, he adjusted the position of his monocle and stared straight at Subaru. "I understand what you are trying to say. However, if you ask us to believe you without any basis for...gah?!" "What are you worrying about, TB?" In the middle of his lecture to Subaru, TB was interrupted by a single blow from his older sister Mimi, who stood nearby. She smacked his back, and as her younger brother groaned, she laughed innocently. "Mister here worked reaaaally hard to take down that big fish, you know! No one who worked that hard would try to trick us, so it's okay!" "S-Sis, could you please be quiet?! This is a very important conver " "You're always trying to be crofty... Wait, huh? Cro? Cru? Crufty...?" "Crafty?" "That's the one! You won't grow big if you're doing that all the time!" Mimi bluntly scolded her teary-eyed younger brother. Then, turning from the wilting TB, she pointed at Subaru. "You didn't fight that big fish earlier, TB! So if you can't trust Mister here, just trust in your big sis!" *** "Big Sis believes in Mister, so since you believe in Big Sis, you can trust Mister, right, TB? Besides, Mimi will protect TB no matter what happens!" Mimi puffed her chest out as she spoke, brimming with confidence. Though her words surprised TB, they immediately wore him down. The hostility he'd displayed earlier drained from his face. The sight of the siblings made the others unwittingly break into broad smiles. Amid the unexpected outpouring of laughter, Mimi tilted her head with a curious look and asked, "What?" "Nahhh, don't sweat it. That was perfect. You said it great." His eyes softening, Ricardo patted Mimi's head so hard that his huge palm almost looked like it would pop her head right off. "There's still things that bug me, but havin' come this far, we're not gonna doubt bro now. We crossed that bridge a long while ago." " " Subaru's eyes widened at the unexpected words. Then, in apparent agreement with Ricardo, Wilhelm stepped forward. "Sir Subaru, a man should not lower his head lightly. Indeed, to avoid meeting a person's eyes when you ask something of them is unacceptable had you looked, you would surely have noticed it yourself by now." The Sword Devil's solemn words urged Subaru to lift his chin and look around. As he examined the faces of those surrounding him, Subaru realized that their feelings had not changed. Not a single thing about them was different since the discussion began "You know, meow, it puts us in a bind if you go quiet all on your own like that. It's not as if anyone thinks your story is a lie, Subawu." With a subdued look, Ferris passed a finger through his own fur as he spoke. The absence of objections proved that everyone present agreed. Under Subaru's gaze, Julius maintained his usual elegant handsomeness as he stood straight. "Besides, Subawu, your decoy plan is what decided the fight with the White Whale. It was Lady Crusch who chose to bet on that...which means doubting Subawu is the same as doubting Lady Crusch, and there's no way Ferri could do such a thing." "That is a very Ferris-like thing to say, but Sir Subaru has simply earned our trust through his actions. That is the plain truth known to all who witnessed that battle." "H-hey, Old Man Wil?!" "Of course, I am included in that." Ferris was visibly nervous, his voice going shrill, but Wilhelm merely nodded strongly in Subaru's direction, paying no heed to the retort. Such unreserved consideration made Subaru's cheeks run hot as he appreciated the surrounding atmosphere. "I'm so uncool... Guess I'm as bad at reading the atmosphere as ever." "I believe an atmosphere is something to be breathed, not read?" "Oh, shut up! I knew that already! And that the less you can read it the more you obsess about it!" Julius's comment made Subaru's voice go ragged as he swept away all the excess sentimentality within him. He'd unnecessarily embarrassed himself again. All things considered, though, it wasn't such a bad price to pay. "Our trust in you is the result of your own accomplishments, Sir Subaru." Although Subaru could not clarify his reasoning on such an important plan, he'd done enough to earn their trust. Just like Rem had somehow come to believe him, even though the contents of Subaru's words might have given them pause, they did not doubt his motives. It was the proper way for someone who'd Returned by Death, bearing information from a lost world, to coexist with others and at that moment, Subaru felt as if it had all come together, right before his eyes. 2 "I I wasn't crying! I just felt like all the suffering and regret I felt coming all this way had finally paid off, and when I drifted off, some protein-infused alkaline water spilled out of my eyes. That's all! Don't get the wrong idea!!" Subaru tried his best to hide his tears. At any rate, he glossed over the conflicted emotions inside him, raising his head and diving into the main topic. "Anyway, if everyone trusts me, that speeds things up a lot. So my selling point is that the Witch Cult and demon beasts react to my scent. I'll use that to lure the Witch Cult." "So we'll wipe out whatever appears in one fell swoop? If it could become more than an impractical theory, that sounds like a fine plan, but what do you estimate the actual odds of success to be?" "Odds?" "The probability that they will detect you and willingly reveal themselves." Julius, who had not questioned the plan's viability up to that point, voiced his doubts for the first time. By this point, the members of the expeditionary force who had participated in the battle with the White Whale didn't need an explanation for Subaru's peculiar ability. But Julius and the relief force that had just joined them hadn't seen it for themselves. Naturally they wanted to know Subaru's worth as a decoy they were betting their lives. "Given the nature of this strategy, we cannot allow the matter to remain vague. What do you think?" "The probability of me drawing them out is a hundred percent. They'll come for sure." "That is a bold statement." "Those cultists'll come out for sure. It's because they're them, and I'm me." Julius received an explanation that didn't really explain anything. When it came to confidence in himself, Subaru was second to none. The facts he discovered via Return by Death were absolute. That certainty was his sole advantage. "You mentioned before...that you have a history with the Witch Cult, didn't you?" "Yeah. Those are the worst memories I have. I won't let 'em get away with anything like it ever again." Strictly speaking, that "history" was a future that had yet to come. So long as the actions of Subaru and others did not change it, that horrible future would be realized; he was in this place, at this time, to defy and shatter that destiny. "...I see. Very well. So we'll be using your presence to lure them out then. Is that right?" "...You...were easier to convince than I thought." "I never intended to oppose your plan to begin with. I simply wanted to see if you had the resolve to lead such a dangerous operation. If you lacked the determination, it would have been necessary to find a substitute." "Say what you want, but it's way too late for me to be getting cold feet now." Subaru snorted at Julius's mean-spirited prodding as he brushed his meager personal worries aside. If he acted timid now, it would play right into Julius's hands. Subaru made a point to stand up straighter. "I'm saying this loud and clear. The Witch Cult is gonna show up wherever I am. The Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins is no exception. So basically, when they come out, we beat them senseless. As far as that goes, it's a pretty simple plan." "It really does sound simple when put that way... I have to say, Subawu, between this

and the White Whale, you really enjoy using yourself as a decoy." "Hey, don't say it like I do this every time something comes up. It's only been coincidence up until now. It's not like it's every single..." Thinking back, his main role during the fight against Elsa in the loot cellar was being a distraction, followed by luring the Urugarum out in the demon beast forest. Then he became the bait for the White Whale. At the present, he was planning an operation against the Witch Cult that centered around his serving as a decoy "Huh?! Wait it really is every time!" "It would appear you have both ample experience and ample success under your belt. Perhaps we can count on your performance this time as well." "You can...! You can, but...!" Though Subaru groaned as he listened to Julius's words, he couldn't find a way to respond. "So now that we've settled on me acting as a decoy, I wanna focus on everything else. First, the Witch Cult is hiding out in the forest around the manor. There's no better place for it. As for the possibility of other places the cultists could be based...the mist takes care of all that. They wanted to use the mist to cut off the Mathers turf. That means they're hiding out in this region somewhere. Closing off all roads leading out works against them, too." There was no need to persuade anyone on that point the White Whale had made it clear. Its obedience of the Witch Cult meant that the demon beast's appearance was necessary for whatever the cultists had planned. Of course, the White Whale was no help to the Cult this time, having already been slain "The White Whale was taken down pretty much right when it appeared. We'll reach the cultists before they figure out what happened." "Then this will be a battle against time. If we press our blades to the necks of those hiding in the forest, it will come down to a proper contest of strength. With Julius's reinforcements and the Iron Fangs added to the expeditionary force, as well as my modest strength, I do not think we shall lose." "Well, that's how it is." Subaru agreed with Wilhelm's assessment. The fighting ability of the Witch Cult disciples following Petelgeuse couldn't be underestimated. However, many of the troops following Subaru's command were fierce warriors that had survived a battle with the White Whale. Even accounting for Petelgeuse, they were more than a match for a fight with the cultists. Even Subaru could put up a fight if it was hand-to-hand combat. But considering Wilhelm's skill, it wouldn't be strange to watch heads fly after a single blow. In other words, everything else came down to how much they could tilt the circumstances in their favor, with victory hinging on a single decisive battle. "Setting up a big ol' ambush means we'll have an overwhelming advantage...!" In the first place, Petelgeuse had no idea a force was coming for them. The Witch Cult had always been the attacker. Their name was synonymous with irrationality and contradiction. Without a doubt, they'd never even considered that someone might threaten them. Subaru would smash that conceit to pieces. "Maybe everything's been great for you bastards up till now...but we aren't going to let that happen this time." *** Everyone who heard the conviction in Subaru's words wore a tense expression. They knew. The battle awaiting them was a chance to strike a blow against the vile existence known as the Witch Cult, which had never been possible until that very moment. "After we enter the Mathers lands, I'll smoke out the Witch Cult lurking in the forest. But the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins is a sly one. He has a bunch of people under him, split into ten or so groups." "Where did you learn this?" "From last time Sloth popped his head out. He called his servants fingers, telling them apart with names like right middle finger, left ring finger, and stuff. He didn't seem to go as far as including toes, so we shouldn't have to worry about twenty groups showing up or anything." Petelgeuse had distinguished between the groups under his command according to fingers. Subaru hadn't had the luxury of confirming that the Cult leader had ten fingers, but he surely ought to have the same ten that any human being did. Moreover, the madman's state made Subaru think that his followers were divided into groups equal to that number of fingers. For some reason, though, Subaru's reply stirred unrest within the expeditionary force. Subaru raised his eyebrows at their reaction, but Julius's next question helped him realize what was wrong. "Subaru, does the prior history you mentioned involve the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins? More importantly, is Sloth masterminding the attack?" " Sorry. I didn't explain enough. Yeah, the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins we're gonna bump into is that Sloth bastard. He's the one I have a connection with. In this world, he's the owner of the face I hate the most." "Hmm. Incidentally, I presume your second-most-hated face belongs to me?" "Don't get carried away. Don't be trying to make yourself a big part of my life, all right?" It seemed as if Julius joked to hide his admiration, while Subaru could only scowl in response. When it came to ranking faces he despised, Petelgeuse definitely took the top, with Subaru's own following at the number two spot. Julius was fairly high up on the charts, but it'd take an awful lot to dethrone the leader and runner-up. "That asshole's put me through hell. But thanks to that, I know for a fact my odor's effective, on top of the knowledge that he splits up his followers into fingers." "Meow, I see. That's why you're so confident... Better not to ask about what happened, hmm?" "...Yeah, that's right. Please don't. I'll tell you about anything that's important, though." "Loud and clear. Asking seems like it'll just leave a sour taste anyway." Somehow, Ferris seemed sympathetic when he saw the unbridled rage Subaru displayed when discussing the Witch Cult. Perhaps Ferris was connecting Subaru's condition with some kind of tragic past of his own. That would have been a misunderstanding, but Subaru made no move to correct him. "Also, not to put a damper on our plan of attack, but I've arranged for some insurance, too. I asked Anastasia and Russel for that before we set out to take down the White Whale." "Insurance you asked the lady for? What kind of evil plan is this...?" "It was just a normal request! Geez, who the hell do you think your employer is?!" The genuine look of doubt on Ricardo's face drew a yell from Subaru. "Actually, what I asked both of them to do was touch base with the villages near the highway I wanted them to hire the dragon carriages from every traveling merchant in the neighborhood. The client is Marquis Mathers, and the condition is that he pays the asking price for everything the carriages are hauling." "...Ha. That should get 'em fired up." "There's no question this is going to break the bank, but it's a necessary expense to save people's lives. It's the obvious call to make since Roswaal is off prancing around somewhere again right when we need him." The lure of gold ought to attract plenty of helpers. The money actually belonged to Roswaal, but it was his own fault for not fulfilling the duty of a landlord that he mentioned so often. Either way, Subaru had finished laying the groundwork for the evacuation plan getting Emilia and the villagers out before the Witch Cult attacked though it had failed before. "This leaves us with a small problem...namely that we don't want the Witch Cult to get wind of what we're up to, so I wanna hook up with the group of hired merchants along the way." "Certainly, it would be wise not to put them on guard when we depend on the element of surprise. We should assign people familiar with the circumstances to guide the merchant group. TB." "I understand. If the lady's involved, I think it's best we send people from our camp. We'll dispatch four messengers. Your instructions, please." "Oh, that was fast. I appreciate it." Subaru felt relieved after witnessing Julius and TB's quick decision making. "Also, I wanna send a messenger from Crusch's to the mansion. If we don't let Emilia know about the alliance treaty and incoming reinforcements, things'll fall into chaos." "Ahhh, a handwritten letter. Meow that I think about it, you wrote one, huh?" Ferris clapped his hands together. Properly speaking, though, Subaru had merely had a letter written for him. Rem had penned a message with details about the alliance, plus a liberal interpretation of his plans against the Witch Cult. Handling such complex writing was still somewhat beyond Subaru. If that letter reached the mansion, they'd surely be able to deal with any unforeseen situations on their end. It would give them a chance to prepare beforehand, even if they were forced to rely on the insurance policy Subaru had set up. "That's...probably all there is to say. It's a plan that leaves a lot to be hashed out along the way, but everyone here ought to already know what this fight means." "Meanin' it's our best chance to give the Witch Cult a bloody nose!" As Subaru finished wrapping up the talk, Ricardo burst into ferocious laughter while he stood with his furry arms crossed against his chest. The fierce beast man's conclusion bolstered the morale of every man in the expeditionary force. "...Throughout the years, there has surely never been a battle against the Witch Cult that has afforded us such an advantageous position." Wilhelm drew his body straighter, channeling razor-sharp hostility as he spoke. To the Sword Devil, the Witch Cult that the White Whale answered to was as despicable as the beast itself. The only thing that accompanied his overflowing will to fight was a strong sense of reassurance. "To be granted such an opportunity so soon after finally fulfilling my deepest wish... The greatest problem is keeping my blood from boiling." "I'm counting on you, Wilhelm." "As you wish." The elderly man who had dedicated himself completely to a life of the sword responded very briefly. His demeanor projected a sense of unsurpassed trust. Subaru took this in, surveying the fifty-odd faces of his comrades. Thanks to them, he could fight. The instant that crossed his mind, words naturally began flowing out. "The fight with the White Whale was so hard I could've sworn I was a dead man. As a matter of fact, some people did die, while others were erased and will never get to go home." During the battle, several lives had been snuffed out by the demon beast menace. Its mist had annihilated the memories of their existence; their very names had been scrubbed from the world. "Right now, I don't think there's much reason or logic behind why we're standing here instead of them. If I had to say it was anything, we were a little luckier. That's all." There had been many sacrifices, and a great deal had been given up for an opportunity to slay the Demon Beast of Mist. Perhaps, as it was with natural disasters, people set aside their personal differences when pointing their blades at the demon beast. Therefore, Subaru thought both those who had lived and those who had died had given their all. *** Though it wasn't what he'd intended, Subaru's words became something like the speech a commander gives before deployment. For everyone listening closely, the address he gave was like a kind of promise that they braced their hearts with on the eve of their coming battle. It was much like Crusch's address before they set off to fight the White Whale. Combat knew no mercy and

made no distinction between the lives of the highborn and the low-. That was why they should all strive to do everything they could. But Subaru sympathized so much with those he had come to terms with and accepted that he couldn't read the atmosphere. "If even the tiniest thing were different, we'd probably all be dead. We're all still here after surviving a fight like that. If that's the case, then let's just get past one more." *** "Let's win with such a landslide that not a single one of us dies. Make sure that everyone lives and goes home. We already beat a monster like the White Whale. We ain't gonna lose to the likes of the Witch Cult." These were the idealistic delusions of a young man who could not grasp the reality of the situation. No matter who had what advantage, casualties were an inevitable part of battle. Subaru knew this, and the warriors, with all their experience, understood far better than he did. Because they understood that, inside their hearts was something separate from the resolve to march toward death: an acceptance of death. Subaru wanted to challenge their resolve to die specifically because he noticed this lying within them. "We're gonna make sure no one dies. Dying for the sake of scum like that is just stupid." Subaru was afraid of death. Dying constantly trashed his life with an unbearable sense of fear and loss. He thought it was like that for everyone; he assumed that was how it had to be. Subaru, who had experienced death more than anyone via Return by Death, didn't want anyone else to know what it was like. That was why his every action was a rejection of it. His final words to close out the Witch Cult Hunting Made Simple meeting were explosive. Before the shocked members of the group, Subaru raised his hand, opening his mouth as he looked out over everyone's face. After all, he'd been told that a man shouldn't make light of bowing his head and to look people in the eye when making a request. "On that note, I'm gonna go ahead and ask right out let me cling to you guys while I rely on you for everything." 3 "Among the Archbishops of the Seven Deadly Sins, the two most famous are probably Sloth and Greed." Julius spoke to Subaru while riding his land dragon alongside him. Even though they rode together, there was a world of difference in how the two sat astride their dragons. Subaru was desperately clinging to the black dragon he had named Patlash, while Julius rode elegantly. "And that's why I can't stand you..." "I shall let that slide and continue what we were discussing. Even among the famous Archbishops of the Seven Deadly Sins, two stand out. In terms of reliable records, information on Sloth is far more prevalent, but in terms of the scale of damage, the unforgivable crimes of Greed are second to none." "So reliability versus how much damage, huh? Nothin' good from either one by the sound of it..." "Certainly not." Julius seemed deflated whenever the Witch Cult was brought up, as if he had also suffered at their hands. "The individual you know as Sloth is suspected of being responsible for more than half of the Witch Cult's activities. Considering that the Witch Cult operates on a global scale, one can only say he possesses miraculous mobility." "So the bastard really gets around." "The name itself rolls off the tongue rather oddly for a man who dubs himself Sloth, he must be a rather diligent worker. That being said, applying such energy in a direction no one wants suggests a mind that is far beyond help." The features of the madman bony cheeks and fiery, gleaming eyes crossed Subaru's mind. The Archbishop of Sloth, Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti, earnestly strove to be the most diligent, and urged others to be as hardworking as he. Even though he called himself Sloth, he bore a rather substantial hatred toward laziness. His rate of activity, unusual for the Witch Cult, must have been an expression of that hatred. "It pains me to say this, but the knights have learned little of the Witch Cult. Since they are hidden to begin with, it is difficult to expose them during peacetime. When they cause harm, the first witnesses are always doubted even then, all that remains in their wake is something akin to a charred plain." "So the dilemma here is like detectives that don't investigate unless a crime's been committed. I feel you, though..." Seeing the regret on Julius's face kept even Subaru from poking fun. It would be wrong to criticize the knights' investigative abilities. After all, it didn't change the fact that the Witch Cult was at fault. " However, this time, it will be different." It was Wilhelm, coming up beside them, who interrupted their exchange. Riding his favorite mount, the Sword Devil hemmed Subaru in from the side opposite Julius, staring straight ahead. His eyes were quietly filled with an eagerness to fight as he touched the hilt of the treasured sword hanging from his hip. "We will take down the leader, allowing none to escape. Just like the White Whale, he will pay for all his wicked deeds. That is the will of every soul in the kingdom, and the earnest desire of the knights." "Exactly as you say. These cowards have fled from the blade of justice. However, this time, we shall not give them the chance. Our swords will find them." Wilhelm nodded, and for once Julius's expression hardened as his raw emotion became visible. Subaru wasn't the only one with a reason to despise the Witch Cult. For some people who'd lived all their lives in this world, cursing the cultists came as naturally as breathing. "Incidentally, since we got fired up talking about Sloth, who's this Greed guy?" "Unlike Sloth, Greed is a name associated with few calamities. But the content of those records is more than sufficient. The Empire incident in particular is widely known." "By that you mean the damage was especially huge?" When Subaru posed his question with a grimace, Julius indicated yes with a nod. "The Fortress City of Gackler located in the Empire of Volakia, found at the south of the world map. It was known as the most solidly defended city of that nation's border regions. It had a standard garrison of thousands of troops, while the settlement itself was enveloped by a complex set of defensive walls. It was a place truly worthy of the name Fortress City, but...Greed conquered it. Single-handedly, no less." "He took down a whole city?! By himself?!" This was no mere tale of one knight worth a thousand footmen. Subaru's voice cracked when he heard the shocking account. "'Soldiers must always be strong' the common people consider this way of thinking to be 'the Imperial Way.' The Empire is a nation that lives and breathes that ideal, and even its basic infantry are fierce fighters. The Fortress City was manned by such soldiers, but it fell to a single Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins who called himself Greed. It is said that even 'Eight Arms' Kulgan, hero of Volakia, was slain in that battle." It was Wilhelm who explained when Subaru voiced his surprise. Complex emotions appeared in the Sword Devil's eyes when he spoke the name of the hero defeated by Greed. Wilhelm lowered his head when Subaru noticed. "I once had an opportunity to cross swords with Kulgan. To avoid an international conflict, we represented our two nations in a proxy match. He was a very skilled man. Though I managed to cut down six of his eight arms, he skewered me through the stomach. The match was called off with us both on the brink of death...and thus the match ended without either side declared the winner." "That was a real casual way to bring up such an intense story...!" Put plainly, it was difficult for a young man's heart to remain calm after he'd heard a tale about the Sword Devil's prime that was worthy of a novel. He felt a little like digging for more details, but Wilhelm had already mentioned that his worthy rival had landed a blow upon him; even Subaru wasn't insensitive enough to pick at Wilhelm's old scars. That said, the danger Greed presented weighed heavily on Subaru's mind. "Sloth and Greed...then on top of that, Pride, Lust, and Wrath, huh? Even without a Gluttony, sounds like a pretty grim future to come, huh?" " You seem to be looking quite far ahead." "I'm not eager to see it. I think the odds of meeting them are pretty high, though." On the eve of their battle with Sloth, thinking about what was coming made Subaru's chest throb. The unavoidable clash with Petelgeuse no doubt meant earning the permanent ire of the Witch Cult. And if the Witch Cult saw Emilia as an enemy, clashes with the other Archbishops of the Seven Deadly Sins were inevitable. "Well, the talk about Greed already soured my stomach. Throw me a bone here." "I have nothing good to say about unsettling the heart with discussions of an uncertain future. You should concentrate on the battle that stands before you, for Lady Emilia's sake." "Yeah, I get it already. I'm just a little nervous right before the operation's main event." Clicking his tongue at Julius's attempts to settle him down, Subaru shifted his gaze farther down the highway. Far ahead, in the sky to the east, night had begun to give way to light, with the tip of the morning sun still hidden beyond the dimly lit sky. The expeditionary force hunting for the Witch Cult had already entered the Mathers domain. Riders and mounts alike went along in exhilaration, morale high as they traversed the plains. From the looks of it, they were not bothered by Subaru's reckless request, for which he quietly breathed with relief. What Subaru had said earlier was simply his honest feelings. He didn't want to lose a single member of the expeditionary force. There was no reason for there to be casualties against the Witch Cult. Subaru was determined to do whatever it took to bring about that result. "That said, being the decoy is about all I can manage..." "Did you say something?" "Nothin' at all! I'm just thinking about if that detachment met up with our 'insurance' or not!" "Ahhh...no reason to worry, I'm sure. They are well aware of their roles. We cannot end this operation in success unless we both meet our respective objectives. They are more determined to fulfill their duty than your thoughts of concern appreciate." Subaru was just trying to change the subject, but the unexpectedly strong reply left him at a loss. Julius's words showed no hint of concern, making Subaru feel all the smaller. Before he could smooth any of that over, the scenery in front of them changed. " It's coming into view." "Yeah." Subaru nodded when Julius murmured, noticing the change of scenery. Down the highway, in the direction of the approaching dawn, they began to see a thin row of green trees. That line marked the end of the plains while showing them the entryway to the great forest that enveloped Roswaal Manor and Earlham Village. It meant that soon, Subaru would see the combined might of the Witch Cult and that hateful madman once more. *** Just as during the battle with the White Whale, he felt tense, as if something had tightened in his chest. Subaru touched his fist to his abdomen to suppress a pain that he couldn't get used to no matter how often he experienced it. Then, baring his teeth, he brushed his feelings of weakness aside and spat out a laugh in an apparent attempt to stir his soul. "Now, then. We've done this before, but...let's do this Mr. Fate, you're on." 4 "Here we go..." Subaru felt the sensation

of trampling fallen leaves as he trod along the difficult-to-navigate path. He stepped over sludge and tree roots as he made his way deeper into the dimly lit forest. If he looked overhead, the sun and the blue sky peeked through gaps in the leaves; the breeze blowing through was rich in moisture. With the lukewarm wind reminding him of the cold sweat on his brow, Subaru wiped it off with the back of his hand, exhaling deeply. At that moment Subaru was walking in the forest, isolated and defenseless. Left to his own devices, Subaru was no longer accompanied by the companions he had traversed the highway with; he was not even riding Patlash. Without even a weapon to rely on, he was the definition of helplessness. "Had to leave Patlash behind. This is one battle I can't have her stand by my side." Slightly out of breath, Subaru laughed a little as the words trickled out. He'd already gone a fair distance along terrain wholly unfit for walking. Squeezing through the gaps between skinny trees, snapping the fallen branches as he passed by, and scrambling up lichen-strewn hills, Subaru forged ahead. Though they were called animal trails by some, the ground was so poor for travel that the barely existing paths barred his way. It was the third time Subaru had walked through the forest like this. He'd been carrying someone in his arms both the first and the second time. He'd seemed so much lighter then; he wondered why his current steps felt so heavy by comparison. "Probably 'cause I'm stunned by my own stupidity that I'm doin' this for the third time. Since it's try number three, I just wanna take it easy and head home... Now, then." While he was murmuring, right as he leaped over some mushrooms that looked vaguely poisonous, the atmosphere abruptly shifted. It was different from the reflexive sense of tension he'd felt when confronting Elsa or the White Whale. The unpleasantness of the atmosphere clung to him, making Subaru really feel the sweat he hadn't been heeding. "Here it comes...almost like when you suddenly see a roach in the corner of a quiet room..." When encountering a black noxious insect, a strange battle of wills would break out one where it seemed certain that the first one to move would perish. Time seemed to stretch beyond all limits, feeling like infinity. It was a time much like that, with plain, distasteful trepidation crawling over the entirety of his flesh. Abruptly, he strained his eyes. To the left and right, the forest scenery seemed uniform. But he felt as if he'd seen this somewhere before in fact, he actually did recognize this landscape. "I walk all those paths that ain't worthy of the name and I still get here every time. It's a little funny. I dunno whether to call it a sense of direction or guesswork, but it's too sharp, whatever it is." Or perhaps he just really had a good nose for evil. It'd be kind of cool to be known as a hunting dog trained to track down the Witch Cult, but if Subaru was a dog, he was of the beaten variety, having lost every battle to date. He wanted to strip that label off himself this time around. " Thanks for the warm welcome." Subaru squinted, staring into the gloomy darkness ahead of him as he spoke the words of thanks. Of course, there was not even a scintilla of friendliness on his face. But the people to whom he spoke lacked any a smidgen of humanity to care. It was very late to do so, but he wondered who they were. "I don't suppose you Witch Cultists would tell me even if I asked." *** In an instant, several figures had surrounded Subaru, robed in black outfits that blended with the darkness. At some point, the sound of the wind and even the chirps of the insects had vanished. It was a rather cliché signal that they had arrived. Now that he understood, suddenly encountering them didn't surprise him anymore. He felt an out-of-place sense of relief but that was only because he'd encountered the cultists exactly as planned. "Sorry, I know you came all this way, but I wanna talk to your leader. That means you guys are in the way." *** "To be honest, it doesn't feel good not to understand any of this, but I probably outrank you, right? Please?" Subaru waved a hand, seemingly to command them to go away. As he did so, the figures in black robes bowed their heads to Subaru in a show of respect, maintaining the posture as they seemed to glide away, melting into the darkness once more. This, too, was the reaction he had expected. Though it left him conflicted, the Witch Cultists held no enmity toward Subaru. So long as he did not indicate hostile intent toward them, and Petelgeuse didn't command them otherwise, they would do Subaru no harm. He didn't really want to know the circumstances that lay behind that judgment. "Sure would be nice if I could just order them to pack up their things and head back to the family farm..." Subaru sighed deeply, his shoulders sinking. Things were never so convenient. Either way, it was clear that he was near his destination. He recognized the scenery around him, and he'd met what he assumed was a Witch Cult patrol. If memory served him correctly, all he needed to do was keep heading deeper into the forest. His eardrums were filled only by the sounds of his footsteps along the ground and his own breathing. He felt like he was walking through prolonged, never-ending darkness, but that sense soon came to an end. " Ohh." The trees obstructing his path opened before him, and Subaru leaped into a rocky place; a sheer cliff filled his vision. A sudden break in the forest spread before the tall, precipitous rock face, almost as if the forest had been gouged by a giant claw. Several boulders lay at the bottom of the cliff; the cave within which the Witch Cult was lurking was hidden behind a particularly large one. The malicious group was surely preparing its cruel schemes within. But it seemed that there would be no need to converse inside the cavern this time around. After all " I have been waiting for you, DISCIPLE of love." The man in a priestly habit had come to greet him with arms spread wide, immersed in a world of madness and delight. His cheeks were gaunt. His eyes seemed ready to fall from their sockets. His hair was a deep green. His skin had an ashen, unhealthy sheen. His limbs, stretching out from under the black habit, were slender and frail, like gnarled branches. He looked like a man in his midthirties, but his deathly overall appearance made fifties seem hardly a stretch. The only lively part of him was his eyes, but it was with these, and the overwhelming, fiery light of madness within them, that he stared at Subaru. "I am Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins of the Witch Cult, entruuuusted with Sloth!" With spittle on the tip of his outstretched tongue, the madman Petelgeuse laughed, proudly invoking his name as he extended Subaru his hospitality. 5 When, with a very deep bow and lavish laughter, the madman greeted him, Subaru put a hand to his chest. Standing before Petelgeuse, his mortal enemy, he realized that he was exceedingly calm. "It's strange..." This was the enemy he had hated so much, cursed with his desire to kill, the despicable foe that was the cause of all his woes. He'd raged that he would snap the man's neck with his own hands, had he not? And yet, with the demonic fiend before him that very moment, Subaru was embraced by relief. "I welcome thee, beloved child, recipient of Her favor! Spleeendid...ahh, splendiiiid! What depths of love entwined about you! What heights of love wrapped around you! What heat with which love embraces you! I am grateful! I am TRULY, sincerely grateful!!" In front of Subaru, deep feelings stirring in him, Petelgeuse quickly broke into madness. He plucked at his hair and scratched the back of a hand, drawing blood; the madman was overwhelmed, unable to keep his fierce emotions inside him. The first time, Subaru had seen his madness in fear; the second, in enmity. Subaru now saw him for the third time. Finally, what he felt was not really disgust; rather, he felt this was just how the madman was. At the same time, he was certain Petelgeuse's ways would never be compatible with those of normal people. *** Without thinking, Subaru gave his cheek a tug, then took a deep breath. After calming himself, he waved lightly at Petelgeuse, offering the friendliest smile he could manage. "Yo. Wasn't expecting such a big welcome. I've gotta say, all this doesn't seem real..." "That iiis to be expected! For many, the beginning comes as a surprise. Anyone can realize one particular day, 'I am loved.' And once realizing it for the fiiirst time, you cannot let that love go yes, for love is everything!!" When Subaru sought a place to begin, Petelgeuse eagerly ran with the conversation. Spreading his blood-smeared arms wide, he extolled his particularly insane vision of love very twisted yet forthright. "For love! For the love granted to us! I, we cannot fail to reeespond with diligence! Accordingly, we administer the trial, the ordeal! To give meaning to the favor the Witch has granted to this world, to this age, to me! For love, for love forloveforloveforloooove!" "So you can't be lazy about it. You've gotta be diligent to faithfully repay that love." "YES precisely!!" When Subaru picked up the gist and pretended to understand, Petelgeuse laughed maniacally, deeply impressed. The understanding and agreement were strictly on the surface. With Subaru keeping pace on the surface, and Petelgeuse unable to peer into his soul, the words were nothing more than sweet, empty nothings. Truly, Subaru wished he could end the conversation there and then. "Ah, er, so what should I do now? Can I...join you people? What else is needed? A handwritten letter, a formal document with a stamp? I don't have an actual stamp, so will a fingerprint do?" But Subaru suppressed all the disgust welling in him and turned to face Petelgeuse. The longer he kept the conversation going, the more likely it was that he could drag useful information out of the madman. "Hmm, hmm...that spirit, that enthusiasm, that forward thinking, is to be treeeeasured... However..." As the calculating Subaru stepped nearer, Petelgeuse sniffed the air, as if confirming that the scent of the Witch was really present. Then, as an ecstatic smile came over him, the madman extended both hands, showing Subaru his ten perfectly intact fingers. The slender, gnarled digits that resembled branches quivered. "...The favor that you have been granted is too thick to add you to my fingers at thiiis juncture... I wonder, just how rich is the love of the Witch I see before me? Even Wrath would be envious of this... Could it be that you are Pride?!" "Pride...?" "Among the six Archbishops of the Seven Deadly Sins, only the seeeat of Pride is currently vacant! None of this generation worthy of the sin had appeared in this era...but the Witch Factor has suuurely reached the next generation's Pride you have received your Gospel, of course?" Taking a step, Petelgeuse closed the distance between them. Petelgeuse's question, posed with his head tilted ninety degrees, could not fail to throw Subaru off. He accepted at face value the good news that the seat of Pride among the Archbishops of the Seven Deadly Sins was vacant. But Petelgeuse suspected that Subaru might be the one to fill that vacancy. It was easy for him to claim that he could, but should he do so, and how would Petelgeuse react if he did?

It was a hurdle he hadn't anticipated at all. And he didn't have a clue about the Gospel the guy was asking about. Was it some kind of code word used among members of the Witch Cult, or a trap for the unwary? If the former, it was hazing the rookie Witch Cultist; if the latter, the madman was engaging in psychological warfare. "Errr, well, you see..." He didn't want to clumsily say anything rash, but silence would only make him seem more suspicious. Amid that extreme stress, Subaru strongly closed his eyes once. Behind his closed eyelids, faces rose up faces of the people Subaru had to protect. That was all he needed to harden his resolve. "Setting aside the Gospel, about this Pride...if it takes a lousy personality to qualify, I just might be who you're looking for. I'm interested, but I'd like to hear a few more details first...about Archbishops of the Seven Deadly Sins, and this trial you mentioned." With few avenues for follow-up, Subaru kicked the Gospel issue down the road and pursued the madman's statements about the Archbishops of the Seven Deadly Sins, of which much was unclear, and the trial Petelgeuse had spoken of several times over. Trial given the situation, it was probably the current plan of attack. If he could find out details, perhaps even where the fingers were hiding out, it'd be the perfect intel to gather. Naturally, the meddlesome question might send Petelgeuse flying into a rage, but Subaru was already on guard for that. Behind his lighthearted tone of voice, Subaru was already prepared to commence hostilities when he let the question fly. For his part, the madman slowly stuck his right hand's thumb into his own mouth. " My brain is shaking." With a dull sound, he crushed his thumb with his back teeth, sending fresh blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth. There was a slight tremble in his halting murmur, but the mad delight from a moment earlier had completely vanished. His hollow gaze sent a shudder through Subaru, quickening his pulse. His heart beat at such a high tempo it hurt, feeling as if it were slamming against his rib cage from the inside and right before Subaru's eyes, Petelgeuse withdrew his thumb from his mouth and said: "The trial... Thaaat is fine. I do not mind at all." *** "It ought to be some time until word reaches all regions that the highway is sealed. Similarly, the trial will not begin yet for time is something we still pooossess." In contrast to his disquieting actions, Petelgeuse's words to the eager-to-learn Subaru were, if anything, amiable. A smile came over Subaru at the reaction; he strained not to let his cheek twitch. "Huh...sealed the highway? What trick did you use to do that?" "A very simple ONE. The mist. That is eeeenough explanation, I believe?" " Yeah, it's plenty." Subaru nodded at Petelgeuse's brief reply. The statement, suggesting that the mist and the sealing of the highway were connected, was proof positive that the White Whale and the Witch Cult were linked behind the scenes. Furthermore, from that exchange Subaru learned that word of the White Whale's subjugation had not yet reached Petelgeuse's ears. The cultists hadn't realized Subaru had brought the expeditionary force with him. "So you sealed the highway so that you could do the trial with no one to interfere. That's a pretty shrewd way to operate, Mr. Petelgeuse." "Yes, the trial is sacred, inviolable! To fail to overcome at all costs, no maaatter the predicament, would be insincerity toward love! Yes, toward love! The love granted to us! The love poured onto us! We must RESPOND to that love!" "Yeah!" Separate from his statements regarding the trial, Petelgeuse got fired up by his personal thoughts on love. The madman bent back, eyes bulging, stretching his tongue as he gazed intently at the heavens, frothing at the mouth as he searched for something intangible. Ignoring Subaru's double take at the unhinged reaction, Petelgeuse did not stop. "Aaaaaall must be sacrificed for love! The silver-haired half-demon, whose very existence is insolent, must answer for the deep crime of her very life! Those who bear sins must undergo trials! Yes, they must be TESTED! To find whether they are slothful or diligent! And it is my hand that must be FIRST!" "So the trials are...to question their sins, to test if they bear sins?" "For that purpose, the trials! For that purpose, the sins! The Archbishops of the Seven Deadly Sins! Accordingly, I MUST test her! If she is not tested to see if she truly possesses the Witch Factor, then whether she is a suitable vessel cannot be " Gripped by madness, Petelgeuse slipped an arm into his habit. Then, after a little rummaging, his fingertips pulled out a small, case-bound book. Subaru thought it about the size of the pocket dictionaries that were common in the world he came from. Deftly opening the book with one hand, Petelgeuse ran his bloodshot eyes along its pages. "My duty is recorded within the Gospel, and I must fulfill it as proof of my love! If you are indeed Pride, you will understand my loooofty ideals! After all, it has been centuries since the vacancy among US, the forsaken bearing the titles of sins, has been filled!!" "Hold on a sec! I need to hear more about this Pride and this Witch Factor stuff..." " Present your Gospel." *** Petelgeuse suppressed his madness once more, forcing back a sudden wave of emotion. Subaru, unable to keep up with the shift, unwittingly took a step back when Petelgeuse pressed closer. At Subaru's reaction, Petelgeuse, the crazed zeal still absent from his eyes, tilted his head ninety degrees. "Present your Gospel. The proof of your favor " Speaking this, the madman extended his blood-smeared right hand toward Subaru, demanding proof that he was a coconspirator. His undamaged left hand touched the beloved book within it. From his demeanor and actions, Subaru understood. That book was a Gospel. And as if to affirm his conviction, Petelgeuse thrust his Gospel text toward Subaru. "You are not recorded within the text of my Gospel. Therefore, who aaare you, and why have you fortuitously come to appear in this place?" "Ah! So that book is called a Gospel! I see, I see, I get it, I get it. Well, you should have said so!" On the brink of a decisive rupture, Subaru made a grand show of patting his chest and putting a hand into his pocket. Of course, he didn't have a single page inside it, let alone a book. *** Petelgeuse's pupils contracted slightly as they watched Subaru's pantomime. His madness-filled eyes caused a countdown to destruction to begin ticking down in the back of Subaru's mind. The numbers were proceeding with unusual speed; failure was surely close at hand. Therefore "Oh, my bad. So, so sorry." "What IS it?" "About my Gospel, you see, I...used it as a pot stand and it got dirty, so I threw it out." Therefore, this was the watershed moment. Judging that it was impossible to drag things out any longer, Subaru instantly brought the conversation to a conclusion. Petelgeuse looked taken aback the instant Subaru's frivolous reply reached his ears. But when the statement immediately transformed to an insult inside the madman's brain, his visage turned fiendish. "Proof of her favor!! Authority of Sloth!! Unseen HAAAAANDS!!" The madman screamed with a reptilian look as his shadow exploded no, the shadow swelled up as if exploding, becoming multiple black arms that stretched toward the heavens. These were evil hands, imperceptible to normal people, able to destroy a human body with ease. The hands danced high above like serpentine heads, locking on to Subaru. The black, shadowy, evil hands snapped down like whips, the tips of their fingers aimed at the ground, shooting out at breakneck speed. And a moment before those black tendrils reached him, Subaru beat a hasty retreat from the spot. "I told you before if you can see 'em, they're not that hard to dodge!" "What is this ?!" Subaru had said it the last time around, so to Petelgeuse it was an assertion ungrounded in fact. However, the madman did not take the time to dismiss Subaru's statement as nonsense. A total of seven pitch-black hands bore down on Subaru to tear him limb from limb. On bad, rocky footing, he leaped over them with legwork that could not be called pretty, even if one was charitable. With Petelgeuse to the front, Subaru leaped heavily to the rear, putting as much distance between them as he could. He did this both to escape the range of the attack and to get out of the way of the counterattack. "Just now, YOU saw my Unseen Hands " "Right now, I'm not the one you should worry about." After his all-powerful move was countered, froth rose to the corners of Petelgeuse's mouth as he seemed ready to raise his voice again. To forestall him, Subaru pointed behind the madman's back. That was the signal for the counterattack. "Wa !" "Ha !" Overlapping bestial howls formed a destructive shock wave that rumbled through the air and tore up the ground. The rocky ground was stripped bare, kicking up a dusty swirl of wind. The wave caused cracks in the ground, leaving crevices resembling a spiderweb; a hole was gouged into the sheer cliff, precipitating a landslide. "Wha ?!" Petelgeuse looked back, raising his voice in shock, eyes bulging as the beast person siblings landed, unleashing their combo attack. The sleeves of their white robes fluttered as the brother and sister TB and Mimi roared on all fours. The two had landed behind Petelgeuse, opposite Subaru, ignoring the madman as they pounded a roaring wave into the freshly cut cliff. The ferocious shock wave pulverized the rock face, the blasted pieces flowing downward like an avalanche, clamping shut the entrance of the Witch Cult's hideaway. Rock and earth collapsed into a massive pile, and in an instant the cavern lair had become a tomb. "Awesome, now they're buried alive you guys can suffer and regret all that you've done!" It was Subaru who raised his middle finger, teeth bared as he ferociously pounded the insult home. As dust danced in the air, and the impact of the landslide was conveyed by the rumbling ground beneath their feet, it went without saying that the fate of the Witch Cultists inside the crushed, buried entrance was sealed. Their plight sent Petelgeuse gazing toward the heavens. "How...how can THIS be...?" The madman's throat trembled; he plucked at his head, causing droplets of blood to begin to flow. His violent gesture tore hair away, and as the skin on his head bled, Petelgeuse stamped the ground in fury. "My fingers...cruelly, without mercy, without order, without warning, without provocation, without meaning, slain, murdered, slaughtered... Ahh, ahh! My brain is shaaaaaaking!" "Woahoo, that old guy sure has a screw loose!" "Sis, I think all the Witch Cultists are like that." Viewing Petelgeuse's passion with childlike disgust, the siblings, Mimi and TB, exchanged sour looks and lighthearted banter. Of course, their intervention at that juncture was no coincidence or miracle. They were Subaru's reinforcements, coordinating with him according to plan. The two had concealed their presence while accompanying Subaru and had responded to his signal to block the entrance to the Witch Cult hideout. Now the enemy was Petelgeuse alone, putting Subaru and company at an overwhelming advantage. "...Ah yes, that is right it is fine." However, Petelgeuse's tears were just ceasing to flow as he calmly murmured. The madman slowly looked at the faces of Subaru and the others, one by one, and calmly laughed. And laughed "IT is fine. It IS fine it is fine! Ahh, fine! FINE! Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes!!" "Uhyaa!" The way the madman's mood rose midway through his words, his voice turning shrill, made Mimi's shoulders jump. Having exposed his madness, and coated with a thin layer of cold dread, Petelgeuse thrust the fingers of both hands into his

mouth at the same time. Then, one by one, he crushed the fingertips with his teeth. With all ten of his fingertips crushed, a considerable amount of blood flowed as Petelgeuse said, "It is fine. Now I uuunderstand! Now IS the time for struggle! For love, yes, for looooove!!" Petelgeuse raked the ground with his fingernails, ignoring Mimi and TB as he declared war on Subaru alone. But Subaru shrugged his shoulders toward the madman, his face displaying none of the same militancy. "...Sorry to disappoint when you're all worked up like this, but..." "What is this?! I shall attend to this trial with love This! Very! Moment!" When Petelgeuse thrust out a bloody finger, proclaiming vehemently, Subaru said to him, "I'm having someone else take you on." The answer made Petelgeuse's eyes widen. And the instant he tried to raise a skeptical voice "Yaaaaaaaa !!" Petelgeuse lifted his face in shock as the earsplitting cry crashed down from overhead. And then the Sword Devil's blade bit into the madman from below the shoulder slicing him in two. CHAPTER 2 *** 1 Let us rewind time to just before the end of the Anti-Witch Alliance conference. "Oh, right! I forgot the important part!" When Subaru palmed a fist, it was in the particularly quiet atmosphere immediately following his request to the expeditionary force on the verge of setting off with great ardor to enter the Mathers domain. I didn't explain enough, he thought, feeling sheepish as he immediately backed away from his grandiose words, but Subaru could not be negligent about the most critical part. Thus, he addressed one and all: "I called this plan Witch Cult Hunting Made Simple, but the ultimate target, the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins... I want to pick who goes after him real carefully." "Carefully?" "Yeah. After all, whether we take the archbishop down decides whether this plan works or not. I want to pick our best members. What I mean is Wilhelm and some Iron Fangs who're confident about their sneaking abilities. Ah, they have to be okay even if the archbishop's staring straight at them." Subaru's condition furled the brows of everyone sitting in the circle around him. Their expressions shifted to bewilderment, anxiety, and unease; the men sitting beside one another differed somewhat individually, but their faces surely added up to a sum total of "doubt." It was a natural reaction. Subaru, knowing he should explain further, scratched his face as he continued. "Errr, you see. Just like I said, the plan itself is simple I lure out the Witch Cult so we can hit them. That much is the same as with the White Whale, but...I think it's pretty hard to expect their reaction to be as simple as a demon beast's." "Ahh, well, that figures. Subawu's scent made the White Whale lose track, but unlike a demon beast, the Witch Cult won't go grrr quite that much, huh?" "Well, that's exactly how the White Whale reacted to me... Anyway, ideally, we hit the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins with a surprise attack and take him down the instant I lure him out. We have to absolutely make sure he dies instantly, so prioritizing that is another requirement." Subaru affirmed Ferris's explanation and tied the logic together. The surrounding reactions to his plan turned sour, with disgust visible on the faces of many. The sternest face of all was Ricardo's, bared fangs included. "Wait, wait. We can't do that. Can you leave us out of this one? We can't be sneakily murderin' people after gettin' all fired up about a proper battle like this. No way. I didn't hear about this." "That's why I'm explaining it now. Besides, I mean just for the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins. The I'm-a-lure plan's other ten parts depend on this. You'll have lots of places to make noise." Subaru tried all he could to convince Ricardo, the dividing line inside the circle. "Not that we can underestimate the other Witch Cultists, but the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins is a different story. I want to make extra sure we take him down." This time Julius interrupted his explanation to the jeering Ricardo. "So prepare for all possibilities, is it? I commend that line of thinking, but what of your logic for selecting people? Of course, I have no objection to selecting Master Wilhelm." After glancing sidelong at Wilhelm, who sat with closed eyes, Julius touched his own slender knight's sword as he looked at Subaru. "I wish to hear the reason why I was not among your initial selections." "Seems like you're not unhappy about that, but you're not exactly pleased, either..." The Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins was the main event, leaving Julius with some objections to being removed from the decisive battle. Ferris, seeing the two clashing in their opinions, patted Subaru on the shoulder before speaking. "Hey, Subawu. If this is just you still holding a grudge against Julius..." "I have no such vulgar suspicions. Such a possibility has never entered my mind...but I would be disappointed to find that you are a human being so obsessed with trivial matters that you lose sight of the greater picture." Subaru wasn't sure how serious he thought all that, but he felt Don't give half-hearted orders was the point that Julius wanted to drive home. Subaru, reflecting on having lost sight of the larger picture through obsession with small things in the past, raised a finger and responded. "The magic of the Archbishop of Sloth...maybe it's not magic. It's not a spell or a spirit, but anyway, he has a special ability. That's one reason I don't want a big gaggle of people rushing him." "...Special abiwity? What? First I've heard of it." "Best I can describe it, it's an ability to extend a bunch of hands invisible to the eye. With one exception, you really can't see 'em, and if they hit you, they can rip your limbs off pretty easily. The range is pretty much as far as he can see." "Wha...?!" Subaru's off-the-wall reasoning left Ferris in shock, looking as if someone had poured cold water on him while he slept. Julius's brows furled as well, and a not-insignificant shock took hold of the expeditionary force. The Unseen Hands under Petelgeuse's control were literally an invisible menace. Subaru would never forget the sight of that nightmarish power cruelly toying with Rem's body. And in a large-scale melee, the might of that menace could throw everything into utter chaos. "That's why I don't want to go with numbers. It'll just raise the number of casualties." "...You're saying that with a completely straight face, huh? I can't check without Lady Crusch here, but..." "If Crusch were here my answer would be the same. That ability's the biggest obstacle to taking Sloth down." Deep down, he didn't think that was all there was to it, but even so, he was sure of that part. Taking it in, Julius, the first to have spoken up, lowered his eyes, sinking deep in thought before asking, "Incidentally, you said there was one exception. And that exception is?" "Me." "I see. A simple tale." Faced with Subaru's simple explanation, Julius could only make that curt reply. Julius sank into thought, but in the meantime, someone else clenched a fist. "I get it!" It was Mimi who had spoken, vigorously clenching her fist. With an impetuous laugh, she grabbed the shoulders of TB, standing beside her, and shook them hard as she said, "All right, Mimi and TB will go with Mister! And the old man, too! That's best! What, not good? You won't go?" "Sis, you're being impulsive again..." TB, accustomed to his older sister's lack of inhibition, made no move to refute her. Subaru was happy for the volunteers, but he wasn't sure they fulfilled his conditions. "Ya can rest easy. Besides me, Mimi's the best of the bunch at everythin'. She ain't my second in command for nothin'." "I can really trust you on that? She looks like the type who sneezes at the worst possible time." "Subawu, you're not really one to talk, are you? ...Ha, can't be helped, meow. Ferri will go with you, too. That should make you rest a little easier, right?" "Seriously? That's a big help, but you're all right with this? To be honest, we're crossing a dangerous bridge here." "To think you would say that..." When Subaru expressed his surprise at Ferris's declaration, Julius's eyes went wide at Subaru's reply. "Huh?" went Subaru, turning his head at Julius's reaction, but Julius said nothing more. Julius let the matter of Subaru's intent lie, proceeding to turn Ferris's way. "I shall leave Master Wilhelm, Mimi, TB, and him in your hands, my friend." "Yes, yes. Lady Crusch entrusted me with this from the beginning, so don't worry, it'll be fine." "Even so, I must." "...Yes, yes. Then I'll stick a little concern for you in a corner of my heart, Julius." Ferris gave a strained smile; Julius's expression was the very image of seriousness as he drew himself up. The easygoing exchange demonstrated the trust between the two friends. Put bluntly, Subaru was a little jealous. Either way, the brainstorming seemed to have resulted in Julius agreeing, too. "Don't feel like arguing anymore?" said Subaru. "Since you are the only one who can see the archbishop's power, it cannot be helped. If the numbers are increased further, you cannot easily instruct others to evade, I take it?" "Glad you're quick on the uptake." As might be expected, people who fought were quick to understand tactics. Subaru could counter Unseen Hands by dodging the evil hands himself, but beyond that, the asset he brought was seeing the hands' movements and getting other people out of their way. And for purposes of the operation, the fewer people the better. The Unseen Hands power was advantageous against numerous opponents, and that was another reason Subaru wanted to confront Petelgeuse with as few people as possible. "So that's why I wanted to insist that Wilhelm come with me, but..." Julius, Ricardo, and others had ceased to object, so Subaru turned the conversation toward Wilhelm, who'd maintained his silence up to that point. When he cautiously checked on Wilhelm, who had neither approved nor disapproved, the man's eyes opened. The Sword Devil trained his clear blue eyes on Subaru, nodding without a single contrary word. " You do not need to ask about my resolve. I am your sword, Sir Subaru. By your will, I shall cut down your foe." *** "Please, employ me however you wish." Granted such highly refined trust, Subaru could only nod, swallowing his astonishment. When he looked back, he saw the siblings quarreling, Ferris's shoulders slumping, and behind them Julius, Ricardo, and the rest of the expeditionary force entrusting Subaru & Co. with this crucial matter. Accepting this, Subaru nodded strongly, this time without worry. "Yeah, this fight we're gonna win this!" 2 "Did we get him?!" Subaru hastily covered his mouth with his hand after he unintentionally exclaimed out loud. They were at the center of the rock-strewn place in front of the sheer cliff. Wilhelm had just leaped forward, his blade biting into Petelgeuse's slender body at a sharp angle as he sliced it apart. The madman's body had been slashed from shoulder to hip. His posture swayed wildly from the deep, fatal wound. Even so, Petelgeuse's eyes remained wide open, glaring at Subaru until the bitter end. "This cannot b " But Subaru would never learn what the madman had intended to say. A horizontal cut traced an arc, sweeping away blood as it parted the wind. That instant, Petelgeuse's severed head spewed blood like a water fountain as it was sent flying. The sight of a person being decapitated before his eyes left Subaru speechless. However, adamant denial seemed to drive the headless form forward, causing it to extend its withered, branch-like arms toward Subaru. "Inelegant to

the extreme fall, like a man." The Sword Devil's blade mercilessly dismembered the body struggling against its own death. The slice sent both arms flying from their shoulders; the blade returned to directly strike the torso, tearing it from the lower body at the waist, sending the madman-turned-sack-of-flesh tumbling to the ground, innards pouring out. The gushing blood and muscular twitches soon stopped, leaving only the powerful stench of dead blood. The spectacular manner of death, utterly lacking in any respect for humanity, made nausea well up into Subaru's throat. But he somehow managed to avoid actually vomiting as he said, "I-it's over...right?" "If it's not over by now, even Ferri will start believing in this favor-of-the-Witch nonsense," Ferris replied from behind Subaru, who was timidly peering at the corpse. He moved beside the unsettled Subaru, examining the remains without hesitation. "Though it's not much of a surprise, he's definitely dead," Ferris observed. "You have it on the word of the royal capital's greatest healer." "Oh...really...?" The corpse, no longer retaining the shape of a person, seemed more like a prop than anything else. Reassured by Ferris's words, Subaru felt the urge to vomit recede as he looked toward the forest. As planned, their main target the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins had been taken care of. Those remaining were Petelgeuse's fingers in the forest. "Hope everyone else is doing all right...not taking too many risks." "Sir Subaru, they are not soldiers who would freelance in violation of your instructions. Even if unavoidable combat does take place, Mr. Ricardo and Mr. Julius are with them. A worst case is unlikely." Back from checking the severed head for himself, Wilhelm respectfully stood at attention. The Sword Devil's guarantee was reassuring. Yet, it did not wipe away Subaru's worry to any great extent. The object of his worry was the other detachment those heading off to deal with the Witch Cultists drawn to Subaru until he could make it to Petelgeuse and lure him out in person. They had surmised that Petelgeuse's subordinates were scattered around the forest, ten groups in all. Subaru had commanded the two fingers he'd encountered midway to return to base, and their actual retreat had already been confirmed. The idea was to let them go, follow them with the tenacity of a sumo wrestler's leg hold, and use them to work out the locations of the rest Subaru had strictly ordered his people not to attack, even if they held an advantage in numbers. But if they were spotted by the opposition, combat was no doubt unavoidable. "I'm seriously afraid of accidents if that happens. This is the plan I drew up, and it has one crucial hole in it...I don't know what the Witch Cult people are thinking, and this unexpectedly large number of people fighting scares me..." "Yes, yes, the plan maker must not show worry! Besides, I've heard this talk from Nervous Subawu over and over. It's getting old." Ferris sighed with an exasperated face at Subaru, who was worried about the other side now that his side was taken care of. "I understand you're scared, but with Julius and them, fighting shouldn't be a problem, meow. If Julius is fighting seriously, Old Man Wil's probably the only one here who can take him on." "...That so? He's that strong?" Ferris had elaborated to address their young leader's inexhaustible worry, but the details still left Subaru conflicted. In terms of his being a reliable ally, Julius's strength was more than welcome but given his deeply rooted sense of distaste to date, it was difficult for Subaru to accept Julius's worth at face value. Even if the physical wounds from their duel had completely healed, untreatable phantom pains haunted Subaru even then. "It really does run deep... Setting aside whether it's unconscious or not, I do understand your aversion to him, though..." " ? What'd you say?" "Nothing much. In the first place, Julius and them should be much more worried about us! After all, Ferri thought this plan was reckless all this time." Ferris raised his brows and glared at the acrimonious Subaru, who knit his brow in response. "...Yeah, I get it. But it worked out, didn't it?" Subaru said as he glanced at the rocky place that had become their battleground. "Looking at the results only. When the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins suspected you, you were nearly done for, weren't you? It was definitely by the skin of your teeth. Ferri hates people in a hurry to die before his eyes." "I'm not in a hurry to die at all. Well, not that it sounds very convincing right now..." The sternness of Ferris's gaze told Subaru that apologizing further would be meaningless. It had actually been Ferris obsessing over the operation's little details right up until the end. Ferris hadn't objected to the broad outline of the operation itself Subaru "fishing" for Petelgeuse, luring him out as a decoy but he was abnormally fixated on hammering out the specifics to raise their degree of safety. In point of fact, Subaru couldn't deny the low reliability of the plan, given that it greatly hinged on Subaru himself. Everything about luring out the Witch Cultists locating Petelgeuse, the main target; slowing him down; gathering intel was on Subaru's shoulders alone. If even a single thing happened contrary to Subaru's expectations, he would perish. Ferris really, really hated that. In the end, no useful counterproposal emerged, so he hadn't stopped Subaru from carrying out the plan, but "Subawu, you know how only going by results leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and still you..." Ferris's resentful words triggered a memory of other words that had come out of the healer's mouth, spoken close to a half day before at the height of the battle with the White Whale. Ferris had spoken of accepting his role in battle. Just like Subaru, Ferris was decisively unsuited to the field of battle. On top of that, belonging to the knights meant that, compared to Subaru, he had many more opportunities to feel utterly powerless. The last words he'd thrown out had an echo of loneliness, as if he'd been betrayed by someone who shared his powerlessness "I'm a little surprised, though. I thought you hated me and all." "Don't be absurd. I don't choose who I heal based on whether I like them or not." "I wanted you to deny hating me, you know!" Even if your worth was understood, how you accepted it depended on whether you acknowledged it yourself. When Subaru unwittingly gave a pained smile, Ferris had a sullen face when he touched his only weapon the dagger on his hip. "Whether I like or hate someone has no relation to whether it's worth keeping them alive. It's because...that's what Ferri's power is, that others recognize that power." "Ferris?" "Besides, a lot of people died in the battle with the White Whale. When someone's squished flat, or erased by the mists, even Ferri...even I can't heal that." The usual composure in his voice absent, Ferris touched the relief carved into his dagger with a finger. This was the family crest of the Lion Rampant the same crest on the treasured sword his master, Crusch, had carried. The touch of Ferris's fingertip seemed to put courage, and more than that, resolve on his face as he glared at Subaru. "Don't get conceited and think you're the only one who doesn't want people to die in this fight." "...I'm trying to keep that in mind, too." He was trying to, but in truth, trying might have been the extent of it. With Ferris's gaze straight on him, Subaru could accept that he wasn't the only one, but he couldn't change his ways. No matter how much Ferris might object, he'd carry out the plan without deviating. If it was Subaru's own life on the line, he'd probably always bet that chip first. "We've finished checking the cave. The people inside were completely crushed by falling rock. I feel kind of bad for them." "Oh yeah, it was perfect! Perfecto-mundo! They all went booooom!" Just when the conversation was at a pause, the beast person siblings returned from checking on the buried cave. Greeting the pair, Subaru walked over to Petelgeuse's remains. Uncertain elements had been swept away, and the danger had been completely eliminated. Subaru was no longer feeling tense, and his stiff cheeks had finally slackened. "Wiping 'em all out in an unexpected outside attack to be honest, it was pretty unsportsmanlike, but don't think badly of me. After all, you're way, waaaaay worse than I am." With his opponent already a corpse, all he could do was make a hollow declaration of victory. That the victory had been earned with a surprise attack, practically an assassination, made it baser and hollower still. Even so, Subaru couldn't help but say it, because now it felt real inside him. Petelgeuse had been struck down the result Subaru had redone the world several times over to achieve. "Wilhelm, thank you very much. Also, sorry for making you push yourself." "Push myself, you say?" "Cutting him down with a surprise attack from the rear, it's the worst, right?" Wilhelm's face became slightly clouded. He was complicit in no mere surprise raid, but a sneak attack. A knight would surely have that on his mind. But Wilhelm's expression immediately broke into a strong smile. "I abandoned chivalry long ago. It is nothing you need concern yourself with, Sir Subaru." "But I'm the one who made you tag along and help with a surprise attack, so..." It was a fact that the opponent was a heretic against whom honest, forthright measures were useless. Even so, asking others to cooperate in a cowardly scheme like this didn't sit well with him at all. "Well, Ferri didn't mind at all, meow. Julius might have hated it...but I think he's shrewd enough to accept it." "That's why I didn't want to tell him to do it. Well, I could sorta predict how you'd react, though." "Isn't it better to be a little cowardly and have your friends live than to stick to chivalry and have them die, meow? Subawu, whether you or Julius is right is just a matter of your point of view." Having Ferris intervene was a big help. Wilhelm said nothing, whereas Mimi tilted her head as if she was wondering, Is there a problem with that...? She was a mercenary through and through. And what TB then did deserved mention as even more mercenary than that; having finished looking around the area, the little cat-man walked over to Petelgeuse's remains...and, without a moment's hesitation, began fishing around in his pockets. Subaru unwittingly gawked at the sight. "Hmm, seems he wasn't walking around with much on him..." "H-hey, little guy, you're checking a corpse's pockets like it's no big deal." "I am not 'little guy,' I am TB. And this is simply checking his belongings." With a practiced hand, TB searched for the spoils of war deep inside the blood-smeared habit. Mimi did the same. In contrast to their cuddly appearances, the mercenary siblings really did things their own way. The inside of the habit was surprisingly deep, making TB's hand unexpectedly busy getting everything out. That said, the contents taken out were all mundane articles. "Field rations, lagmite ore... Ahh, he has a money pouch, too." "I'm surprised, his inventory's filled with petite bourgeoisie stuff. So what, is pillaging a part of mercenary culture?" "I believe that it's normally 'to the victor go the spoils'? ...What...is this?" As he made the statement, TB, well-suited to the mercenary trade, had nearly finished his perusal when a black book drew his attention. Seeing this, Subaru went, "Ah!" with a start. "That's probably the book Petelgeuse called his Gospel." "Myuu! This is a Gospel?! Uwaa, I touched it!" When Subaru pointed it out, TB hurled the book away. He looked very much like a kitten as he bounced nervously, drawing a strained smile from

Subaru as he picked up the book. "I know the owner was icky, but you shouldn't mistreat a book. Not even a weird one like this." "D-don't touch it. I think you should let go right now. Touching it might make you go weird in the head...! It it might be better to burn it..." Ignoring TB's concerns, Subaru opened it and glanced at the pages. However, he was unfortunately unable to identify the characters in which the words were written. They were neither I-script nor R-script, nor even H-script, but some other, mysterious language. They kind of looked like hiragana scribbled way too fast, so much so as to be illegible. On top of that, the latter half of the book was comprised of blank pages; a reasonable person might call it a misprint. "...Well, I can't read it anyway. I know it was careless of me, so both of you calm down, okay?" " My apologies." "Well, it's your fault, Subawu." Wilhelm and Ferris dropped the combat postures they'd adopted when Subaru unguardedly opened the book before them. It was for only a brief instant, but the hostility and enmity had been real. With a touch of cold sweat from that, Subaru showed the two the book in his hand, trying to wrap his head around it. "Does either of you have a clue about this book?" "Wait a ! Don't just turn it our way like that! Subawu, don't you do something stupid and try to read a Gospel! I genuinely don't know what it'll do to you!" Ferris averted his eyes, raging like an inferno toward the book raised before him. Surprisingly, Wilhelm turned his back, displaying his aversion to the book as well. "I know TB reacted like that, too, but what, the book's seriously dangerous?" The book was about as big and heavy as a pocket dictionary, with binding that was strictly ordinary. As it was from the Witch Cult, he would've expected a cover made out of human skin, but there was no sign of that. However, the grimaces on the faces of all save Subaru made their sentiments easy to read. "To the Witch Cult, having one of those books...those Gospels is proof you are a fellow cultist. Yes, I suppose one could say they are like holy scripture to them." "Scripture...?" "Rumor has it that the Witch Cult sends them to particular people, meow. And when they arrive, that's it...poof, another pious Witch Cultist is born! Or so they say." "Huh?!" Subaru's voice went shrill at the unexpected and astounding tale. These Witch Cultists were eerie, creepy people he couldn't understand even the tiniest bit. Yet, they had once been normal human beings, their transformation triggered by the arrival of such a book. A deep reading of Ferris's words suggested that the Gospels were books that brainwashed the human beings reading them. If that was so, many of the Witch Cultists were brainwashed, ordinary people "If that's true, then maybe all the people we buried alive in the cave were just..." "Sir Subaru, you are mistaken. By the time the Gospel reaches them, they have already passed the point of no return. They are not innocent people brainwashed into obedience that can be saved. Sir Subaru, did that Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins appear sane to you?" "N-nah. He didn't, but...I thought maybe he was an exception." Brought back from the brink of thoughts of regret, Subaru passively shut his mouth. So Petelgeuse's madness, far beyond the norm, was just one example of the dangerous mental states within the Witch Cult that didn't involve brainwashing. Put bluntly, a part of him was reluctant to take their current conversation as absolute proof it was so. "Now, Subawu, I know you did a great job as a decoy against the White Whale and the Witch Cult...but I feel like this is putting you in a lot of danger, meow, so don't let the Gospel get you, 'kay?" "I must ask that as well, Sir Subaru. Please do not make me cut you down." "I'll try, but is being careful really gonna cut it...?" It seemed that whether the book "got" someone or not depended on the recipient's mood. If the other side was headhunting, it depended on whether Subaru accepted or declined. The notion left him distinctly uncomfortable. Sighing at the various things being said, Subaru looked down at the book, which suddenly felt very heavy. "I guess I'll...keep it with me for now. Even if I can't read it, it might be useful some other way." It had belonged to an Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins. Just maybe deciphering the Gospel might bring him closer to the truth about the Witch Cult. With that hope in mind, Subaru stuffed the book into his pocket, but no matter how much time passed, the suspicious gazes from the three, looking at him as if he were some crazed daredevil, did not disappear. "So was there anything else on him that caught your eye? It'd be a super-huge help if he was stupidly walking around with, say, a map with hideouts marked on it..." "I did not see anything like that among his belongings. Aside from the Gospel text, he was walking around with exactly what one would expect for a man in his attire," TB replied to Subaru's rebound as he checked the confiscated belongings. Certainly, judging from Petelgeuse's attire, it seemed he traveled light. But even if they wrung his neck, dead men told no tales. "Hey, hey, can't we just leave? No point fussing over everything here, right? Better to finally head back to everyone?" At that point, Mimi, having stayed out of the conversation so far, spoke up while tossing dirt over the remains. Her tail sticking out from her hem, she pointed at Petelgeuse, now completely buried, and said: "We've buried the enemy, so isn't it best to check on how everyone else is doing? Hey, we really should! Really!" "You say it so innocently, but you're really heartless, wow. With your adorable looks, that contrast's really slapping me in the face." "Hu-huu, calling me cute's gonna make me blush!" With convenient hearing, Mimi blushed at the part she liked, drawing a strained smile from Subaru. But it was a fact that she referred to a good opportunity. It really was best to ditch the place and regroup with the main force. *** Looking back, Subaru stared at the place, now completely silent. The cave was buried in earth and sand, the minions spectacularly crushed, their trump card rendered useless, Petelgeuse slaughtered before he could pull anything clueless as to what was happening until the bitter end. Via Return by Death, Subaru had seen what future lay before them if he employed his power to its full extent. They'd scored a complete shutout and that meant complete victory against the Witch Cult. It meant that, but "Er, no, this is me, right...? There's no way it goes this smoothly. Up till now, no matter how hard I try, there's always a downside. It can't be this good...there's gotta be a catch somewhere..." "What's with all the suspicion, meow? Hurry up, there's still a lot to do, isn't there?" "A-ah, yeah. That's right... You're right." Ferris turned a disbelieving eye toward Subaru, who still couldn't believe the fruits of his labors. Nodding at Ferris's words, he tugged on the back of his hair as he departed the rocky place. Victory. Yes, victory. It wasn't an accident; he'd won. What was wrong with that? " Maybe he comes back to life as soon as our backs are turned?!" "What are you going on about? Ferri is really angry already! Sheesh!" "Ow, ow, ow!" When Subaru looked back, unable to drop his suspicious mind-set, Ferris grabbed hold of his hair and dragged him along. It might have gone without saying, but neither the plugged cave nor Petelgeuse's corpse showed any change. This time, they would truly take their leave. And then, as the icing on the cake "Mister's noisy about it, so just to make sure!" Saying this, Mimi held her cane in her hand. Magic erupted from it and Petelgeuse's grave, along with his corpse, exploded. This time, without exaggeration, Petelgeuse, the Witch Cult's Archbishop of Sloth, was blown to bits. 3 "From the look of things, it would appear you return with fair tidings." With a modest, composed smile, Julius greeted Subaru and the others, who were rejoining the rest of the group after taking Petelgeuse down. They were stationed at an expeditionary-force field camp, constructed outside the forest and somewhat far off from the highway. With the Witch Cultists lurking in the forest, they were avoiding prying eyes from there and the highway to not give away their presence. That said, now that Petelgeuse, their top dog, was dead, it was unlikely the remaining fingers would fail to notice for long. Their future movements required not just caution, but audacious haste. "What about the fingers' base spotted along the way?" "One detachment is still keeping it under watch. They will surely contact us if anything occurs. But the other detachment made inopportune contact and engaged the Witch Cultists in combat." "Serious?! So what happened, then?! Did we lose anyone...?" Having thought this a routine report, Subaru was stricken with nervousness when he heard it had come to a fight. However, when Subaru pressed closer, Julius gave a strained smile. Hand-combing his slightly disheveled forelocks, he gave his cavalry saber a slight tilt with his hand. "You may rest easy. Several among the Witch Cultists were formidable, but all were dispatched without difficulty. The base in question was mopped up, so there should be nine fingers left." "...There's no wounded? Also, none of the enemies got away?" "Rest easy. We have thoroughly addressed all of your concerns." Julius was too classy to conceal his own failures. Hearing there had been neither casualties nor failures, Subaru sighed a breath of relief. Julius gave a slightly pained smile at his reaction as he said, "And you were not followed? All went according to plan against the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins?" "Wilhelm cut off his head, and magic blew his corpse into teeny bits, so that should be it... It should be it, right? Any normal way of thinking, there's no way he'd come back from that, right?" "You witnessed it for yourself, so I am uncertain why you look so uneasy." Julius skeptically knit his brows at Subaru's lingering suspicions. Then he continued to grimace when he looked at Ferris, standing at Subaru's side. "...Besides, though I understand the urge to be certain, destruction of remains lacks elegance. And you were with him, Ferris." "Sowwy, Ferri desperately tried to stop them, but Subawu just wouldn't..." "Don't say it like it's some tragedy caused by my violent nature!! What's with all the excess theatrics?! I'll have you know, it was the big sis of those kitty siblings that did it!" When Julius scolded them for violating the dead, Ferris sold Subaru out with a tear in the corner of his eye. Subaru objected to his statement and pointed to the real culprit Mimi, who'd returned along with them. Incidentally, Mimi was sulking from having been scolded for her excess by everyone on the way back. Currently, she was curled over TB's back out of spite, sulking to the point of refusing to walk under her own power. "I see, Mimi, was it? Then it cannot be helped. She had her reasons, I'm sure." "Her little brothers do it, too, but don't you and Anastasia spoil her a little too much...?" "That is neither our intent nor fact. Incidentally, it was Master Wilhelm who struck down the archbishop...?" Evading Subaru's stare, Julius addressed Wilhelm, looking in the latter's direction. Wilhelm reciprocated, pulling back his shoulders as he said, "I cut off his head, and without doubt severed the thread of his life. I know of no living creature able

to live through that." "I am relieved. If Master Wilhelm speaks such a thing, there can be no mistake so this time we have greatly impeded the future activities of the Witch Cult led by Sloth." "What, you didn't believe it when I said it?! I'm not playing around here, so I checked the corpse with my own eyes! Two or three times at that!" "I would like you to take my not checking with Ferris as a sign of my sincerity toward you." "Sincerity is based on the word sincere. You knew that, right?" A vein bulged on Subaru's forehead as he rebuffed the unapologetic Julius. But Julius did not reply to Subaru as he raised an expectant hand toward the other knights and mercenaries. At his signal, conversing voices died out, and with all eyes on Julius, he motioned to Subaru. "They, too, await your report. It should come from your own mouth. Am I wrong?" "You're not wrong, but it annoys me to have you set the stage." "Petty stubbornness, meow..." Ferris sent an exasperated expression toward Subaru and Julius, arguing regardless of the situation. "Boys really can be so stupid. And Subawu, especially stupid." "Seen from the outside, a man's pride might often be seen as trivial. Does this ring any bells with you, Ferris?" "...Who knows? There might have been someone stubborn like that once upon a time..." Somehow, Ferris's reply to Wilhelm's words sounded awkward. Turning his face away, seemingly to avoid the aged swordsman's gaze, Ferris made a heavy sigh. With that exchange taking place off behind Subaru, he reported the good news to everyone focused on him. "So things went pretty much as expected. We took down the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins!" "Ohhh " Narrating with poses and gestures, Subaru made his explanation as vivid as possible, conveying the high points of the success of their operation against the archbishop, bringing joy to the faces of those stewing at having to wait. "W-wait, wait! No loud voices! They'll hear you!" *** And they came to the brink of breaking into shouts of joy, which would have made their having camped outside the forest meaningless. No doubt was left that the result was optimal for them all. "With that done, that leaves moppin' up the stragglers, pretty simple stuff. If we don't hurry, the lady'll be the granny by the time we're done... Ah, that's just a stock joke o' mine." "Somehow, I don't feel like laughing at that one... Well, that's fine, though." Setting aside Ricardo's sense of humor, the fact remained that it was best to move nimbly from that point forward. Unfortunately, it was also a fact that the remaining job wasn't as simple as Ricardo made it out to be. "Just 'cause we beat Petelgeuse doesn't mean everything's wrapped up with a bow, after all." "Won't do any good to be drunk on victory and trip over our own feet, meow. And if they know the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins died, the rest of the Witch Cultists won't be lured out so easily, huh...?" "Hey, these are Witch Cultists. Best to stop expecting 'em to have sane, rational thoughts." Ferris and Ricardo picked up where Subaru left off, apparently sharing his concerns. The faces of the others seemed to indicate agreement; not a single one seemed slacker at the news of their first victory. "First off, smashing the fingers under his command is our top priority. Besides that, there's no one here extreme enough to slaughter all the Witch Cultists, right? I'd like us to capture any of them we can..." "I have a feeling they'll just kill themselves, though... That's what they've always done to date, after all." With Subaru plotting to capture some alive, Ferris's lips thinned in dismay. This was not a rebuttal of the idea, but rather an expression of his disgust toward Witch Cultists who would kill themselves to seal their own lips. To a healer such as him, such craftiness from the Witch Cult was probably a hard thing to take. "I understand your skepticism, Ferris. But if we can refrain from taking their lives, it is incumbent upon us to do so. I agree that we should prioritize capture when we confront the remaining Witch Cultists. Having said that, we must not lose sight of the fact that our own well-being comes first, to avoid any sudden reversal of fortune." With Ferris sullen, Julius was considerate toward him while agreeing with Subaru's opinion. " And while locating the fingers does come first, we should not neglect that the dragon carriages you arranged should reach us soon enough." "That so? There's that, too, yeah." At Julius's declaration, Subaru clapped his hands together, recalling the detachment heading to rendezvous with the expeditionary force. The dragon carriages, which they'd recruited by gathering traveling merchants together from neighboring parts, were for evacuating Emilia and the rest. That said, with Petelgeuse struck down and nothing left of the Witch Cult but remnants, it seemed highly likely that there would be no need for a wholesale evacuation, making all that extra effort for nothing. "Though that is as planned, it would surely be difficult for the expeditionary force to act in concert with the merchants concerned. We should order them either to remain at the camp, or to go into the village to proceed with the evacuation as agreed. In that case, we should take care not to cause a panic from the arrival of a large force. What do you think?" "Think? ...About what?" "If there is someone familiar to both the village and the mansion, I believe unnecessary panic can be avoided." *** Having blithely followed Julius's lead, Subaru now bit his lips, holding his emotions back. The implicit message was exceedingly simple: now Subaru could return to the mansion in the name of a just cause. Considering that someone had to explain everything, sending Subaru to the mansion as an envoy made even more sense. But "Don't make me mix public and private business. I still have things to do out here." "Surely you too are in high spirits. None here would call it mixing the public and private." "I volunteered to be bait against the Witch Cult, and I'm still the best guy for the job... Besides, I don't deserve to go back to the mansion yet." Shaking his head at Julius's suggestion, Subaru looked toward the forest and the mansion that lay beyond. The proposal was Julius being considerate in his own way. Even Subaru wasn't suspicious enough to view it as an act of malice. But neither was Subaru dishonest about believing he couldn't show his face there yet. "You still think so, after all this?" Subaru's moment of reflection made Ferris's eyes go round as he spoke with a look of disbelief. Ferris spoke the words because he knew all that Subaru had done to that point. He'd formed an alliance with Crusch and her people and cooperated in subjugating the White Whale and crushing the Archbishop of Sloth. Lined up in a row, these successes were more than enough to earn words of admiration. But inside Subaru, their combined weight was not sufficient to wipe away his own stupidity. "No matter what you do, you can't change the past when you make a mistake, you have to clean it up." *** "That's what Anastasia said to me before. It's harsh, but...I think that way, too. Over in the mountain of things I've piled up to date is a big blob of stupidity. That's why I can't let myself stop halfway." In reality, those words had been spoken to him the last time around. Accordingly, Anastasia had never scolded him so sternly in this world. But it was not so inside Subaru. Even if no one else remembered, Subaru would not forget, nor was it something he ought to. "So I finally can go back when the problem taking care of all of the Witch Cult in the forest is done." "If that is what you say, it shall be so. To begin with, it is a fact that having you is an advantage." When Subaru declined to return to the mansion, Julius honored his choice. Almost all those around Subaru displayed an understanding for his assertion. Ferris, the only one with a dissatisfied look to the bitter end, said, "I'm a little worried you're that hung up about it... I really can't understand why you'd invent so many reasons not to meet the person you really, really, really like. You can just quit if you want to, meow..." "Don't harp on people like that. And it's not that I don't want to. You understand, right?" "I do not. Ferri's never had a breakup with Lady Crusch like that, meow. Don't blame me if you have regrets for not meeting her when you had the chance." "...Don't harp, geez." Perhaps Ferris's anger was that of a healer who'd experienced so much human life and death. His words carried great weight indeed. "Sir Subaru, there is no need to be overly concerned. When people are young, they are emotional, and their feelings lead them astray. However, these things are not irreparable." "Muuu, Old Man Wil, you spoil Subawu too much." "If I must say so, you are somewhat excessively strict with Sir Subaru though I do appreciate the reason why." "...Don't go talking like you understand it." Wilhelm's words made Ferris fall silent with a guilty look. The conversation between the longtime acquaintances conveyed sentiments that only they could understand, flying well over Subaru's head. Though he didn't know the details, Subaru gave Wilhelm a light wave and said, "Thanks for the follow-up. I feel a little better about it now... It's not like it didn't bother me at all." "At least you seem more at ease. After all, if all it took to solve misunderstandings between men and women were one piece of advice from an old man, far fewer human beings would need worry about such things." "Wilhelm, you felt bad when you argued with your wife, too, huh?" The way Wilhelm seemed to speak from personal experience made Subaru inquire with renewed interest. When he did so, Wilhelm closed his eyes, seemingly reminiscing about days long past. "Of course. In my case, my wife was physically invincible when brought to anger. She pounded me into the floor quite a few times." "Sword Saints don't do half measures, geez!!" "Afterward, I forced my arms around her, holding her close until her anger abated." "That's like an Easter egg for married life?!" Somehow, Wilhelm's face looked brighter as he related the tale from life with his beloved. The Sword Devil had plainly come to terms with events in his own past. Subaru, seized by envy, slapped his own cheeks. Awkward as it was, Wilhelm was being considerate to him. He'd be ashamed to call himself a man if he didn't respond to those sentiments. "I think this is still you thinking too much, Subawu." "Errr, it's not like I made him just spill stuff out about his wife like that...right?" " Now then, it would seem we are prepared to depart." When Subaru timidly posed the question, Wilhelm pretended not to hear as he looked at the people standing by. Just as the Sword Devil had said, everyone was fully prepared for the next sortie. That Wilhelm's expression was, in a good sense, without tension was the result of the consideration they all showed for him. In a rather banal sense, the large number of adults had bailed Subaru out. "Man, I sure come off as young and foolish, don't I...?" It was doubtless small of him to worry about looking that way in the eyes of adults. Even so, it wasn't in Subaru Natsuki not to dwell on it. "Well, anyway, that's how it is, so...everyone, please and thank you for your cooperation so I can reunite with Emilia-tan on good terms." "It is mildly

deflating to think of that as our objective." Subaru spoke flippantly to gloss over his blush, and Julius responded in kind. Instantly, the faces of all those lined up broke into broad smiles, and that served as their opportunity to head off. To annihilate what was left of the Witch Cult and claim victory with all members safe. In that moment, Subaru believed without a doubt that they could pull it off. 4 In the immediate aftermath, the Witch Cult hunting proceeded without a hitch. Naturally, when the expeditionary force redeployed, their first stop was where the fingers had already been located. Watched by lookouts from the expeditionary force, the fingers they'd encountered just before taking down Petelgeuse were in a field camp within a grove of trees, a frontline base with excellent sight lines in every direction. But "Heya. It's me. Everyone in a good mood?" *** In lackadaisical fashion, Subaru exposed himself, drawing attention from all the Witch Cultists present. They did not regard him with enmity, but rather with indecipherable solidarity that only ran one way. If Subaru had known nothing of their wicked deeds and acknowledged them as mere enemy combatants, he might have felt pangs of guilt. But Subaru knew the results of the Witch Cultists' vile endeavors, and that their wickedness rendered them unworthy of sympathy. "Sorry to trick you, but...no, that's a lie. I'm not sorry at all." Pricked by their upturned eyes, Subaru tossed such words to the Witch Cultists standing in place. They mulled the declaration over, but it was already too late for them to realize that Subaru was hostile. A number of silver flashes crossed the battlefield, and the Witch Cultists, reacting too late, tumbled one after another. "This was more effective than I..." "Gah-ha-ha-ha! What the heck?! That's the Witch Cult, and look at 'em! Hey, bro, this might turn into one helluva big achievement for ya!" The conquest of the camp was finished in a matter of seconds. Julius's eyes went wide at the Witch Cultists, cut down with little resistance, while Ricardo, carrying his great hatchet, grinned in high spirits. By rights, a camp built in a grove like that was to be abandoned at the first sign of an attack. The terrain, open on all sides, made it easy to scatter and escape; worst case, some might slip through and reach other camps, alerting them to the enemy's presence. Such measures had ended before they had a chance to begin. It was all the result of being taken in by Subaru Natsuki, Cult Killer. "Having said that, even I didn't think it'd work this well." The overwhelming results scared Subaru himself more than anyone. It was a perfect victory: the expeditionary force had suffered no casualties, and none of the enemies had been allowed to escape. If anyone there had doubted Subaru was the driving force behind their success, they doubted no longer. However, sowing confusion immediately after contact with the enemy was the limit of what Subaru could do. If he had to put what that meant into words " Ah, darn it! This one's done for! And this one! What's with these people?!" It was Ferris, his tail standing on end, letting up an angry shout as he bound the Witch Cultists. Several black-robed figures rested tumbled at his feet, never to move again. "They took their own lives?" Slipping past the indignant Ferris, Wilhelm stripped the hood from one of the fallen figures in black, revealing the face of an ordinary-looking and very dead middle-aged man. Blood had flowed from his eyes, nose, and ears as he expired; if anything stood out, it was his neutral, expressionless look in death. "The tongue is intact. No sign of using a blade on himself." "They probably all have magic crystals embedded in their bodies, the sort that kill you by sending poison through your system when activated. Antitoxins won't work if the magical elements aren't deciphered prior to death, so they took the time to plant different rituals for each one...the sophistication disgusts me!" Ferris, mortified, vented as he checked the abdomen of the man-turned-corpse and found a faintly colored magic crystal. Seven Witch Cultists had killed themselves, but Subaru had no doubt that all ten of the cultists at the camp had such crystals embedded in them. "Maybe it's not just them, and these things are stuck in all of the other fingers, too...? So they killed themselves with poison even Ferris can't stop." "Unforgivable. This is...blasphemy against life. What do they think life is...?!" As Subaru's voice trembled with shock, Ferris used the back of his hand to roughly wipe away the tears brought on by fierce emotion, transferring blood to his pale cheek in the process. However, viewed from the side, his righteous anger at those who would toy with life itself was covered with both ghastliness and exquisite beauty. It was no doubt because, as a healer, Ferris knew the uncertainties and miracles of life and death more than anyone; he stared at his battlefield, one separate from sword and spell, with a different kind of resolve. *** Standing astride that righteous fury, Subaru couldn't take his eyes off the Witch Cultist corpses lined up in a row. Anyone could see that Subaru lacked the composure to look at them and say, Here are the fruits of my labors, victory without losing a single drop of blood. With the hooded robes stripped from the lined-up Witch Cultist corpses, their faces, hidden in life, were exposed. But the faces that emerged were all those of ordinary men and women. It was hard to believe they'd idolized the Witch Cultist way of life. "Sir Subaru, it may be best not to pay them so much heed." Wilhelm stood in the way of Subaru's gaze, shaking his head. "You are not accustomed to this, and there is no need to force yourself to be. If you feel responsibility or guilt, these too are unnecessary." "You mean because of the kind of enemy we're facing?" "That is correct." The firm, unhesitant reply to Subaru was Wilhelm's idea of consideration. Subaru tried to give a pained smile at the harsh show of concern, but he failed. He could only sigh at himself. "It's not that I sympathize with them, or that I'm beating myself up with guilt. Even I get why I can't be doing either of those things." Subaru had no right to lament the Witch Cultists' deaths. He wouldn't even if he did, but it was he who had asked the expeditionary force to annihilate them. Even Subaru wasn't that stupid. But looking at their corpses, Subaru was uncomfortable with the thought that he'd become accustomed to death. "Not that I'll ever be used to my own death..." Subaru had already experienced over ten deaths, but he wasn't used to death at all. The sense of loss from his death was always raw, and his fear of it would likely never diminish. In spite of this, Subaru's heart was becoming numb to the deaths of others, and this fact frightened him. "Seeing their corpses lined up like that makes 'em look like dolls to me... That scared me." "Certainly, they might resemble dolls, doing whatever they are told." However, Subaru had not accurately conveyed his sentiment to Wilhelm. This time, Subaru managed a strained smile at the Sword Devil's agreeing with that part. As was exceedingly natural, their view of life's worth differed. Subaru, seized by modern Japanese notions of life and death, accepted death differently from Wilhelm, a man who'd seen countless lives ended on the field of battle. Accordingly, the chasm between their perspectives could not be filled. But Subaru didn't think it needed to be. "These Witch Cultists..." When Wilhelm knit his brows at Subaru's strained smile, Subaru continued without switching topics. Aside from matters of death, gazing at their corpses brought a different issue to mind. "I wonder why they wanted to do all this stuff. The Witch is this weird being hated the world over, so why do they adore her so much...?" *** His murmur deepened the creases of Wilhelm's brow. Stern looks came over the faces of people around them who'd managed to overhear their conversation. But it was a young boy who broke the silence. " Perhaps they yearn for destruction?" It was TB who spoke, his own cane in hand. He did not raise his kitty face, giving his monocle a slight nudge as he said, "The Witch Cult is infamous the world over, but as you can see, there is no shortage of new converts... Though, I believe such thoughts to be a luxury." "Luxury?" "I believe it is a choice to make time for such thoughts when we could be taking action to destroy them. It is not as if they deserve such thoughts." Keeping his head bowed till the last, TB fell into silence. The sight of his adorable kitten face rejected further pursuit of the matter. Perhaps he was reminiscing about painful memories from his past. "Hmm? What? Mister, something happen?" Though, the fact that Mimi, who ought to have shared his circumstances, did not react to her younger brother's words meant that even she couldn't guess what he meant. But TB had a point. "Despair at everything and yearning for destruction...huh. I can't say there's no part of me that understands, but..." Surely anyone pressed by despairing circumstances would have a yearning for destruction, a desire to lash out and wreck anything and everything around them. That inclination was especially strong in Subaru, so he could understand that part. " You don't need to understand people like them one tiny bit. Don't make me say it over and over." Listening to Subaru's comment, Ferris turned stern eyes toward him. Having finished examining the Witch Cultist corpses, he glared at Subaru with a look full of exhaustion and anger. "You can't give Witch Cultists the benefit of even a single hair of your fur, or else you'll be sucked into the darkness, too... You're particularly vulnerable, Subawu, so be careful." "I get it already, you don't need to keep pounding it into me. So enough with the suspicious gazes, please... It just bothered me a little." Responding to Ferris's sharp glare, Subaru raised both hands, excusing himself as he looked at the corpses once more. Now that the Witch Cultists' faces were exposed, they seemed to truly be male and female, young and old alike. He couldn't even guess at what had spurred them to join the Witch Cult. Considering the creepiness of that fact, dismissing them as incomprehensible monsters might be the wisest choice. It was just that Subaru, the trigger for their deaths, felt that dismissing them as incomprehensible monsters was...running from it, somehow. "Subawu?" "Nothin'. Did any of the Witch Cultists have useful info on them?" "Nothing whatsoever. They were walking around with nothing but weapons on them, not even a Gospel, like they never intended to return home alive from the start. So stupid." They'd reaped neither info nor a sense of success. From the smoldering anger and hostility in Ferris's comment, it'd really gotten under his skin. So Subaru would let him handle raging toward them for the time being. "Well, I'd better stay calm. Time to get moving and hit a different camp, I guess." Subaru did a few squats on the spot, switching mental gears to carrying out decoy duty on a larger scale. Unlike dealing with Petelgeuse and the finger at set camps, luring out the Witch Cultists lurking in the forest would be Witch Cult hunting's main event. Subaru began forging ahead into the forest, searching for a new fishing spot. "You just watch, you miscalculating bastard. Don't underestimate the power of my posse...!" "Real roundabout way of talkin'. I can't tell if yer worked up for this or not..." Hearing the declaration, a fervent appeal to the power of others, left Ricardo beside

himself as he grinned. But despite Subaru's fainthearted statement, their advance continued apace. 5 " Subaru, the traveling merchants you arranged have rendezvoused with the outer camp." Julius reported in just after the expeditionary force had annihilated the fourth finger. After the camp in the grove, they destroyed two more camps one on a riverbank, one in a marsh and had determined two things about the Witch Cult: the groups called fingers were organized ten to each camp, and without an Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins, the groups were more fragile than they'd ever expected. This time, Witch Cultists plotting to assault the mansion and the village had very little ability to respond to unforeseen circumstances. With the scent of the Witch wafting around him, they pretty much did whatever Subaru told them from first sight. The effectiveness of Subaru's decoy operation wasn't a one-shot wonder but, rather, a recurring theme. "Ohh! They really came!" Secretly elated as he was that things were going so smoothly, Subaru's voice leaped at the report. He was the one who had arranged for the dragon carriages, but he didn't actually know how many had taken up the offer. Hearing that they had actually assembled eased his feelings of concern. "Seems like getting 'em all together might prove wasted effort, though. But the fact that they got here safely means that the plains are completely open, then?" "There seems to be no mistake about that. The enemy has not realized the mist ended in failure. Accordingly, just as we imagined, they have left the highway unguarded, surely thinking it sealed." "Guess he really didn't have any reason to lie to me. Petelgeuse is the last guy I wanted to take at face value, but that's good news." The madman had spoken true. Now that this was clear, he wasn't sure what to say. Either way, Subaru wanted to meet the traveling merchants who had assembled at his behest. He needed to speak to them about the unique situation they'd become involved in, too. "So we got back to the camp, but..." Having broken off the decoy operation, Subaru returned outside the forest, scratching his face with a conflicted look. The assembled traveling merchant troupe was the cause of that look. The number of carriages was spectacular beyond his expectations, up to about fifteen. Apparently, the words Name your price had quite an impact. Not that he'd taken an accurate count, but the residents of Earlham Village were under a hundred the carriages were more than enough to evacuate them. "But they're huddled awfully tight together." "They are intimidated by the turbulent atmosphere. You can hardly blame them." The group, clumped together in a corner of the camp, shrank from the sight of knights keeping strict guard. Seeing this, Subaru concurred with Julius's explanation, twisting his neck as he tried to figure out how to explain everything. He was grateful that they'd come together. But whether their mercantile souls were in it was another matter. "If this is how they are about friendlies, won't they head for the hills if they know this involves the Witch Cult?" "Each individual has his own net amount of courage. But you are likely right to be concerned." When Julius agreed with Subaru's concerns, the pair's shoulders sank together. By rights, this was where Subaru would clear up the situation, asking them for their cooperation. But looking at them now, he couldn't tell how many had the courage not to flinch from involvement with the Witch Cult. "Well, having them run off is bad. We'd lose the hauling capacity, but more importantly, I don't want the leftovers to get wind that something's up." It was callous, but they were already involved in a callous situation. If ignorance helped them get cooperation on happier terms, it was doubtless better for both sides. "You don't like what I'm thinking, do you?" "I would not call it elegant. But I am not foolish enough to dwell on that in an emergency. Everything has a time and a place. And in this case, I believe the conditions of time and place have been fulfilled." "Roundabout, but that's a yes, huh?" Accepting Julius's roundabout consent, Subaru met the eyes of the other expeditionary force members to see what they thought of the matter. Fortunately, Wilhelm and Ferris did not raise opinions to the contrary; thus, the proposal to explain the circumstances while glossing over the important parts passed by consensus. "To begin with, it's possible I have to lie to the villagers to get them evacuated, too, so maybe I should just think of this as a rehearsal..." Concealing the involvement of the Witch Cult was a necessary measure to avoid needless panic. Subaru told himself that for his own benefit as he stepped in the direction of the nervous merchants. "Er, thank you very much for coming all this way. Since I'm the one who sent for you, I'll explain the circumstances." "...You did?" Seeing Subaru step forward as a representative, the traveling merchants looked at one another with surprised faces. Their reaction brought a pained smile over Subaru as he recalled the leading lights in the expeditionary force. With the aged Wilhelm and the chivalrous Julius present, no one had expected Subaru to represent them. Accepting that as the natural reaction, Subaru switched mental gears. When he did so, he realized that the lineup of traveling merchants contained familiar faces, particularly one smack in the middle of them. "You're...right, I don't remember your name, but you introduced me to Otto the first time. And a bunch of others were helping out when I ran into the White Whale for the first time." "First time? White Whale? What are you talking about?" "Sorry, just talking to myself. So about what's gonna happen from here on out..." His deeply moved words threw the man off, but Subaru papered it over with a smile. Incidentally, he searched to see if Otto was among the traveling merchants, but apparently, he was not. Apparently, the connection between his fate and that of the young man hauling a large amount of oil had been severed. Subaru felt ever so slightly disappointed. "Either way, this is an important business discussion for all of you, right? Anyway, the offer was name your price for what you're hauling, so I assume you agreed with those terms?" "Y-yes, you aren't mistaken. And those terms, your side spoke the truth?" "Of course. But the terms were to borrow everyone's dragon carriages. I'm sure you've already been told this, but I want your cooperation in evacuating the nearby villagers during the mountain hunt." "Mountain hunt...?" Skeptical voices arose, and the traveling merchants all cocked their heads at the discordant ring of the words. It was true that, at present, they were engaged in a mountain hunt to wipe out the Witch Cult. But he couldn't just come out and tell them that, fueling the flames of their cowardice. So this was plan B. "Demon beasts called Urugarum have built a nest in this forest. As you can see, we've put together a pretty large expeditionary force. I want you to help us get the villagers to safety during the mountain hunt." A brazen, shameless exaggeration of the situation, some two months out of date. "You put together a rather lifelike tale. Perhaps you have talent as a fantasist, or a writer?" "That's not a compliment, is it?" That was how Julius assessed Subaru, who had eloquently persuaded Team Merchant and secured its cooperation. The details seemed to be resulting in a fight, causing a vein to bulge on Subaru's forehead. "Cut it out, Subawu. This is just Julius being his normal self. Besides, to be honest, Ferri thinks it was a well-done story, too." "Geez, both of you... In the first place, I didn't have to make up very much. It's a real story from two months ago." When Subaru received Ferris's sad assessment, perhaps an attempt to smooth things over (and perhaps not), he let the comment slip with a look of resignation. As he did, the two knights exchanged glances at that particular detail. "By a real story, were you referring to this forest being colonized by demon beasts?" "I'm not sure I'd use the word colonized, but they were here, yeah. But barriers in the forest split the demon beast habitat away from people. This here's a human being area, no problems at all." Seeing the wariness in the pair's eyes, Subaru quickly explained why the area around them was safe. The explanation set Julius at ease, but Ferris thinned his lips in Julius's place. "Subawu, you're not leading Ferri and the others blissfully to their slaughter, are you, meow? We can trust you on that?" "That's putting it way too harshly! Didn't you say that Crusch decided to trust me, so you're not going to doubt me, either?!" "With all this coming after the fact, it makes me want to start doubting, meow... As for the demon beasts, though, I think Marquis Mathers has a screw loose for building his mansion near a demon beast habitat." Subaru grimaced at the sight of Ferris looking toward the mansion and talking like that. To be blunt, to Subaru, life at Roswaal Manor had felt like this world's idea of common sense. Thus, he'd assumed it was normal to have a residence isolated from a nearby demon beast habitat by barriers, but... "There's no way that could be true, meow." "Without exception, demon beasts instinctively strive to slaughter living beings. They are simply dangerous creatures, unsuitable for domestication or sustenance. Barriers or not, placing residences next to them is unthinkable." The pair's instant denials made clear just how nonsensical it had been to place the mansion and village there. Apparently, Roswaal's eccentricity went well past his appearance and personality. "Along with him not being around this time, I've got way too many things I've gotta say to that bastard..." Feeling fed up, Subaru shoved the rising sense of weariness to one side. He did so because whether Roswaal was sane or mad, Subaru had experienced firsthand that he always had a convincing excuse. Though Subaru had his doubts about whether such excuses were even necessary, it wasn't the time to think about it. "Anyway, Team Merchant is happily lending us their resources. That said, we can't bring them on the mountain hunt. So they'll wait at the camp, ready to move any time we need 'em." "Then, we should demand no evacuation, no reward as part of the d " "As if I could do something that vicious! Verbal or not, a deal's a deal. We'll keep our promise... That's right, it's important to keep your promises! Understand?!" "I I understand, meow, but why are you so worked up about it...?" Ferris cringed, cowed by Subaru's dramatic overreaction to the issue of the contract. Standing astride that exchange, Julius touched his own forelocks as he looked toward the traveling merchants. "But it would be careless to leave them here by themselves. Increasing the number of people to protect them all means that we need to divert more people to defending the camp..." "Yeah, I think we should leave about half back at camp. Right now, the fishing is going super-well, and if we do find a finger camp, I want to have the option to fight or to run... Hmm, but..." Julius closed his eyes and shook his head at Subaru's lack of confidence. Just when Subaru thought the reaction meant rejection, Julius continued, "That is fine. We shall respect your wishes. I believe devoting half our numbers to defense is an appropriate choice. If the fingers are all groups of ten, double their numbers is more than sufficient to deal with them." "The way you act makes it super-hard to know whether you're agreeing or not." "I am often told that it is charming." "It's mysterious, at least. But with that handsome face... Yeah, I can kinda see

it." Though he was compelled to agree, it rubbed Subaru the wrong way. Accordingly, he stuck his tongue out at Julius. "The Iron Fangs are cut out for mountain hunting, so we'll have the knights defend the place." It wasn't exactly a pronouncement from above, but Subaru's declaration reorganized the expeditionary force in short order. As directed, twenty knights remained at the camp to protect the fifteen dragon carriages. The worried expressions on the traveling merchants did not abate, but Subaru gave them an especially cheerful wave, so as not to scare them, before heading for the forest. If things went sour, their cooperation would be indispensable. But the ideal outcome was for all the advance preparation with them to have been for naught. And at that moment, Subaru was convinced that this was no mere dream, but a realistic prospect. 6 "That makes five down!" "Indeed it does." Wiping blood from his treasured sword, Wilhelm, having ended his dance of the blade, reacted to Subaru's celebrating shout by drawing himself up. The place was a depression in the western part of the forest, and they had just destroyed the finger camp located there. Dividing the expeditionary force in half had had no effect on the outcome; they had half destroyed the Witch Cultists in the initial attack. That left the enemy with no time to regroup and recover; they fell quickly to the blades of the Sword Devil and "The Finest." "Ferris, how about it?" "...Sorry. Still no good. They got us again." But as was now usual, success in preventing them from sealing their own lips remained elusive. Subaru and Julius watched Ferris lower his eyes in abhorrence; neither could find words to speak to him. If Ferris could not do it, no one could but that was no consolation to him. "Hey, don't get bent outta shape, switch gears. Let's head fer the next one." "Meow?!" Ferris was still in the dumps when Ricardo roughly rubbed his head, making his slender body shoot to its feet. For an instant, Ferris was surprised by the pushy attempt to console, but he immediately slapped his own cheeks and began walking anew. Seeing Ferris like that made Ricardo bare his fangs, grinning in satisfaction. Seeing him behave that way, Subaru could appreciate that Ricardo had long led his organization. "Mmm, the wins are too easy, I need more exercise... How do you feel, TB?" "I think it is good when jobs are simple. If I make my darling sister do dangerous things, our brother will raise a fuss, so this is preferable." "Nnn! You're such weaklings for boys!" Despite their clash of personalities the uninhibited older sister versus the intellectual younger brother the beast person siblings made quite a combo in combat. Mimi left no openings on attack or defense, and TB was surprisingly belligerent in his follow-ups. Ricardo was leader of the pack in might and command ability, with the powerful sibling lieutenants following in his footsteps. It had been just as hard to get their cooperation as to get Wilhelm's and Ferris's. As allies, they were incredibly reliable, and so a thought came to Subaru's mind. "I guess when this is all done we go back to being rivals, huh...?" "It seems you have the leeway to worry about the future." As Subaru indulged in sentiment, Julius stood beside him, wiping the blood from his cavalry saber. His crisp handsomeness never seemed ruffled in the midst of combat. He brushed the edge of his white mantle with an elegant gesture. Subaru hated to admit it, but Julius's point was sound. He averted his gaze while scratching his cheek. "My bad. Maybe I'm letting my guard down a bit because it's gone insanely smoothly." "I did not go as far as to call it bad. As a matter of fact, we are functioning so well, none would think we were so hastily assembled. I can understand why you find the relationships between us to be...regrettable." "...Man, I didn't expect that from you." Subaru had anticipated barbed sarcasm, but Julius's show of sympathy made him widen his eyes. For his part, Julius's shoulders sank, Subaru's reaction having been an unexpected one. "The royal selection has begun, and we find ourselves in rival camps. But wherever we stand in the dispute, we can accept the help of others in a common cause. Perhaps we should regard feeling this for ourselves so early after the start of the selection process as our good fortune?" "...Can't really think of the Witch Cult going after Emilia as 'good fortune.'" "I suppose not. I am sorry, that was inconsiderate of me." Julius immediately apologized for his faux pas, touching his own forelocks as he sighed. Subaru felt small for his reflexive indignance in contrast to Julius's forthright remark. Deep down, Subaru and Julius felt the same way. Of course, they couldn't ignore the menace closing in on Emilia and the villagers. With that tragic spectacle in mind, Subaru couldn't call it "good fortune" to save his life. But if you set that circumstance aside, the relationships among the people assembled were by no means poor. Enough to make you think it would be a waste for them to go back to being enemies after driving off the Witch Cult. "Really is careless of me to worry about it, though. I'm being an idiot." No matter how smoothly things were going, they were still only halfway to settling the problem. Not that he was putting a wreath of laurel on his own head, but the enemy wasn't even in checkmate; it was far too early to treat victory as assured. In ancient times or modern, Occident or Orient, one rule held true: the danger was always greatest when you thought everything was in the bag. " Sorry for flaking out on you like that. I'll get back to fishing, so I'm counting on all of you." Pressing a fist into his own cheek, Subaru used the dull pain to get himself going again. "Fishing" meant casting Subaru as bait for the Witch Cult. In practice, that meant Subaru coming into contact with Witch Cultists without anyone else's intervention. Accordingly, during the time they'd walked around the forest searching, Subaru had acted alone or at least, with his allies nowhere to be seen around him. The expeditionary force was tailing Subaru from a medium-to-long distance behind. His allies needed to leave no trace to find, the better to draw the Witch Cultists to Subaru like moths to a flame. And the next time proved no exception. "Oh " When they finished searching deep in the western part of the forest, he immediately judged that they should switch to the riverside. Subaru was just feeling the cool air around him when he saw shadows gliding in front of him. *** Four Witch Cultists appeared, the largest number he'd bumped into. This development, differing from events at the three camps already crushed since the start of the "fishing," made Subaru's heart strongly leap. *** Clapping his hands together was the signal that something unforeseen had happened. But if the "fishing" failed once, the other fingers would become suspicious, and straight-up combat with the Witch Cult would become unavoidable. Therefore " Heya. Mind if I take a look around?" Subaru forced his contracting heart to expand, somehow managing to toss a smile their way. The Witch Cult looked fondly upon his smiling face, which they would have judged harshly in normal times. As was typical, the Witch Cultists were still silent; even in numbers, they displayed no enmity for Subaru. "Good thinking, moving in bigger groups, but there's no problem over here. There's no problem, you can go back to your place. Mmm, yes, do that, please." *** "I outrank you here, right? Best to grease the wheels and do as you're told, I think?" *** The silence after he gave the directive was bad for his heart. As a matter of fact, stress and unease made its sound and pace skyrocket as cold sweat broke out on the back of his neck. But the suffocating atmosphere did not continue as long as it felt like to Subaru. Within tens of seconds, or perhaps only ten, the Witch Cultists respectfully bowed and did as Subaru had instructed. " Phew." Relieved of the tension making even his lungs harden, Subaru wiped off his cold sweat. With the cultists on the move, he made the hand signal for success and quickly moved in pursuit. Normally, the fingers only moved in a limited range from the closest camp. Most likely, these were not out on patrol, but had merely sensed Subaru's presence and been drawn to it. When Subaru told them to return to their lair, they returned to camp without the slightest suspicion. Thanks to that, it'd take less than five minutes to follow them to the camp. Though the number he encountered had been higher this time, their total would be the same as " ?! They split up?" Subaru gazed in wonderment as the detachment of four people he was following behaved contrary to his expectations a first. Suddenly, the group of four split into two, with three to one side and one the other. They began walking in different directions without the slightest hesitation in their steps. *** With one acting solo and the others in a group of three, the risk of losing the solo one was far higher. After only a second of thought, Subaru immediately called his allies with a hand signal. Mere seconds later, members of the Iron Fangs lined up beside him. "They split up. I'll go after the one by himself. The other three..." "Right on. We got this." The fox-man literally a young man with a fox head accepted Subaru's instructions, heading toward where the group of three had vanished from sight. Before their own backs vanished from Subaru's sight, he cautioned, "Do not lay a hand on them. If you spot their camp, regroup with the others." "You got it." Giving his slender mustache a flick, the fox-man leaped into the forest to Subaru's right without so much as a sound. Subaru watched him go but had no time to rest on his laurels. He urgently resumed his pursuit of the Witch Cultist heading off solo. Fortunately, he immediately caught up with the lone Witch Cultist. Gently and carefully, he followed the figure deeper and deeper into the forest. Keeping his head down, Subaru roughly wiped away the sweat threatening to get into his eyes. In point of fact, it was pointless for Subaru to keep his breath down and tail the Witch Cultist in secret. Subaru possessed no ability to conceal his presence, and the Witch Cultist walking before him had probably been aware of Subaru's pursuit the whole time. He said nothing in spite of that because he was obeying the directive of Subaru, who "outranked" him. He'd judged that Subaru's inexplicable actions were for the benefit of the Witch Cult. Not that he could see into their minds, but he could deduce it was probably along those lines. But if that was so, Subaru wondered even more why the four-man team would split up. Not that it was his intention, but Subaru held command authority rivaling that of an Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins. He didn't know what would make someone go as far as to defy his orders to head off by himself. Subaru's heart beat a little faster as he wondered if this was connected to some kind of fatal oversight on his part. *** He squinted, focusing on the movements of the cultist ahead of him. The surrounding scenery was bothering him, perhaps because he was abusing his eyesight. The forest all seemed the same to him somehow, as if he'd stumbled into a place giving him déjà vu. He felt as if he was stepping into familiar territory Is that really just a feeling? As he went down a game trail unworthy of being called a

path, stepped over big tree roots, leaped over a gully at his feet, and walked past mushrooms that looked poisonous, the unease inside Subaru changed to certainty. It can't be! The biggest alarm bell in Subaru's skull went off. He clenched his teeth and ran forward. When it seemed he might stumble, he toughed it out, plunging forward until the forest before him opened wide. Then "What the hell are you doin'?!" When green fell away from his field of vision, he leaped into the ash-gray scene before his eyes. Some several hours before, the rocky place that had become a battlefield had been a caved-in cavern and an unmarked grave. But the writhing Witch Cultists were defiling the grave, seemingly trying to unearth the remains of the madman buried there. For this was the final resting place of Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti. *** When Subaru spontaneously raised his voice, the Witch Cultists' eyes gathered upon him. The Witch Cultists defiling the grave numbered nine; the lone man he'd followed made ten a finger. They'd noticed Petelgeuse's death. At the very least, this finger had to be annihilated. *** The finger moved as one at about the same time that Subaru internally came to that conclusion. The Witch Cultists who knew Petelgeuse was dead instantly reached out toward Subaru. Subaru didn't know if they were trying to kill him or nab a replacement for their Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins. He would never know, for the results were permanently erased by the running silver slash that followed. Blood spatter scattered as the diagonal blow severed a Witch Cultist in half. The black-robed figure spewed dark red as he collapsed. His silent death throes signaled the start of the battle. "Sir Subaru, get behind me." Wilhelm, taking the first kill, lightly pushed Subaru behind him. As Subaru tottered, Ricardo's huge frame and Julius's slender physique slipped past his flanks, with their differing forms of enmity flying. The battle was one-sided. Because of Subaru's blunder in impulsively leaping forward, the battle began under fairer conditions. But the expeditionary force paid no heed to this, crushing the Witch Cultists with overwhelming martial force. In a few tens of seconds, the battle was decided, and the battlefield soon contained only the fallen corpses of the cultists. "What were they trying to do here anyway?" Watching the end of the battle, Subaru raised his voice in the barren place turned battlefield once more. No one replied to his question. The Witch Cultists were silent, saying nothing; the last one killed himself in Ferris's arms despite the latter's best efforts. They had no time to be elated at crushing a new finger. "It is as if they were digging in the earth, searching for something..." "What they were digging up is the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins' grave. Well, I call it a grave, but Mimi just buried him with dirt, and it was Mimi who blew him up, too." Having been unearthed from the grave, the madman's corpse was on the surface, lined up with the others. In the first place, the remains were nothing but a headless torso; as a result of the explosion, even that had been cruelly changed to fragments. Subaru couldn't even guess what the cultists had been looking for among the fragments, little more than clumps of flesh. But "...I've got a bad feeling about this." The Witch Cultists had disinterred the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins in search of something. They'd had a reason to unyieldingly persist in the work, even so far as to disobey Subaru's command. There were four fingers left "Let's regroup with the other ones following the group of three. Gotta hurry." The disquieting worry stirring deep inside his chest would not subside. Pressing a fist to his chest, Subaru forced himself to ignore the ache as he hurried to rejoin the fox-man's detachment. They returned to the forest, following that detachment to a different site. He trusted that the unease would pass once they caught up 7 *** The cruel scent of blood hung in the air. Lukewarm air wafted among the trees, and the stench of scattered internal organs pricked at his nose. White-hooded leather outfits were strewn around the area, each with its "contents" still inside. None remained in one piece. Some supernatural power had torn them limb from limb. "...Don't look like...any survived, huh?" Subaru was in shock, unable to speak. In front of him, Ricardo spoke with a snort. A dog-man like him, with sensitive smell even among beast people, had sensed something amiss before anyone else, breaking into a run. When Subaru and the others caught up, he looked back and spoke those words. They succinctly summed up the tragic end. "H-healing... We've gotta...heal the wounded, or..." "I told ya. No survivors. There ain't no wounded here, man." When Subaru spoke with a shaking voice, Ricardo shook his head, his usual haughtiness muted. He wasn't trying to rub it in; it was simply obvious at first glance. Namely, that the comrades supposed to be there had been slaughtered, leaving not even a single survivor. " A disturbing situation. The fight was entirely too one-sided." "Agreed. Considering how well the Iron Fangs are trained, it is difficult to think they could be so overwhelmed." With Subaru's mind struck by the surreal sight, unable to keep up, the conversation continued without him. When he looked around, he saw Julius and Wilhelm agree that it was disturbing. "One-sided...?" "It is precisely that. There are no corpses save those of Rajan and our other allies here. It is unnatural by any measure." *** "Even against the Witch Cult, it is unthinkable they would be killed without putting up resistance. The Iron Fangs are so elite, it is barely imaginable the enemy would strike down even one... A strange situation, is it not?" When Subaru stayed silent, Julius mulled over the situation, but Subaru had no time to answer. In the first place, it was something else that bothered him. It wasn't simply the situation disturbing Subaru's thoughts. It was the initial impact, well before that, which he couldn't move on from. "Why are you acting like this is normal...?" "Subaru?" "We came rushing and our buddies are dead, you know?! So why are you acting like this is no big..." "We cannot change what has happened, just as one cannot change the past." Subaru was speechless, and Julius pulled his gaze away, walking toward Ferris. Ferris had said nothing to this point, but unlike Subaru, he hadn't been standing still. He was looking at one beast person corpse after another, examining their wounds. When joined together, these clumps of flesh would surely turn into their former comrades. Subaru wondered if the young fox-man pursuing the Witch Cultists was the one Julius had called Rajan. Subaru recalled his aloof face and witty phrases uttered in Kararagi dialect. He and the other four beast people had been cruelly ripped apart to the point that they were unrecognizable. "Ferris, have you learned anything?" "...Let's start with no survivors. Based on the state of the wounds, it seems like they were taken down by the same person, but these aren't blade wounds. Of course, it wasn't magic, either. They were torn apart by force." "Some guy was sayin' there were demon beasts around, huh? Gimme a break..." When Ferris calmly gave his report, Ricardo gave an appropriate sound through his canine teeth. Subaru, brought back to reality by the sound, wobbled into the exchange. "Torn apart... You're not saying this was by demon beasts?" "These aren't bite wounds, so I don't think we need to worry about that. It feels more like brute strength. But it seems like they died pretty much instantly, so I don't think they suffered much." "...Why are you mentioning something like that...?" "Because I thought it might put your mind at ease a little, Subawu." Unfortunately, Ferris's show of consideration had no such effect on Subaru's mind. There was nothing to death save death. As a result, whether they'd suffered or not was of little import. It didn't change the fact that Subaru and the others had not saved them, or that they had died without putting up a fight. "I...I should have been...more on top of things...!" "Sir Subaru, I understand your feelings of regret. However, this is not the time or place." "Wilhelm..." "A Witch Cult site is likely nearby. Since our allies were attacked, we should assume the terrain favors the enemy. We should pull back and regroup." With Subaru threatening to be engulfed by the scene, Wilhelm shook his head as he grasped the boy's shoulders, making Subaru set his regrets aside. The Sword Devil's words were heartless, but true. If they persisted in standing still due to the deaths of their allies, they would only put their other allies in danger a foolish exercise. They were already in combat with this finger. Just as with the finger at the rocky place, Subaru was useless, nothing but dead weight. "Then let's pull back fer now, come back for revenge later." With a heave of his jaw, Ricardo announced their departure from the tragic sight. He asked if any objected, but none did, certainly not Julius or Wilhelm, or even Mimi as she consoled a tearful TB. "...We should at least take something of them." "That's accounted for already. No more than rings or hair, though." Ferris quietly replied to the reluctant Subaru. When he gave a pocket a light pat, Subaru realized Ferris had taken care of it while he'd been standing stiff. Having lost all reasons to remain, Subaru seemed to cling to the tragic sight as he looked back at it one last time. *** The remains, lined up atop bare soil, were comrades he'd traded words with tens of minutes before. As he gazed upon that death, Subaru's mind let out a heavy, painful scream. Why was Subaru's mind continuing such frenzied shouts that moment? It was because "Subawu, we have to go." "...I know." Neither time nor his allies gave Subaru any chance to wallow. Ferris called out to Subaru, still unable to find the words to give to the remains, and Subaru followed the others, the last to leave that place. And then he noticed something. The presence of jet-black hands slipping through the gaps in the trees, creeping closer without a sound. "Get down !!" *** When the evil hands seemed to slip out from the darkness, Subaru was in a daze as he shouted. The ones able to instantly respond to the sudden directive were Wilhelm and the other heavy hitters. They didn't ask why like a bunch of idiots they instantly crouched, escaping the hands sailing over the ground. However, the hands caught those who reacted too slowly, displaying their thoroughly wicked might. "Gya !" Those who remained standing screamed no, they were not screams; they were death cries. The black-dyed arms stretched the necks of the slow-to-react knights, fatally gouging out their throats. The fingers seemed to move without resistance, rending human flesh with the ease of passing through water. Blood spurted forth, and multiple lives were snuffed out right before Subaru's eyes. Subaru was in shock from this, but immediately after, others unfroze and raised their own voices. " What is it? What happened?!" "I don't know! Blood spurted from their throats all of a sudden..." They, aghast at the slaughter of their allies, could not see what had created this death. In other words, this was greater proof than anything that they were the black, evil hands known to Subaru. Thus, Subaru thrust aside his feelings of disbelief. " It's Unseen Hands!!" he shouted. The black hands that had brought death to their allies these were none other than Petelgeuse's Unseen Hands. But that was impossible. The madman controlling them had died for certain. His torso had been cut in half, and the only things they'd found left of his corpse were fragments. Ferris had firmly

stated that recovery was impossible. "So who the hell is using Unseen Hands then?!" Subaru's voice was raw with surprise. The pitch-black hands dancing in the sky reacted. Multiple hands moved like the heads of snakes, their fingers turning menacingly toward him. Their numbers were probably thirty an invisible menace in numbers somewhat above what Petelgeuse had controlled. "Sir Subaru! Indicate the arms' locations!" Wilhelm shouted, sword poised, with Ferris tumbled at his feet. The Sword Devil's request caused those who had initially taken flight to look at Subaru. Their morale was hardly broken, but they had no countermeasure beyond Subaru. Understanding his duty, Subaru squinted at the evil hands. He would not let them add to the corpses of his allies. However, as if to mock his determination, the evil hands... "They vanished...?!" The hands made of black mist gently dissolved into dust from the fingertips down. In an instant, the thirty hands dissipated. Subaru, unable to discern his opponent's intent, watched with a stiff face. "Bro, what happened to the attack?! Where's it comin' from?!" "They vanished! They were pulled back! I don't know why!" Replying to Ricardo's angry shout with an angry shout of his own, Subaru desperately swept his gaze across the area. Subaru was the only one who could detect Unseen Hands, which attacked with neither sound nor aura. The life or death of his allies depended on his actions. That fact made Subaru earnest in his efforts. Accordingly, he neglected to care for himself. "Ugh ?!" The bad feeling suddenly arising at the back of Subaru's neck made him raise a cry of pain. The next moment, his neck bones seemed to creak from the powerful grip raising him, pulling his feet off the ground. Floating in the air, he could neither kick at the ground nor stand firm. His limbs writhed and flailed, but Subaru's body was pulled into the darkness in a single swoop. "No! Subaru !" "Julius, don't! The enemy's here!" Julius immediately reached out, but he was interrupted by Ferris's bloodcurdling cry. The instant before they were separated, Subaru's eyes spotted a group of black figures bursting out of the forest Witch Cultists attacking his wary allies from the flank. "Shit! Let me go, damn it...!" As sword began to ring against sword, Subaru alone was being pulled away from the battlefield. As he swung his limbs, they struck tree branches, picking up painful scrapes in the process, but he had no time to care about that. The hand restraining him possessed tremendous physical strength, carrying Subaru with movements impossible for any man-made device. That, and the fact that he couldn't break free, made it easy for him to guess what was pulling him. That very moment, Subaru was being whisked away by Unseen Hands. Therefore, his enemy was "Gu aaah !" The impact forced an interruption in his thought process. The forced floating in midair came to an end when his back was slammed against a large tree. After that, Subaru was pressed against the trunk, legs still off the ground, suspended in midair as he came face-to-face with his foe. "Geheh! Shit! Who the hell is...?" "Ahh my brain is shaking." *** When Subaru coughed, turning his eyes toward his surroundings, that phrase froze his heart. The nonsensical line seemed to flow into his ears as if it were teasing him, but it was far too evil to ignore. Slowly, the darkness seemed to dissolve as a slender figure walked out of it. So far as Subaru knew, the Witch Cultists all wore the same hooded black robes, and this figure was no exception. But this individual left the hood down, leaving a face exposed. *** For an instant, Subaru hallucinated that this figure was Petelgeuse's body double. But an instant later, he rejected the idea. The figure resembled the madman yet was different somehow. After all, the person appearing before Subaru was a young, redheaded woman with conspicuous freckles. "So why...? What are you...? What the what the hell...?!" With strong pressure over his entire body, Subaru writhed, moaning in pain as he looked down at the woman. The previous finger exterminations had already established that the Witch Cultists were male and female, young and old alike. Having a woman as his enemy was nothing to be shocked over, but Subaru's fright would not abate. The problem was not his opponent's gender it was that the woman and that madman were two of a kind. The woman made Subaru feel disgust and terror rivaling those caused by Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti himself. They absolutely had nothing to do with the fact that the shadows wriggling at her feet were keeping Subaru bound. "You're...Petelgeuse's...what...?! Get these hands off me...!" " A finger, you SEE." "Ah?" Forcing his shudder back down, Subaru wrung out a raspy voice with which to speak to her. The instant after that voice raised Subaru's doubts, the woman forcefully shook her head like a spring-operated doll. Then she raised her right hand and put a finger into her mouth; this, she violently bit and crushed. The dull sound, the droplets of fresh blood, they were that madman's blasphemous self-harm through and through "I am a finger! One rewarded with Her favor! A diligent diiisciple carrying out the trial, faithfully obeying the guidance of Her love! Ahh! Ahh, are you lazy?!" "Uu...!" The woman waved her bloody finger, scattering droplets of blood around as she instinctively unveiled her madness. The sight of the angrily raging woman who called herself a finger made Subaru squirm, forgetting all about how hard it was to breathe. That madness, that insanity, that irritable behavior, repeating that same stupid phrase to vilify his opponent it wasn't just her ability to use the authority. Even setting aside the eccentric mannerisms, the woman had far too much in common with the madman to ignore. Confidant. Successor. A Priest of the Seven Deadly Sins rather than an archbishop. Various possibilities raced inside his head. But she didn't fit any of them. If he had to put a more proper, more accurate label on what he felt "A dead ringer...a copy? With Petelgeuse's exact personality...!" He couldn't help but think of the woman as Petelgeuse himself rather than someone who merely resembled him. Perhaps that itself was what the term finger signified. Perhaps the fingers had literally been part of Petelgeuse... "If that's so, worst case doesn't even cover it...!" "Being able to recover you this early is a great relief! You are troublesome, you are dangerous, you are particularly vile! You can see Unseen Hands, can you not?" "...No comment..." "You cannot hold your SILENCE with me! You have been captured by Her favor, when by riiights you would be discarded as rubbish! Thiiiis cannot be mere happenstaaance! When it is not once, but twice, it is not happenstance, but inevitability! And inevitability INSTILLS diligence!" Her inability to listen to others was just like the original's. As she opened her eyes wide enough that her eyeballs threatened to pop out, saliva scattered from the madwoman's long tongue. Ordinarily, that would be bad enough, but the ugliness of her fury ran far deeper than that surface. "Now, now then, then then then. Although THIS is extremely regrettable, there is something that I SIMPLY must confirm. Who are you, and what is your purpose?" "What am I doing...?" Subaru grimaced at the question, his disgust with his unsightly opponent plain. When he parroted the words back, the madwoman stretched a hand to the sky. "Yes! That is precisely what I ask! The favor you wear is far greater thaaan that of an ordinary believer, rivaling the Archbishops of the Seven Deadly Sins themselves! If so, are you indeed this generation's Pride? Pride, come here to carry out the trial in the place of Sloth?!" "You pull this as soon as you make me think you're gonna take it easy and spare my life...? And if you think I am him, why are you puttin' the screws to me like this...?!" "Even if you are an archbishop, it is an unwritten rule we do not interfere with one another! Beyond that, if this is to result in conflict, there is only greater diligence! To push forward and persist against any obstacle in THE way of love! After all, illogical clashes are far from rare!" The madwoman responded to Subaru's question with a loud, derisive, insane laugh. Sure, fanning the flames of internal competition sounded great in theory, but she'd just proudly exposed her organization as a collection of egotistical maniacs. In other words, as far as she was concerned, if Subaru was Pride, that made him her enemy. "If you are Pride, the empty seat among the sins has beeeeen filled! Once the trial is completed, we must assemble the remaining sins so that the Witch may display her favor to us! And for that, among other things " *** "I must begin the trial early so that you may sever your lingering attachments. Tomorrow? No, beginning right now! Naturally, I ask that you watch until the very end!" The madwoman gleefully thrust her demand into Subaru's face from a position of absolute superiority. This was a worst-case scenario. She meant to move up the trial in other words, to rush the plan of attack. The madwoman continued to loudly extol her misunderstanding, making her murderous urges all too clear to Subaru. Of course, he couldn't let her go through with it. There was little merit in playing for time, keeping the madwoman tied down in that place. The worst thought to strike him was that it was possible this female Petelgeuse copy was not the only one who could use the authority. Accordingly, Subaru had to convey this to his comrades without a second to lose "Even so...shit! Even if I see 'em, I can't do anything about 'em from my end!" The largest obstacle to regaining his freedom was the Unseen Hands still keeping him pinned. When he felt his neck grabbed and reached back, Subaru's fingers passed through the haze, unable to affect it. As Subaru cursed the wholly unnatural phenomenon, the madwoman nodded. "So you can indeed see my Unseen Hands. I am exceedingly dissatisfied, disturbed, dismayed, discontented at the absurdity of this, but this proves you are iiindeed Pride!" "Don't make me say it twice... Ahh, it's the first time for you, is it? I'm not your Pride I haven't even gotten my special admission book yet...!" "What obstinacy! However, even you shall become more cooperative, and s " When Subaru resumed struggling, the woman's visage twisted in wicked delight as she stared at the sight. But the instant her slender arm subconsciously groped in a pocket, the woman's words were cut off, her expression vanishing. "...That is right." The woman drew her hand out of her own pocket as she haltingly spoke. It held nothing in it. The fact that it held nothing made the madwoman claw at her own face, gouging the flesh as she shouted, " Gospel!!" *** Subaru's body went rigid at the reverberation of the throat-splitting scream. It was a sudden explosion of emotion. Her scratch wounds did not fit the rawness of the word, so the woman deepened the lacerations on her cheek as she looked up at Subaru, the object of her rage, flesh under the fingernail she turned toward him. "Even if this diminutive body offers ten thousand words spent, ten thousand lives taken, ten thousand human laments, it is insufficient! A guide is necessary so that my foolish, immature self MAY properly repay Her favor! And for that purpose, the Gospel! Which is now beyond my grasp!" "Uu..." "If it was lost, then where?! Ahh, but I understand. My Gospel, the guide of my love! You, youyouyouuu must have seized it!" When she directed her unstable hatred toward Subaru, the malice thrust through him, chilling his spine. The madwoman, rightful heir to Petelgeuse's spirit, brought her bloody visage close to Subaru. "Stay back...!" Her approach made Subaru feel the presence of death,

something he had not tasted in some time. When death drew near, it had a scent that only Subaru could pick out. It was this death that hovered around the woman's body as she came to seal Subaru Natsuki's fate. "It is futile to struggle any further. This is as far as youuu..." Responding to the madwoman's mocking voice, the evil hand's grip made Subaru's neck bones creak. He was on the verge of losing consciousness, sinking into a lethal abyss. " What is this?" " Aah " The questioning voice led to a slackening of the grip, letting Subaru breathe easier for that single instant. Subaru forced his hazy eyes open to see for himself what had created that time for him. Then Subaru saw it: a wavering, flickering cluster of red light, right before his eyes. "What th...?" "Spirit !!" Before Subaru could figure out what the light was, the madwoman raised a vivid, hateful shout. For its part, the light responded with vibrant clarity. The light surged, as if about to explode, burning Subaru's and the woman's eyes with white light. 8 *** When the light exploded without warning, Subaru let out a shriek and bent backward. The pain, like needles stuck in his retinas, brought a flood of tears, making him cover his face with his palms and the next moment, he was hurled free. "Whoaaa!" The instant Subaru, overtaken by the floating feeling, realized he had escaped from the hand, he moved to break his fall. He rolled feetfirst over the root of a large tree, minimizing the damage from the fall. Thanks to the Sword Devil's lessons, he was an expert at breaking falls after being sent flying. He rubbed his eyes with the backs of his hands and lifted his face. "That was...er, uh-oh!" When he lifted his head up to check the situation, the pitch-black hand came at high speed to mow him down. Subaru shuddered at the attack, which would have knocked his head clean off had it hit, and glared at the culprit in outrage. When he did so, the madwoman concerned was covering her face with her palms as she blindly flailed at the surrounding area with innumerable evil hands. "Spirit...! Spiriiiiit!!" The woman poured hatred onto the spirit, perhaps simply that aggrieved from the blow it had given her. However, the light was nowhere to be seen. The madwoman was merely wrecking the woods in anger, as if trying to inflict even a glancing blow on the offending spirit. She'd completely taken her attention off Subaru. That moment, he was free to choose whether to attack or flee. "I'll run, then!" A greedy choice, like evading the wildly flailing hands and landing a single blow to the madwoman's vitals was beyond Subaru's means. Rather than engage, the better option was to secure combat capability. "We can't let her be. But I need Wilhelm-level combat strength here! Should be that " " You called, Sir Subaru?" In his haste to rendezvous with the others, Subaru's eardrums were greeted by the voice he most wanted to hear. When he turned around, his eyes were greeted by the sight of a white-haired, elderly man the Sword Devil slipping through a gap in the grove and rushing over. "Wilhelm!" "That was most concerning. I am very sorry I could not be here sooner." Wilhelm, carrying his treasured sword in pursuit, breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Subaru was safe. Subaru, delighted at the best reinforcements he could hope for, blinked hard when he noticed the red light floating atop Wilhelm's head. That glow was none other than that of the spirit that had just saved Subaru from peril. "That's the spirit from earlier... Wilhelm, don't tell me you use spirits?!" "Unfortunately, I have no talent beyond the sword. It is purely on loan from its proper contractor. However it would seem you are in need of my specialty." Wilhelm had stepped in front of Subaru by the time he finished those words. The ghastly aura radiating from the Sword Devil was great enough that the madwoman, eyes seared by the light, noticed and turned toward it. "Ahh, SO there you are... You, you shall not escape...!" The bloodstained woman's madness was directed at both Wilhelm and the spirit attending him. "The enemy's in the same league as an Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins! You saw earlier how strong Unseen Hands are. Even you can't just take her on from the fr " "No matter. Knowing they are invisible, I have ways to deal with them." When Subaru warned him of the seething woman's madness, the Sword Devil made that firm reply as he stepped forward. The sudden move startled Subaru, and even amid her villainy, the woman was dubious as well. "What is this? Your head, your life...do you come to present these to me? If so, that is a WISE and diligent choice! I would like to respond with all due respect. However..." "Invisible hands, is it? A most interesting parlor trick I must experience it at least once." "...Did you call this a parlor trick?" For a moment, Wilhelm's words made the madwoman's madness vanish. Wilhelm responded to her utterance by lowering his sword, beckoning her with his open hand Come on, he taunted. " ! This foolish endeavor is to abandon all logic! And to discard logic is lazy!!" "Wi " Mad with rage, the woman thrust both hands forward; simultaneously arms spewed from her shadow, assaulting the Sword Devil. Their ferocity compelled Subaru to instantly shout for him to dodge, but he wasn't in time. The black, evil hands ought to have grasped Wilhelm's limbs, cruelly rending his flesh asunder But they did not. A silver flash ran across the sky, and droplets of blood spurted from the woman's neck. "If the human launching the attack is in plain sight before you, it can be anticipated, invisible or not. By watching the movement of her eyes, feeling her hostility, reading how she breathes as she aims, it was all too clear." *** The Sword Devil made that frightening declaration having completely anticipated the pitch-black, evil hands, striking them down with his sword. Without exaggeration, his evasive timing was perfect; his talk of reading her breaths was no mere boast. His shocking combat skill had blunted the advantage posed by the invisible hands. "How, how, how can this...?" And without doubt, the madwoman's shock was even greater than Subaru's. She pressed a palm to the right side of her neck, taking in the feeling of the blood smearing it from the fresh cut. The very fact that the woman had dodged just prior to Wilhelm's sword strike, the action saving her life, was itself abnormal. "Damn it, she threw herself with her own power..." In concert with the sword strike, the woman had leaped backward in an unnatural pose and with unfathomable speed. The shadowy arm had grabbed and tossed the woman's body, narrowly saving her life from the Sword Devil's blade. However, as a consequence, the evil hand's gripping power had crushed her left shoulder. It was a violent emergency evasive maneuver of sorts with no room for subtlety. However, the woman patted her crushed shoulder, glaring at Wilhelm as she said, "What...what a diligent concept, such diligent skill, aaa diligent way of life!" Her cheeks flushed, the woman praised Wilhelm with delight in her eyes. Receiving what was, by her standards, unreserved adulation, Wilhelm grimaced in visible displeasure. However, the woman paid this no heed. "None have ever challenged my love with such a method, such technique, such cunning! What diligence! Ahh, splendid!" "Even this world is not so barren that I would waste words upon the likes of you." "Do not say such hurtful things. I want you to show me more! Of you! Your sword! All OF you! Captivate me more!!" Her body half smeared with blood, the madwoman stretched her hands out to Wilhelm as if seeking his affections. The Sword Devil did not conceal his displeasure at her statement, giving his sword a swing as he charged once more. "Then then thennnn! HOW about this?!" Together with her pronouncement, Unseen Hands gushed out from the ground, forming a black wall in front of the woman. It was a wall Wilhelm could not see. If he kept charging in like that, he'd be enmeshed in the evil hands, unable to evade. "She made a wall of arms in front! Go around!" " Understood." At Subaru's shout, Wilhelm kicked off from the ground, evading just short of the black wall before his eyes. The Sword Devil proceeded to leap sideways, escaping from the arms' range, thrusting his sword into the ground and swinging it upward. *** The angular sword strike gouged out the earth, sending a shower of dirt pouring onto the madwoman. He had kicked up a completely mundane smoke screen of dust. Naturally, the woman showed no signs of damage from it. " ? Did that have a point...?" "I hoped you would not disappoint me! Come! Come, come! Diligent old bones! You, the beloved child that knows love is the greatest thing in this world! Demonstrate your diligence to me!!" The Sword Devil's behavior drew comments from both Subaru and the madwoman. But Wilhelm said nothing to either set of words. The aged swordsman simply continued his nimble run as dirt showered down upon the woman over and over. Brushing away the unpleasant downpour, the madwoman turned eyes toward the Sword Devil like a maiden in love. The arms of instant death obstinately pounded down wherever she was looking. "Are you finished? Is there no more? If so, dismay! Disappointment! Despondency of the soul, despair! Ahh, AHH! Are you lazy?!!!" "N-no way?!" At the woman's shout, shadow exploded; it was a terrifying volley of power that squarely locked on to Wilhelm. The hitherto sporadic evil hands now numbered above thirty, literally filling the sky in the narrow gaps between the trees. Subaru felt dizzy from the overwhelming number of them. Fatally, there were thirty-odd of them, and Subaru could only point out one or two at best "Anyway, it's bad, Wilhelm!" At the same time as Subaru's woefully insufficient cry, the evil hands cascaded straight down onto the Sword Devil. This time, malice that mercilessly destroyed all it touched would trample Wilhelm flat. As he raced across the ground, Wilhelm looked overhead, his blue eyes narrowing as he said, "I told you." The Sword Devil's tranquil voice rode on the warm forest breeze as he easily evaded the encroaching invisible hands. "Huh?" Both Subaru and the woman were taken aback; not even they knew which one had spoken the word. The evil hands poured down on all sides, twisting around to assail the Sword Devil's limbs. With superhuman agility, Wilhelm dodged, evaded, and overwhelmed them. When he had finally shaken off all the ferocious attacks, a vicious smile came over the Sword Devil's cheeks as he glared at the woman. " So long as I know the arms are invisible, I have ways to deal with them." Certainly, he had just proven that his earlier proclamation was in no way false. But the results were so majestic that Subaru could scarcely close his wide-open mouth. Even Wilhelm shouldn't have had the super-senses to detect that many arms coming at him. "Absurd. Absurd, absurd, a?b?s?u?r?d?a?b?s?u?r?d?a?b?s?u?r?d?a?b?s?u?r?d?s?u?r?d?s?u?r?d?s?u?r?d?s?u?r?d?s?u?rd...!" Stricken senseless as she was by the foiling of her best move, the woman's eyes lost all focus. Trembling, the woman crushed her remaining fingers in true Petelgeuse fashion, but her emotional outburst did not relent as blood flowed from her nose. The nosebleed was still dripping when the woman thrust her blood-smeared right hand at Wilhelm. "Impossibleimpossibleimpossibleimpossible! How could you escape my Unseen Hands?!" "Of course, I evaded them by sight. Once I knew their nature, foiling them was mere child's play." Wilhelm tediously made the declaration as he once again made dirt shower with the tip of his treasured sword. Dirt poured onto the madwoman, incomprehension on her beet-red face.

But after seeing it repeated over and over, Subaru finally understood Wilhelm's objective in making that move. At the same time, he was in shock. The repeated showers of dirt were his opening moves for making Unseen Hands visible. The hands themselves were invisible to the naked eye, interacting with whatever they touched by destroying it. In other words, the evil hands left a trail as they tore through the dirt showers. Of course, even if he could see the ferocious attacks by thirty-plus hands, evading them was no easy task. And yet, Wilhelm's superhuman, godlike combat capabilities made even this seem like child's play. "Now then, both of our tricks have been sufficiently exposed. I shall obtain vengeance for my comrades." Thrusting the tip of his treasured sword forward, Wilhelm threatened with suppressed anger. The hostility radiating from the tip of his sword sent a thrill through Subaru, not even the direct target of that blade. Naturally, his fear was nothing compared to that of the madwoman on the receiving end of that sword tip. In spite of this, the madwoman spread her blood-smeared arms wide, laughing as if granting his bloodlust a warm welcome. "Ahh, ahh, it is splendid! Your actions are diligence personified! To inflict this situation, this development, this predicament upon meee...! I, always striving to be first among Her adherents, to repay Her favor and love with diligence! And yet, you have...!" "To repeat diligence and laziness over and over is foolishness." Exhaling once in the face of the woman's unsightly cries, the Sword Devil gazed at her with enmity winning out against the bloodlust in his eyes. "' If I do this, I will be loved. If I do enough, I will be loved.' The frivolity with which you speak the word rots my ears. It is not love of which you speak. It is merely your own conceit." "What do you know about love?! Love is eeeverything to me!!" Wilhelm did not reply to the woman's shriek; rather he slammed his sword down and advanced. The dirt shower recommenced, and the Sword Devil put his foot down, carving a wound in the ground as his body shot out like a bullet. Even though, like a whip, like a spear, like a maul, like a sword, the madwoman's evil hands raced to mow Wilhelm down, he saw through them all, and was thus allowed to draw near. And then "It is over, heretic." As he stated this, the treasured sword in Wilhelm's hand plunged to the hilt, deep into the madwoman's belly. The sword ran through her, coming out of her back; when he yanked it out with a twist, a great deal of blood and entrails poured out. When Wilhelm pulled back, the woman fell to her knees and bent forward as she touched the wound with a hand. "Ahh, this cannot..." Her palm was impotent to stop her blood from gushing out, her intestines from pouring out. Wilhelm silently looked down at the madwoman, unable to stem the spillage of her life. Having cut down so many lives, the Sword Devil knew that she had little time left to live. "It seems you require a mercy blow?" " Mercy is unnecessary. My life drains away, my blooood, disappearing... My diligence, the heartbeat that sustains me, is stopping, vani...sh...ing..." Refusing the Sword Devil's mercy, the madwoman fell onto her side with a smile on her lips. The light proceeded to fade from the woman's eyes. Subaru stood rooted to the spot as he watched her final moments. *** "Ahh, my brain is shaaa..." While Subaru stared, the woman left only those final words before her breathing completely ceased. It was the death of the second user of Unseen Hands, the second Sloth. Watching until the end, Subaru let out his breath. The conclusion of the battle had made him practically forget to breathe. His body resumed its life functions, as if remembering that which it had forgotten. "I-is it...over?" " At the very least, this woman has most assuredly ceased to breathe." Wiping the blood from his sword, Wilhelm replied thus to Subaru, who was nervously peering at the corpse. Subaru bit his lip, feeling as if the meaning behind those words bolstered his earlier deduction. But Subaru immediately shook his head, switching gears. He knew it was no time to sink into contemplation. "Setting her aside...anyway, we've gotta head back! I'm worried about everyone else. If we don't link up with them...!" " No, Sir Subaru. I have just been informed that they have wrapped up their end." "Informed...?" With Subaru agitated, Wilhelm offered a hand toward him. A pale light was floating above his hand. The spirit swayed left and right, emitting a faint red light, asserting its own existence. "That's the spirit from...er, a minor spirit? Anyway, you're saying that this spirit told you the others are safe on their end?" Subaru spoke toward the flickering light on Wilhelm's hand in hope of a reply. However, the spirit did not reply with words; it merely floated into the air, entering the forest as if to lead the way. "That means Follow me, doesn't it?" " Let us go, Sir Subaru." Grasping that it wished to guide them, Subaru and Wilhelm chased after the spirit. They returned to their comrades after repelling a foe rivaling an Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins; considering the circumstances, it was good news to return with, but grave emotions were carved onto the pair's faces. " Shit." But that moment, the only thing on Subaru's mind was the state of the allies with whom he would be reunited. 9 " Who's there?" "Hold up! It's us! Sorry to startle you!" Checked by a sharp yell, Subaru came out of the thicket, showing himself with his hands up. The knights who had sensed them returning from deep in the forest, and thus pointed their swords at them, immediately relaxed their guard, relief on their faces as they lowered their blades. But that relief was marred by sadness and regret. Subaru had a feeling that the result of the fighting in the forest hadn't been a pure victory, something to take joy in. "It seems you have both returned." "Julius..." As Subaru and Wilhelm surveyed the area, Julius ran over. Seeing that Subaru and Wilhelm were each without injury, he stood at attention without any change in expression. "At the very least, it is good that you two are safe... Shall I make the damage report?" "...Yeah, please do." Having confirmed the other was safe and sound, Subaru granted approval for Julius to shift to the damage report. Accepting, Julius indicated the forest-turned-battlefield with his hand. ...The forest littered with fallen trees and traces of bloodshed, the aftereffects of combat. "Five died instantly from the initial, invisible attack. Two more died while engaged in combat with the Witch Cult in the attack immediately following our total casualties for this engagement were seven." "Seven..." Subaru had expected as much, but the number slammed heavily into his heart. They'd lost five in the initial Unseen Hands ambush. It was a most cruel loss. "...The Witch Cultists that tried to take you down?" "All of the nine Witch Cultists here perished. Two were captured alive, but they killed themselves like all cases prior to this point...despite Ferris's strenuous efforts." "So the enemy was completely wiped out. On our side, if we include the five scouts, our losses are twelve in total..." "I cannot say that dividing our forces was a...poor move. Had we done otherwise, it is highly likely we would have simply increased our initial losses. Of course, it is also possible that the enemy would hesitate to attack greater numbers, but..." Though the casualties stung deeply, neither Julius nor Wilhelm gave any hint of losing his cool. For his part, Subaru had been biting his lip enough to draw blood since the damage report began. "That ends my report. And yours?" " ! You don't have anything else to say to me?" "Necessary reports come first. I had thought to ask you for your report before all other matters, but..." In contrast to the emotional Subaru, Julius had a very calm demeanor. But as he replied, his forelocks were slightly askew, and there were traces of blood on his royal guard uniform. Of course, even he had not come through unscathed. Gazing at the vestiges of intense combat, Subaru restrained his scattered emotions. "...At the very least, we beat the Sloth that attacked us just now." "'The Sloth that attacked us just now'...you say. Not a report to take solace in, it would seem." Subaru's gloomy reply contained nominally good news, but Julius immediately homed in on the problem therein. The authority-using madwoman who had launched a surprise attack on the expeditionary force, whisking Subaru away from the battlefield, was an evil on par with the assuredly slain Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins a being worthy of the title of Sloth. "The first stage of this operation should have taken out the Archbishop of Sloth. You were more confident of that than anyone...yet, in spite of that, you call the earlier foe Sloth?" "...Yeah, that's right. The one just now was a Sloth a second Sloth." The last part of that statement "a second Sloth" made Julius knit his brows in dismay. But given the seriousness of Subaru's gaze, combined with the events that had actually taken place, he offered no rebuttal. "So the first Sloth defeated was a different person from this Sloth. You are absolutely sure of this?" "I'd never forget the look on that piece-of-shit bastard's dead face. Plus, the second Sloth was a woman. There's no way you'd mistake one for the other. There's no way you would, but..." When Subaru had first encountered the madwoman, he'd hallucinated that it was Petelgeuse. That was because he sensed things beyond their appearances that tied Petelgeuse and the woman together. It felt as if their madness had sprung from a common root "The authority was the same, the words and actions were the same. I've got a reaaally bad feelin' about this." "Perhaps the first Sloth we defeated was a double, and the second Sloth was the real Archbishop of the Seven Deadly... No, there is no way to be certain of that. Besides, in this case, the real issue " " Might be in a whole different league than which one was the real deal." When Julius felt he might have speculated too far, Subaru picked up his conclusion and ran with it. The statement made sweat emerge on Subaru's brow; even Julius's face stiffened somewhat. It was a terrifying prospect. However, in light of current circumstances, it was also a logical conclusion. Given the appearance of Petelgeuse the first time, and the madwoman the second, it was inevitable they would arrive at the same possibility. "In other words, there are multiple Archbishops of Sloth or perhaps the Archbishop of Sloth is actually a group with the same power, acting toward a common objective?" "...The only Sloth I knew of was the sickly-looking bastard that came out first. But now that I've seen the next woman, I can't tell you you're wrong." The madwoman had called herself a finger and identified with the Archbishop of Sloth. It fit. That's what they would go with: that Sloth was multiple Archbishops of the Seven Deadly Sins working in concert. "So without exaggeration, the fingers are parts of the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins. If it is a group composed of multiple archbishops calling themselves Sloth, it would explain the breadth of the upheaval they have caused in every nation." "So Sloth is the part of the Witch Cult carrying out the doctrine of the faith. Just the thought gives me chills." That it was the practical arm of a larger religious group was very much a flight of fancy. Subaru wanted to laugh, but even a dry laugh failed to emerge. If Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti was but one Sloth among many, their

pleasant, orderly advance had been nothing more than a farce. That was a terrifying prospect indeed. "In the end, this remains no more than speculation. I would like to avoid carelessly spreading unease and unrest among the others." When the unpleasant thought closed Subaru's mouth, Julius shifted his eyes toward the expeditionary force, clumped up in one group. "We lost twelve men, with three fingers to go... This is a rate of attrition we cannot ignore." " Not twelve, eleven." When a voice corrected the number of their losses, Subaru and Julius turned toward it to find Ferris walking over to them. His white coat was sullied with blood as he wiped the sweat off his brow and pointed behind him. "I pulled one of the heavily injured ones back from the brink. It was a really, really close call, though..." "That is good news. To stabilize someone in that condition...as expected of you, Ferris." "I said it meowself I can bring back anyone who isn't dead." When Julius said the words good news, Ferris gave a thin, wry smile. But his smile soon faded as he shifted his gaze in a different direction. Subaru's eyes, drawn there as well, were greeted by the sight of someone covered with a thin cloth. "I can't save everyone... Now I really understand the meaning of the captain's words." "You have done well. It is not a role any of the rest of us could hope to accomplish." "Mmm, thank you." Ferris replied briefly to Julius's consoling words, but everyone there knew that they were a small comfort. Head bowed, Ferris licked his lips and, after a brief pause, looked at Subaru. "...So about what you said earlier, where's the body of the second Sloth?" Immediately after, Subaru grimaced at the sudden change in the conversation. " In the forest over that way, but why do you wanna know?" Ferris must have overheard the earlier exchange with Julius. He stared in the direction in which Subaru pointed, narrowing his yellow eyes. "Just maybe, if I examine it, I might find some differences." "Differences? What kind of differences?" "Between the fingers you're worried about and the other cultists, Subawu." When Ferris pointed that out, Subaru's breath caught. "Wait up, 'kay?" said Ferris, taking several companions with him as he went off to examine the corpse. Perhaps examining the madwoman, the second Sloth, might give them a lead on the repugnant Archbishops of the Seven Deadly Sins, enabling them to form a plan of attack. Subaru wanted to believe that was possible. "And besides that..." Having watched Ferris go, Subaru went to the expeditionary force members clustered together. Subaru couldn't look straight at the row of casualties lying right beside them. The lined-up remains were covered with thin cloths, the least they could do for those who would never awaken again. There was nothing anyone could have done for the initial five casualties who had been ripped to pieces. However, the five lives lost in the surprise attack were another story. Subaru should have realized, if no one else. "I should've known as soon as I heard the first five were torn apart with bare hands. I'm the one who was aware what power we were dealing with. I should've noticed." Subaru, of all people, should have recognized the cause of the deaths of those who had been slain without a single sign of resistance. But Subaru, shaken by the deaths of his allies, had let the chance slip, leading to more casualties. On top of that, his own whisking away by the enemy had forced his allies to split their fighting strength, prolonging the combat. Had Wilhelm not pulled out, those lost during the engagement might well have lived. "Even if it was a surprise attack, the opponent was small in numbers. Barring an exception, such as an Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins' authority, there was no chance of defeat. It was precisely for this reason I sent Master Wilhelm to you." *** "Indeed, that authority, defying all logic, is a far greater concern. You did your duty, helping us evade it. The rest was our duty...as knights." Listening to Subaru's murmurs, Julius set his disheveled hair in order as he offered his own view. Even Subaru was not so insensitive as to miss the consideration the words offered to him. But it was also a fact that no words of consolation lessened the pain in Subaru's heart. People had died in the fight against the White Whale, too. He remembered grieving over those deaths, but not nearly as much. He'd lamented the fact that, compared to his own deaths, the deaths of others had moved his heart so little, but these deaths weighed heavily upon him. Death was the same whatever form it took, so why did these deaths bother him so much? That was obvious. "...Because I was involved with these people." Only then did Subaru Natsuki realize that he bore responsibility for those casualties. When they'd challenged the White Whale, they had stood on the field of battle against the demon beast as a result of their own free choice. But the fight against the Witch Cult was different. These people had answered Subaru's call, sharing in Subaru's desire to save Emilia and the others; they had been cooperating with Subaru, nothing more. " So heavy." Subaru had used the information gleaned from Return by Death to cooperate with Crusch and the others in subjugating the White Whale. However, put differently, it was Subaru's information that had triggered the outbreak of that battle, too. A battlefield was created, and numerous human lives met their end. Many lives were erased from the memories of others. Subaru shared in that heavy responsibility. It was not only because he'd subconsciously averted his eyes from the burden that he had not noticed. It was more because Crusch had been so magnificent. She led the fight against the White Whale, shouldering the responsibility for everything on that field of battle. She was aware of her own obligations, but her performance was so grand, it made you forget about all of that. And so, Subaru hadn't noticed. Return by Death was not simply a matter of changing fate. Naturally, if Subaru took an action for the sake of some choice, some hope, some purpose, he altered the world around him. *** With that all-too-late realization, he was fiercely angry with himself for being so foolish and worthless. He'd been careless. He'd left himself wide open. The fact that everything had gone too well should have set off alarms in his mind. There had been big talk about making sure everyone got out alive, but he'd underestimated the effort required to make that happen and this was the result. And as a result, eleven precious lives had been lost the lives of people who'd stood by his side. Regret filled his head to the brim. Remorse seethed deep in his gut. The thought that there had to be something more he could have done made him pound baseless rage against his soul. Enough that he wanted to die in a fit of anger that very "Sir Subaru." *** Subaru was enveloped by rage sufficient to turn his vision red when that voice brought him back to his senses. Wilhelm was standing before Subaru, staring straight at him. For an instant, Subaru's heart shuddered as he wondered if Wilhelm would scold him for his ignorance. But the Sword Devil's eyes immediately told him otherwise. The Sword Devil's eyes were as tranquil as the surface of a lake as he gazed right through Subaru's dark eyes. "You likely have a number of things running through your mind at the moment, none of them trivial emotions...but forgive my exceedingly great rudeness and allow me to say this." *** Wilhelm's words made him unwittingly straighten his back. He didn't know what would be said to him, but whatever it might be, he needed to give it his undivided attention. Then, with Subaru bracing himself, Wilhelm said... " Fight." Spoken in a low tone, that word made the very air tremble. But Subaru also received it as a blade one that bit into his body, his heart, his very soul. The ghastly aura pouring from Wilhelm filled the forest-turned-battlefield, wrenching its way into Subaru's mind and body. The hostility swept over the whole area, and naturally, the knights' eyes all fell on the two of them. At the center of that vortex of gazes, Wilhelm continued, "Whether you feel regret, or are stricken with remorse, fight. If it is fated that you must do battle, that you must resist fight with your entire body and soul. Do not give in for a second, a moment, a single fraction of time. Gaze at victory and crave it with every fiber of your being. If you can still stand, if you can still move a single finger, if your fangs are not yet broken, stand, stand, stand, stand, fight fight." *** The words were very similar to ones Wilhelm had spoken to Subaru before. When he'd been smacked around with a wooden sword in the courtyard of Crusch's mansion, Wilhelm had spoken words concerning girding one's heart for battle; that was the only moment Subaru had been allowed a tiny glimpse into the Sword Devil. At the time, after Subaru had heard those words, Wilhelm pegged him as person with no drive to become stronger. In point of fact, Subaru hadn't faced him with true earnestness. Deprived of willpower, Subaru had had no idea at the time what the Sword Devil thought or was trying to tell him. But this time was different and this time, he thought the message was different, too. "You're telling me to...become strong?" "No I am telling you to be strong." The frighteningly lofty and sharp demand thrust through his chest. Subaru had always thought, I wanna be like Wilhelm. I wanna be like steel. But now, with regret and remorse slamming against his heart, he did not think those words were the answer. "I wanna be that way, too. But it's hard. I didn't want anyone else to die like this, but they did...because I wasn't good enough!" Once again, he'd made the mistake of getting full of himself as soon as things were going a little bit well. As a result of his mistake, people had died. If he made more mistakes, no one knew who would die for them next. He'd desperately tried to think of a way to avoid that, and yet nothing came. He was out of ideas. "If I don't do it... I'm the one who started this!" "You got them involved, you strung them along, and they died, is that it? You are incorrect." With remorse threatening to wrench Subaru's heart out of his chest, Wilhelm spread both arms wide. "Not a single individual here believes you involved us in this. Even if you provided the spark, we chose this battle ourselves. Everyone is here of his or her own will." *** "Please stop placing responsibility for the deaths on yourself alone. They do not wish you to be burdened by this. Simply make room in your heart so that you do not forget. That is all you need do." "Not forget what...?" Their deaths? he wondered. But Wilhelm shook his head, putting Subaru's notion to rest. " That they shared this burden with you. That is all." This time, his words made Subaru's entire body numb, as if he'd been struck by a bolt of lightning. With Subaru in shock, Wilhelm nodded to him and touched the sword on his own hip. "Lending one's strength does not mean merely swinging one's sword. It means challenging the same foes, worrying over the same obstacles, sharing the wounds and the weight of the burdens. This we can do. This is the lesson I learned in the past." Wilhelm spoke those words and motioned with his chin. Overwhelmed, Subaru did as indicated, noticing that the gazes of

all present were focused upon him. Each and every one of those sets of eyes burned with the same emotions as Wilhelm's. He felt someone had once told him not to try to fight alone. At a disadvantage against a mysterious opponent, not a single person looked ready to cut and run. Not a single gaze said to Subaru, This wasn't the deal, nor did wiser voices condemn him. "...Having at least one wiser person seems like a good thing, though..." He let out a sigh. Simultaneously, the dark clouds dwelling inside Subaru's head rapidly brightened. This did not mean freedom from anguish. But he had left the dead end in which he'd trapped himself behind him. Subaru had been reminded of the limits of his own head. "Shit !" Subaru roughly scratched his head, gritted his teeth, impulsively stamped his foot, and turned to everyone, bowing his head. "This is the only head I have to lower. It's low quality, so I'll lower it as many times as I need to." Subaru entreated his comrades, whose gazes remained unchanged, saying, We'll fight. Somehow, somewhere, he'd escaped barefoot from resignation and remorse. "A lot of things...seriously, a lot of things have changed. The Witch Cult's Sloth is seriously tough. To put it bluntly, we can't even see the bottom. I get why they're treated like gods of pestilence the world over. It shook me how much damage we took just taking 'em on. It shook me, but..." It'd shaken him because he'd mistakenly thought he ought to think, counter, and fight all by himself. Thanks to everyone there, his limbs had finally stopped shaking. Because they thought, Let's fight. "I still don't have any firm idea what we should do. But I know we've got to do this. We have to beat them. We have to beat Sloth, here and now." However mysterious the opponent, it was Subaru's side that had started it. All they could do was defeat the enemy, whatever it took, until the battle was decided. *** Turning, Subaru looked at the remains of the comrades that had fallen in the forest, remains that had instilled such remorse and such a sense of responsibility that he'd been unable to look straight at them all that time. This was Subaru's inescapable sin. However you wanted to dress it up, Subaru was responsible for their deaths. And he would not permit himself to run from his sins any longer. Subaru wondered if he hadn't been arrogant in thinking that borrowing someone's assistance was no heavy thing. Subaru had started this battle, and so he would shoulder it. But he didn't think of it as too heavy a burden. And so, he was determined to carry it, even if he himself knew not how great it would become. "We'll save Emilia and the others. We'll smash the Witch Cult flat. And to do both of those things..." "Let us do that which is needed...not for anyone else, but because you have asked it." And for that, our strength is yours, said Wilhelm's nod, and those of the members of the expeditionary force. He still had a mountain of things to think about, and the number of obstacles blocking their way was yet unknown. However, these he could overcome, because he need not challenge them alone. If Subaru had been strong enough to stand alone, he'd never have gotten out of that blind alley. Therefore, for just one moment, he thought that... "...Good thing I'm weak and puny, then." " Shall we go?" "Yeah, let's go. And lend me your strength and wit." Death did not lighten. It remained heavy. So long as he knew this, he could struggle against it with his head held high. Subaru Natsuki walked forward, resuming the fight. And so their battle continued. CHAPTER 3 *** 1 The return of Subaru & Co. with the bodies of their comrades was a great shock to those who had remained at the camp. Fortunately, nothing had happened to the camp whatsoever, but the reports of combat and casualties in the forest spread gloom among the faces of those waiting in reserve. All shared the disappointment of not having been able to partake in the battle. Like the others, they too renewed their vows of support toward Subaru. And, having linked up with additional allies, they began to discuss their plan of action henceforth. However, the new issues and obstacles that had floated to the surface were all difficult ones. The existence of the Archbishop of Sloth continued to stand before the expeditionary force as a high wall impeding their progress. "First, my report after examining the corpse of the second Sloth: As you can see, the corpse is a little different from that of the other Witch Cultists. There are traces of a strange ritual." The first to offer information was Ferris, once his examination of the madwoman's corpse was complete. The word ritual brought a grimace to Subaru's face. "You mean one besides the Witch Cultists embedding magic crystals into themselves for suicide?" "Exactly. The fusion was hard to see, but when I compared on a hunch, it became clear as day... I think the same Sloth-like cultists have the same setup." "So this setup, it's the trigger for that authority thingy?" "I don't know that far. But when I think of some of the cultists getting this special treatment, it makes me suspect it has something to do with the weird power the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins controls." The information suggesting there were multiple Sloths had already been shared within the expeditionary force. Given Ferris's examinations to date, the possibility loomed ever larger. "If that's so, the problem is how many Sloths besides these two are there, huh?" "There have been two to date, but considering what it took to bring them down, the situation is extremely dangerous. Worst case, we should presume that it is possible all the individuals known as fingers are Sloths." "...That's jumping ahead a little much, ain't it? If they could all use that authority, they'd use it to hit back at us, right? But no one's done that." "It would be so if the individuals known as fingers appeared as a group under the archbishop's command." Julius's reply didn't really answer Subaru's question. But Ferris and Ricardo registered agreement on their faces. "I see, I see. In other words, I think Julius means the fingers are like the archbishop's right hand and left hand." " ? Aren't the right and the left hands both part of the same body?" "Not that, more in the sense of your confidant or right-hand man. Weren't you the one to guess what the fingers were to the Witch Cult to begin with, Subawu?" "...Ah!" After all that, Subaru finally clued into what the three of them were saying. Subaru knew of several cases where Petelgeuse had referred to his subordinates as fingers, but he'd had to guess heavily as to the details. In point of fact, Subaru had thought that the term fingers was what Petelgeuse used to refer to groups under his command. But what if, instead, fingers was the name borne by several special cultists, and the same authority as Petelgeuse's resided in each of them? "So that's saying that Petelgeuse was just one Sloth counted by the number of fingers?" "If there are a maximum of ten, and each base has a single Sloth assigned to it, that might explain why we have been lucky enough not to give them an opportunity to strike back so far. That is being optimistic, however." "So that means three bases left, and three fingers to go...so we should assume there are three more of 'em." One should hypothesize the worst case in any situation. Casually dismissing the threat posed by the enemy came with a stiff price. Subaru had paid the heavy tuition fee for that lesson many times over. And given the worst-case possibility they could hypothesize at present " As soon as possible, I want to begin evacuating the mansion and the people in the village." "...To be honest, I was thinking that if you did not propose it, I would myself," Julius agreed, closing one eye. "Now that we are uncertain of having eliminated the menace of Sloth, our greatest concern should be for their future objective to do harm to Lady Emilia and the villagers, I imagine." "There's less than half of 'em left now, so we should assume they're onto us bein' after 'em. That bein' the case, the biggest fear is 'em tryin' to take folks down with 'em." With Julius and Ricardo in agreement, Subaru nodded, too, his worry evident in the creases of his brow. There was no mistaking that the Witch Cult was aware of the expeditionary force. The earlier raid had established that well enough. "The second Sloth was waiting for us. They noticed us at some point. It's fine for us to be exposed at this point, but it's bad if our objective is exposed." On a combat level, it hurt to lose any advantage, but the expeditionary force's biggest issue was accomplishing its goal of rescuing Emilia and the others. The Witch Cult ought not to have known just yet why Subaru & Co. had entered the Mathers lands. If the Cult knew that both sides were after the mansion and village, both were certain to become battlefields. "Right now, the Witch Cult hasn't noticed that the plain is wide open yet. If we can get Emilia and everyone on dragon carriages, they should be able to make a clean getaway." "If Lady Emilia and the others escape, we can concentrate on subjugating the Witch Cult without any worries about the future. It's really hard to fight with a weak point like that on your shoulders, meow. Especially for Ferri and Subawu." "Hurts to hear that...but that's how it is." Having received Ferris's dry approval, Subaru asked for any objections to the plan. Fortunately, with time so precious, no objections were raised, so Subaru slapped his knee and made the call. "Thanks, big help. We'll take the traveling merchants with us and all go to the village. No leaving me behind, okay?" "From here, there is no telling when the remaining Sloths might attack. Your eyes will be irreplaceable, yes?" With Julius's roundabout assent, the expeditionary force's plan was set. "Ohh. So you're finally calling on us, then. It's a relief to get some work." As it turned out, the traveling merchants were unexpectedly eager when they finally received the order to move out. Sitting and waiting seemed to suit them poorly. Everything about the Witch Cult was, as usual, shrouded in mystery. But with the current setbacks, there was no option but to rely on their hauling capacity to fulfill Subaru's long-delayed goal. "Sorry to keep you waiting, too, Patlash... Hey, don't be that angry, geez." *** Patlash, left behind at camp while Subaru walked through the forest without her, was quite miffed at Subaru. The pitch-black land dragon turned her sharp, refined face aside, thoroughly sulking when Subaru called her. "Er, I mean, it was the middle of a forest? If you tripped and broke a leg there'd be no coming back, you know?" "This breed of land dragon, known as the Diana breed, is the highest breed of all land dragons. There are dragons specific to desert or arctic climes, but the excellent Diana breed can handle any terrain." "Eh? Any terrain, what, you mean forests, too?" "Forests, deserts, waterside, or glacier." Wilhelm's lofty appraisal left Subaru gaping in wonder. He'd picked the land dragon based on his first impression, but apparently, she excelled more than he'd ever imagined. Perhaps that should have been obvious given Patlash's intelligence and ability. "After all, it takes a pretty decent noble house to buy a girl like her, meow." "Hey, stop that! Don't talk about price! That's gonna stick in my head!" Ferris smiled as

Subaru raised his voice, feeling almost afraid to mount the dragon. But Subaru thought that smile was gloomier than one from Ferris's usual self. Subaru, largely able to fathom the reason why, stood beside his land dragon and lowered his voice. "Sorry, making you act considerate to me like this." " What is it all of a sudden? Did you eat something bad? Should I heal you?" "Don't paper over it. You said it yourself. I'm not the only one who doesn't want anyone to die." *** Ferris was cowed into silence with a guilty look. Subaru had apparently hit the mark. Subaru wasn't the only one who felt deeply responsible for the deaths of his allies. Perhaps the mental anguish was much stronger for someone with a direct means of saving others such as Ferris. Subaru thought Ferris was strong to hold that inside him and not let it come to the surface, though. "Maybe my saying this isn't worth much, but...having you here is a big help. Seriously." "Oh, stop it. I know best how useless I've been. I've let eleven people die, and couldn't even stop enemies from killing themselves... I'm all talk." "But you saved one. He didn't die, thanks to you." As Ferris berated himself, Subaru motioned to the casualty sleeping in the back of a dragon carriage. His endurance was heavily depleted, and he had not regained consciousness. But he was in a stable condition. That was Ferris's achievement. Subaru knew how hard it was to save even a single person. "You're a bigger deal than you think you are. No, really, I'm totally serious." "...Wha ? Are you trying to seduce cute little Ferri? Coming to my side of the fence?" "I am not, and I'm not seducing you, either! I'm trying to be serious here!" Subaru knew well enough that he wasn't suited to the role, but the counterattack, harsher than even he'd expected, left him reeling. However, Ferris's lips immediately loosened as he exhaled at length. "If you meant it seriously, I'll take it seriously. Don't worry, I'm not questioning my purpose in life. I crossed that bridge a long, long time ago, meow." "Th-that so?" "Just, well, it might make me feel a little better? They feel like words I've heard before, so I feel relieved, just a tiny little wee bit..." Ferris glanced sidelong at Subaru, teasingly showing with his fingers just how tiny that relief was. From that reaction, Subaru felt he'd contributed some small part to cheering Ferris up, which left him relieved as well. "So, this is a good time, so Ferri is going to say it...Subawu, you really should make up with Julius as soon as you can." Ferris switched subjects so abruptly that Subaru's eyes popped wide. "It's not a soon or not-soon thing... You saw, right? It's not making up, but our clashing is water under the bridge." "On the surface, sure. Deep down, you're still snapping at him subconsciously. That's why, when something comes up, you're dropping Julius off the list of choices first thing." *** "You can rely on Julius. Though I grant you that he's hard to deal with and tough to understand, meow." Fluttering his palm to indicate the end of the conversation, Ferris concentrated on examining the magic crystals from the Witch Cult. In contrast to Ferris, those last words had unsettled Subaru's mind. Am I subconsciously snapping at him...? When he thought about it, he couldn't conclusively say he hadn't been. Of course, he hadn't judged based on such personal feelings to that point. But he had no confidence that he had his subconscious under control as well. *** He'd turned his still-stern face forward when suddenly, the sweet aroma of flowers leaped into his nostrils. A lovely little flower with blue petals was blooming on the edge of the road, swaying in the wind. Subaru recognized it and its scent, which triggered a memory of a vivid flower garden the flower garden where he and Emilia had once spent time together. "I really wanted to put an end to all that and have more of a triumphant return, but..." Emotionally, Subaru wanted to hurry and hesitate in equal measure. If they continued along the highway and entered Earlham Village, he'd begin to urge the villagers to evacuate. Naturally, that meant the people from the mansion as well; in other words, a reunion with her. "Would've been much cooler to see her again after taking care of it all..." Partial. Partial. Everything was halfway. The subjugation of the Witch Cult was halfway; so, too, the duty entrusted to him at the royal capital. More than anything else, Subaru's heart was only halfway prepared to face the future, his mind-set not having changed since he'd aired his feelings several hours prior. Subaru had yet to make up for all that he had done in the royal capital. He couldn't puff up his chest while reuniting with Emilia in a situation like that, and the knowledge caused a harsh throb in his chest. Of course, Subaru's discomfort was not something he could weigh against her safety and that of others. " I committed three sins, he said?" The words had been tossed his way just before he perished in a world dyed white. The words had convicted him as the fool who had broken his promise to her, trampled upon her feelings, and even robbed her of her life. Such was the curse left from when Puck killed him the third time around. "Eii, cut that out! Why do I have to feel like that anyway? I'm heading to save her like a prince on a white horse. My land dragon's black and I don't make much of a prince, but I should be more up front about...er." Fight. Had Wilhelm not told him this? That mind-set was not only for the battlefield. That mentality was precious strength, bolstering your spirit against any aspect of life threatening to crush you. "That's how it is, huh, Wilhelm?" "Hmm? Yes, it is so." When he prodded Wilhelm, riding a little ahead, for agreement, the Sword Devil hesitated for a brief moment before giving his assent. Julius, glancing sidelong at just the right time to catch the exchange, sighed as he said, "That is not something you should bother Master Wilhelm about. It is natural for you to be thinking of certain things, but would it not be better if you retained a little composure?" "...In the first place, the stuff I'm thinking about has nothing to do with you." "I thought you should admit you are in the wrong in this so as to clear the air, but?" "Well logic's different from sentiment! Sheesh, that's right. Push comes to shove, that's how it is." *** When Subaru berated himself in a ragged voice, Julius inclined his head, watching uncomprehendingly. In the middle of the exchange, Subaru became aware that he was snapping at Julius, just as Ferris had told him. Even if he accepted it logically, accepting it emotionally was a different matter. But as Ferris had pointed out, letting it compromise his judgment was getting his priorities mixed up. "Ah, er, yeah. There might be something I need to...say to you before we move on." Without looking at Julius as he rode beside him, Subaru haltingly and carefully broke the ice. Subaru was at pains to choose the words that would remove the seed of discord between them as soon as possible. Ahead, the highway sandwiched between forest to the left and right was growing narrower, but it would still be a long time before Earlham Village ought to be visible, practically tailor-made to give them time to talk. "When we linked up on the highway, I thought we'd already made the stuff before water under the bridge...but sorry. It seems that I still haven't been able to digest it." *** "It's not that I don't trust you. It's just, I guess there's still dislike of you in my mind, and that's why I've been giving out bad orders here and there... Well, that's what Ferris told me." *** "No, this isn't because Ferris told me that, but we're in a situation where we all need to work together, and I agree with him that you can't have feelings of mistrust between people like this, so..." *** With Julius silent, Subaru beat around the bush as he continued the conversation. He was frustrated with himself as much as with the listener's not indicating he was following along. It was beyond absurd if Subaru turned out to be the only one feeling awkward. "Hey, have you been listening to me? It's just me talkin' like I'm the only " Subaru, glaring forward with a look of guilt, let spittle fly at that point as he turned to face Julius. The very fact that he made the outburst, scowling as he turned to glare at that handsome face, underlined that he'd lost sight of his original goal of a conversation to clear the air, but *** The instant Subaru vented, a sudden gust of wind blew, making him subconsciously cover his face with his arms. The unexpected gust, mixed with the scent of flowers, sent his forelocks aflutter, and after a moment of shock, wondering what had just happened, he realized the long line of land dragons had vanished, and he was alone. 2 "What the ?!" He immediately realized he was in an emergency situation. But he didn't know what had happened. Wide-eyed, Subaru surveyed the area, hands still gripping the reins. The scenery around him differed little from before; he was dead center on a highway flanked by trees. The difference was that there was no sight of the allies who had been close to him mere moments before, leaving him all by himself "No, I'm not alone." *** Drawing the reins close, the stiff-bodied Subaru was still riding on Patlash. The low body temperature conveyed through the saddle was intact; he figured he hadn't been split off from things he was in physical contact with. "If that's so, some kind of spatial distortion or teleport... Then...?" He'd been split off from his allies in the blink of an eye, so he figured the method had to be along those lines. The scenery Subaru was looking at had not changed. Maybe it was everyone but Subaru who'd been jumped somewhere else. And naturally, only the Witch Cult benefited from isolating Subaru from the others. "Shit! This ain't the time to stare into space, Patlash!" Subaru cracked the reins and sent the land dragon galloping as he berated himself for being so slow to grasp the situation. Patlash neighed, and her strong legs propelled them in an instant Subaru was attempting to use speed, enough to send the wind itself flying, to extricate them from their isolated situation. During that time, Subaru squinted, wary of attack from any direction. If his guess was right, Unseen Hands might well come flying from yet another Sloth. *** But in spite of Subaru's wariness, there was no sign of Unseen Hands coming. Doubts crept in, and simultaneously, uncertainty formed in Patlash's steps. The cause was the same thing that was giving Subaru pause: though they'd sprinted at full speed for tens of seconds, the scenery didn't seem to have changed at all. Mere teleportation could not explain this situation. It made him recall a similar experience. "This is like Beatrice's infinite corridor...? But there's no doors here!" Only once had Subaru experienced a similar phenomenon: when Beatrice, a little girl living at Roswaal Manor, had used magic to turn a corridor into a spatial loop. At the time, Subaru's keen judgment had led him to open the correct door, immediately bringing the matter to an end. However, it would not be so simple this time around. They were in the wild, and there were no doors to be had, correct or otherwise. In other words, Subaru's intuition was useless for resolving

the situation. "Damn it, just after I stop worrying about things all on my own, this happens!" He lamented that he had stood and faced one hardship with all his being, only to have this happen immediately. Subaru surveyed the area, clicking his tongue at the unchanging scenery. "Heyyy! Anyone there?! Is it just me here?! Answer me! Someone !!" Subaru desperately raised his voice. Worst case, he'd be drawing the enemy to his position, but he didn't care. If he could draw even a single foe away from his allies, it was better than doing nothing at all. However, Subaru's idea was fruitless, with no sign of either friend or foe answering his call. It was odd. It was strange. Had Subaru been sent to another dimension all by himself? He was not thoroughly versed in the rules of magic of that world; was such a thing even possible? "Hold up, Patlash. Let's be cool... Calm down and think..." Accepting Subaru's instruction, Patlash slackened the speed of her run and came to a standstill. That instant, when they were stopped, was the perfect moment to strike, but there was no sign of that, either. The forest had returned to eerie silence, with nothing to hear save the wind and the voices of insects. With so many living, breathing humans erased, desolation dominated the world all the more. The situation was truly what the world would be like if it came under the Witch Cult's dominion ...No? No, this is different. Once he'd thought that far, a palpable sense of wrongness made Subaru jerk his head up. He looked around the area. The scenery had not changed. However, when he focused his ears, he heard his own heartbeat mixed with Patlash's breathing, and something like the sounds of crickets sounds that would have been extinguished if it were a world ruled by the Witch Cult. "It's not teleportation. Then what the hell is it...?" He hadn't been transferred to a place under the Cult's dominion. Furthermore, making the same highway scenery loop over and over should have been impossible even for ultra-top mages. If that was the case, something was wrong with his premise. He thought back to what had initially taken place. What had happened at the instant when he thought, I'm alone? First had been a gust of wind. That was strange all by itself. Patlash's wind repel blessing should've been up. If I wouldn't feel shakes or wind normally, where the heck did that gust come from? *** Something happened the moment that wind blew. No, if something was the trigger, it happened before that. If this was an attack, what stood out was...the scent of flowers? The scent of flowers. Yes, the sweet scent of flowers. The thick aroma had mixed with the gust of wind, slipping into Subaru's nostrils, soaking into his brain. And that very moment, the aroma was thick enough to make his chest feel awful. ?! Uh, eh, what the heck...? The instant he thought about it, the scent of flowers, which he had ignored to that point, invaded his nostrils. He instinctively rejected the clearly abnormal aroma, instantly shielding his nose in the face of the dangerous scent. "Have we been walking around in this flower scent all this time?" Subaru shuddered at the indecipherable power that had slipped in without his notice. Simultaneously, he realized that if the scent was the cause of his circumstance, there had to be flowers. Therefore, the scent was coming from "These flowers blooming on the side of the road." Subaru dismounted Patlash and walked over to the flowers blooming right at the roadside. The flowers, petals gently swaying in the wind, resembled the flowers known as pansies in his world. However, now that Subaru had determined that flowers were the cause, he was suddenly at a loss. If the flowers were the cause, should he uproot them? Stomp them underfoot, maybe? Without any firm idea of how to deal with them, Subaru decided to first snap a flower off with his hand "Urgh...?!" The instant he tried to touch the flower, wriggling vines became like whips, lunging for Subaru's neck. With incredible strength, the narrow vines wrenched Subaru, the power of the unexpected attack drawing out an anguished cry. "Ack...agh...!" Falling on his backside, Subaru tore at the vines as they tried to strangle him. Hard. The vines were so tough that you wouldn't think they were plants, rejecting his fingernails, trying to kill Subaru with the bloodlust of an animal. Subaru bent back, reaching out with a hand, calling for aid from Patlash. The black land dragon stood behind Subaru, quietly staring at his battle with the flower. She merely watched, with no sign of making any move. Subaru lamented with a sense of despair. But that despair was overshadowed by the sense that something was off. *** Having served Subaru so faithfully thus far, it was unnatural for Patlash to overlook this situation. Why, then, was this the case? The possibilities were twofold: Patlash had abandoned him, or she didn't see the struggle. Subaru dismissed the former out of hand, concluding it had to be the latter. Patlash didn't see it. Flower scent. Hallucination "...There...is...no...flower...!!" He denied it the flower bringing death right before his eyes. No such dangerous flower existed. Subaru was seeing a world that was not possible. Accordingly, it was a sham. Tears clouded his vision. No, something other than tears was clouding it. Patlash's form wavered, and the fraud that he'd thought was his companion vanished. There was no one else in Subaru's virtual world. It was all a fraud!! " Ahu! Gah-ha! Geho, hnnm haa!" The instant he shook it off, the sensation of the vine wringing his neck vanished. With a chance to breathe at last, Subaru coughed as oxygen filled his lungs, trying to see what had happened with his teary eyes. Right in front of Subaru, the flowers that had put him through a terrifying experience were burning. Petals, vines, roots all were enveloped in crimson flames, burning black and falling to pieces. And the one doing this was a flickering red light floating right above the burning flowers a minor spirit. "You again..." It was the red minor spirit that had also saved Subaru earlier when he was the madwoman's captive. While he gasped for breath, the spirit that had rescued him from peril came right before his eyes. Subaru immediately put his hand out, receiving the light's warmth with his palm. " ! This means...!" He took in that heat at the same time that the flowers finished burning away. The petals had become ash and the sweet aroma had been swapped for the stench of something burnt; immediately after, the world changed. The highway he had thought infinite began to waver, bleeding into the sky and the forest to the left and right. The world was warping like a painting being dissolved by water. Then, in an instant, it seemed to snap right back. The world had reconstituted itself no, he had been freed from the illusion, and returned to the real world. " Subaru!" A voice called out to him. Raising his head at the sharp voice, Subaru returned to the world as it was. Standing right in front of him was Julius, calling to Subaru as the red spirit rested upon his shoulder. 3 "So it was you..." "There is no mistaking that abusive tongue. I do not believe anyone could reproduce your invective toward me this faithfully." Subaru was sour at Julius's face being the first he saw upon his return; Julius responded with mild sarcasm. However, Julius immediately pulled Subaru's arm, bringing him to his feet, and motioned with his chin toward the surrounding area. When Subaru followed suit and looked around the area, he stood dumbfounded, gaping at the state of the expeditionary force. All the neatly lined members of the expeditionary force, man and mounted beast alike, were at a complete standstill. "Someone has attacked us. An illusion-type incantation, but it only sent my mind astray for several seconds. At present, only you and I have returned from it. How did you come back?" "A few seconds? On my end it was minutes. Maybe 'cause it was all in my head?" "I never would have thought that you possess the power to resist such magic. How did you make it back?" "Wait, everyone got trapped by this? Seconds or minutes, at this rate we'll all be stuck in place and make a real nice target. We've gotta do something!" "That's why I'm asking you how you came back!" With their mutual doubts clashing, the lack of headway aroused Julius's anger. The rare reaction shocked Subaru. Realizing it was no time to argue, he switched gears. "It was burning the flowers inside the illusion that caused it all. Er, when I say burning, it wasn't me who burned them, but anyway, the flowers are the trigger. So by getting rid of 'em." "Flowers...flowers, you say? I see...a suggestion incantation carried by a flower's aroma... But..." Julius let his words trail off as he surveyed their comrades still under the spell. Then, in front of Subaru who was wide-eyed and at a loss for what to do he slowly raised his arms. As he did, his arms served almost like a perch as several lights emerged into view. They glowed in different colors, six in all; among them was the red light that had saved Subaru. "You! Then that's..." "This is the radiance given off by my little buds. I shall henceforth inform everyone of how to break the illusion In! Nes!" Julius, indirectly responding to Subaru, spread the fingers of his outstretched hands. The lights that seemingly glided onto his fingertips were colored white and black. The two lights intermingled, growing in intensity, and before Subaru's amazed eyes, their light enveloped the world around him. "Wh-what's...?" Going on? Subaru was about to say, but the change jabbed into Subaru's brain faster than he could say the words. "Nn! Choiya! Choiya! Huh, no one's here! Where is this?!" "Huh?" He heard the girl's faint speech expressing incomprehension of her situation no, strictly speaking, it was not speech. This was not a voice, but rather thoughts; not sound, but emotion, her will conveyed not to Subaru's eardrums, but rather directly to his brain. Nor were the thoughts hers alone. "I've gotten lost...no, split off. This is bad, at this rate..." "Darn it, this is the worst. I keep wreckin' the forest and it don't change a thing." "This sort of trick at a time like this...! Lady Crusch...!" "Sis! Sis! Where are you?!" "TB might be crying by now!" "Gaaaa...!" They were flowing, flowing into him. The muddy stream of thoughts was merciless, slipping through his ears into his skull, through his skull into his brain, and pressing down upon that brain with a weight beyond what it could handle. The big helping of multiple thoughts and emotions, barbs and all, leaped around inside Subaru's skull, leaving him moaning in anguish. He couldn't really tell if it was pain or suffering. It wasn't really pain. It wasn't really suffering. It was simply...heavy. " Was the sensitivity too high? I'm sorry. Please breathe deeply and bear it." "Aarrghh, you jerk...!" "Right now I have no time to calibrate solely for you. Getting everyone back takes precedence." That was all Julius said before closing his eyes and ceasing to move to concentrate on his incantation. Amid his agony, Subaru levied curses upon the handsome young man responsible for that suffering. Even when he did as told and took a deep breath, not even a smidgen of relief was forthcoming. Then, as before, his brain was filled with a multitude of thoughts. At this rate, it would soon liquefy and pour out of his ears. I've gotta put these thoughts in order, thought Subaru. The muddying of thoughts and stirring of minds was Julius's doing. He'd used some kind of magic to produce that situation,

allowing him to convey the means of breaking the illusion. Think. Someone spread the flowers around inside the illusion. Several people are free of the illusion and are breaking through the vortex of thought. Still so many. So many still captured. Brain waves intermingled time and time again. But like thorns being removed or teeth being pulled, the number of thoughts was dropping. People were returning from the illusion's evil hand to the real world. "At this rate, everyone shall be freed, and..." Subaru kept scratching at his thick sweat, enduring the ragged brain waves even the ringing in his ears could not blot out. He brusquely wiped off the cold sweat dampening his brow, panting as he looked up to the sky. The next moment *** He heard faint breathing. The source was the sky, right above Subaru's and Julius's heads. There was a break in the forest canopy in which the sun was floating in the sky, and with that sun at its back, a figure in white landed at Subaru's side. With Julius focused on breaking the illusion and keeping his eyes closed, the figure proceeded to drag Subaru by his arm. "Oh, wai...!" Julius, pouring all his energy into the incantation, did not move as Subaru, caught by the white figure, nearly fell down. The figure in white, face concealed by the white robe covering it from head to toe, was set to drag Subaru off without asking. Instantly, he instinctively realized that the person before his eyes was the caster of the illusion. Of course, the Witch Cult had to be involved. If Subaru was dragged off, the expeditionary force would lose its means of resisting the Unseen Hands. "Shit! Wait, there's no way anyone's letting you do whatever you... Uu?!" The instant Subaru braced himself, trying to resist, his planted foot was swept away, sending Subaru flipping over, unable to even cry out. The off-the-charts martial arts skill didn't even let him get a word in. At that rate, the figure in white would try to drag Subaru right out of that place "Duaaa !" But a cloth-rending cry and the unleashing of silver light interrupted the attempt. Stepping forward and pounding home a sword strike was Wilhelm, the first of the others freed from the illusion. With the speed of a god, the Sword Devil unleashed his sword, seemingly to vent his rage at the one who had ensnared him in the spell. The arc traced by the slash was without mercy, set to run straight through the slender figure in white. However "Wbah?!" The figure in white violently tossed Subaru into the grass and, with frightening dexterity, barely evaded the sword strike. The evasion, made with an absolute minimum of physical movement, made Wilhelm, who had been certain of a killing blow, open his eyes wide in shock. " Fulla!" As if to blow that admiration aside, the figure thrust a cane forward with an explosion of magic. The target was the ground under Wilhelm's feet, gouging the surface out in a circle, slowing the Sword Devil down. When Wilhelm then leaped toward his foe, slashing upward, something caught him by the chest. "Guh...!" Wilhelm's well-honed abdomen creaked as his body was sent flying by force unthinkable for the tiny figure's size. The cane's tip was pointed at the Sword Devil as the air twisted before it. The resulting cascade of air was about to slice deep into the Sword Devil but a slice of steel rent it first, causing its mana to explode. *** In an instant, Wilhelm went from narrowly escaping death to going on the attack, closing the distance with the white figure. Midrange was the range at which an enemy could use magic. Wilhelm would be at a disadvantage for as long as it took to get to close range. But the Sword Devil's disadvantage was overridden by another factor the advantage of superior numbers. "Doraaa!!" A great hatchet flew into the air, bearing down on the white figure's rear in a ferocious assault. Accompanied by a roar, Ricardo's blow held enough might to break through even the White Whale's bedrock-like hide. The attack, which could only blow its target away, slammed into the defenseless figure in white, sending its slender body ferociously flying away "What the hell?!" But Ricardo, having delivered a blow of certain death, shouted not in victory, but in shock. The cause of that shock was the white figure sent flying no, the enemy spinning through the air of its own volition. Frighteningly, the figure in white had turned in concert with Ricardo's strike, diminishing the power of its impact. Subaru could only guess at the level of skill required for such a feat, which could only be called godlike. "Your skill is splendid but..." "You're makin' a big mistake if you think you're walkin' away from this!" Between the Sword Devil's praise and the great wolf's roar, the enemy twirled the short cane in its palms and engaged in combat. The raging great hatchet and vertical and horizontal silver slashes leaped forth, creating a zone of certain death. The white figure seemed to dance while slipping past, weaving magic in the meantime to take both warriors on. It was an unbelievably good fight against the two forming the main striking power of the expeditionary force. But as the battle raged between combatants beyond the ken of man, the third blade to intervene decided the matter. *** "Though you are our foe, I am captivated by your skill. However, this has gone far enough." The white figure held its breath as Julius's sword rested against its neck. During the battle, the entire expeditionary force had been freed from the illusion. Having lost all opportunity to buy time and escape, the white figure ceased to resist. It was not just Julius, but also Wilhelm and Ricardo, from the right and left, holding the figure in check. "The battle...has been decided." There was nowhere to run, a fact their opponent conceded. "...Kill me. I will not be defiled." Surrounded by hostility, the white figure accepted its own demise with extreme apathy. The voice was high-pitched; the shoulders under the robe were slender. From the tone of voice, Subaru knew it was a girl. Wilhelm's eyes widened at the prideful declaration; Julius's and Ricardo's eyes met. Unrest spread as the expeditionary force, now back to reality, grasped the circumstances. "W-wait! Wait, wait! Wait a sec, please!" It was then that Subaru, covered with grass from his tumble, raised his hand and his voice. After being thrust into the weeds, Subaru had watched the battle, unable to help in any way, but with the match decided, the sound of the girl accepting her defeat made him come rushing to the spot. He did it not because the opponent was a girl, but because he knew that voice. And when Subaru leaped forward, the opponent recognized him as well. " Barusu." "Ahh, been a while since I was called that. Wait, it seriously is you?" Deflated at the unexpected assailant's identity, Subaru let out a very long sigh. At Subaru's reaction, the person in the white robe pulled down her hood. And so, the girl's lovely, stern face appeared, with pink hair and pale-red eyes. " Ram." It was Ram, maid of Roswaal Manor. 4 "Now I suppose you will explain the meaning of all this, Barusu." Having plunged the expeditionary force into unprecedented crisis and spectacularly giving Wilhelm and others the runaround, Ram brushed dirt off her body as her extremely displeased eyes stared daggers into Subaru. "What's the meaning of this? Isn't that our line...?" Squirming under the stern gaze, Subaru surveyed the sorry state of affairs along the highway. Along the highway and forest were traces of the recent battle, along with allies now freed from the illusion. Fortunately, the aftereffects from the incantation were limited to light headaches, and there were no wounded, Ram included. However, the lack of casualties did not in any way mean that the issue was settled. How in the world did it come to this? thought Subaru, holding back a sigh as he looked at Ram. "The gist is, you launched a preemptive strike and people fought back. Fighting your own side really sucks... Wilhelm, you're not hurt?" "A small scratch from wind magic. I will ask Ferris about it later. More importantly, I am glad I did not get ahead of myself and slice her down. There would be no taking such a thing back." Wilhelm lifted an arm up, showing off his sliced cuff with a strained smile. Responding to the magnanimity, Subaru put a hand to his own chest in relief. "Wilhelm...Wilhelm van Astrea?" Ram, arms folded while listening to Subaru and Wilhelm speak, murmured thus when she heard the old swordsman's name. Addressed by his full name, the Sword Devil turned toward her. "Hmm," went Ram, nodding her head. "I did not imagine the Sword Devil would be my opponent. I can accept having lost." "Compared to my glory days, 'tis little more than a nickname. Each day, I strive to resist decay, but I cannot defeat old age. My skills are two steps behind my former peak." "Having been laid low by such dulled skills, those words feel like irritating sarcasm." Ram crisply cast Wilhelm's modesty aside. The Sword Devil seemed to like that attitude from Ram, but Subaru did not. He pressed Ram about the rude tone of her words. "Hey, what's that attitude you're giving Wilhelm? Setting aside you're always like that with me, you should be politer to other people at l ow!" "Receive outsiders in the manner of guests, you say? I see, it is as you say. My, my, there is no excuse for my repeated rudeness, dear guests." Flicking Subaru's nose with a finger when he drew near, Ram proceeded to elegantly bow to everyone present. As she behaved like a perfect servant, a cold smile came over her beautiful, doll-like face. "I apologize for my repeated rudeness, but the mansion of Marquis Roswaal L. Mathers lies ahead. At present, at the command of my master, I am not receiving outsiders, so I ask that you please detour and leave." "Slip the dagger in at the end, huh? Besides that...what the heck's that supposed to mean?" "It means what it says. Currently, the environs of the mansion are in a state of heightened alert. I cannot allow outsiders to approach...though I suppose such words are wasted on an ingrate such as you, Barusu." "Ingrate...?" Subaru's expression clouded over at the appraisal he could not dismiss. "Yes," said Ram, nodding. "Is it not so? Having received such great favor from Master Roswaal, you curry favor with another master as soon as he seems done with you. Or perhaps it was all an act to enter our good graces to begin with? If so, it would seem that you received your just deserts." "Wait! You're getting this all wrong! You're completely misreading the circumstances!" "So this is what a dog that bites the hand that feeds him is like." "Listen already!" Ram's acrimonious demeanor was a daily ritual, but the hostility included with it was the real deal. The gaze she shot Subaru's way was frigid enough to make his insides tremble, telling Subaru that something was badly wrong. There was a reason for her to be this rigid. It was to prevent this, to not allow for any misunderstanding, that he'd "...Right, the letter of goodwill! That's what writing that letter was for. Didn't it reach the mansion?" " Letter of goodwill." Subaru had taken pains to clear up any possible confusion about the circumstances. When he spoke the words, Ram's eyes narrowed, her reaction demonstrating that she recognized their significance. But her reaction to the ring of those words was absolutely not a favorable one "...Ram, what are you angry for?" "Certainly, a letter arrived from the royal capital. But it is useless to characterize that thing as written

in goodwill." Ram's voice had little intonation, barely holding back the fires of a burning rage. When Subaru failed to understand the meaning of her emotion, Ram snorted as she spelled it out loud and clear. "When I think of the letter that pompous messenger arrived with... Calling a blank piece of paper a letter of goodwill is quite a farce. What did you mean by this, Barusu?" "It was a blank piece of paper?!" It was Subaru who was horrified at learning the incomprehensible truth. Ram continued to glare at the bewildered Subaru, anger oozing from her eyes. "The wax was formally sealed with the Lion Rampant seal of the House of Karsten. In other words, Duchess Crusch Karsten was making a declaration of war against a rival candidate for the throne... Well, that is how we took it." "That's crazy! Why would you decide it was that so fast...?" Subaru was drowning in Ram's conclusion when Wilhelm intervened. "Sending a blank letter is a method of conveying to the other party, 'We have no intent to negotiate.' It cannot be helped that they took it in that manner." The creases of his brow knotted, a stern face on him as he shook his head toward Subaru. "As a matter of fact, were a white letter delivered to me, I would arrive at the same judgment as she: a display of hostile intent." "Then what happens if you seal a blank letter and send it by mistake?! If a war starts over that, what does history say 'Oops'?" "Then one could only set the heavy burden aside and give up. That said, I did not judge hostile intent by a single piece of paper, either. But there were multiple issues, so..." "What do you mean, multiple issues...there's even more?!" The bad report had been more than weighty enough. Yet, there was still more on top of that? "Two days ago, the forest around the mansion became unnaturally calm...to the point that even my eyes could catch nothing. Thereupon, an armed group appeared bearing the crest of the House of Karsten, which had declared war with the blank letter... Surely you cannot blame my little bird's heart for being on the verge of breaking?" "Ugeh...!" The sidelong glance Ram shot him put Subaru's flea-size heart on the verge of breaking. Though Wilhelm had a worried look on his face, Subaru raised a hand, feeling the desire to curse Fate for the nightmarish entangling of circumstances. It was the worst diplomatic position ever. In other words, Ram had mistaken the letter of goodwill, the Witch Cult, and the expeditionary force as signs of a hostile camp. Thus did she treat Subaru as a wicked villain who'd betrayed Emilia to Crusch. "That's a huge misunderstanding! In the first place, do I look that cunning?!" "Well, this is what a dog that bites the hand that feeds it looks like." "You're still saying that?!" "I have hardly said it enough. But it's fine. It is clear for the most part." Though Ram's words were sharp, she'd no doubt gleaned the high points of the situation during the conversation. Perhaps that was also because she hadn't detected the intellect required for wicked scheming from Subaru's replies. "So...you sent a blank letter by mistake and you are still Lady Emilia's dog... You're fine with that?" "I'm not, but it's okay. Dogs are like family, so for Emilia I can be a dog, sure." "That would be a rather base ambition, would it not?" Wilhelm pointed out what low sights Subaru had, but Subaru, worried that the conversation wasn't progressing, shook his head. At any rate, with the misunderstanding cleared up, he had to get right to the point. "Wilhelm included, everyone here is reinforcements we're on your side. Anyone making you worry, we're gathered together to send 'em packing." The worst of all misunderstandings threatened to bring the hard-won alliance crashing down. Aghast at that fact, Subaru puffed his chest out, establishing his goodwill toward Ram. Ram furrowed her brows, so Subaru got to the point. "I fulfilled the objective of me staying in the royal capital an alliance between Emilia and Crusch, as equals. The people gathered here are the proof." 5 Immediately afterward, they set off toward Earlham Village with Ram in tow. They had no time to waste. The misunderstanding-driven combat with Ram had cost them even more. Subaru endeavored to explain things to her while they headed toward the village. That included the fact that they were allied camps. He was grateful his comrades in the expeditionary force were taking things so well. They'd accepted Subaru's earnest apology and Ram's gratitude for their help after her initial hostility, taking it all in stride. Thanks to the zero casualties, those words had ended the matter. "You did give Wilhelm some trouble...but he even hid the wound from it." "A fine man, just as the rumors said." "Oh, yeah. He is, isn't he?" "What are you so pleased for, Barusu? It is creepy." Subaru, gripping the reins, overreacted as he agreed with the words of praise for the Sword Devil. The sight of it brought a genuine scowl to Ram's face; one of the hands on Subaru's hips jabbed him in the flank. At present, Subaru and Ram were riding together on the jet-black land dragon's back. Subaru turned his head just enough to look at Ram, who was sitting behind him, as he thought back to the earlier battle. "I have to ask...what was with that illusion attack earlier? I thought the only magic you could use was wind magic? No one told me about that part." "It is a mixture of wind-type magic and a hallucinatory drug. I had truly intended only to whisk the commander away while the others were weighed down...but I never imagined you would be able to break free." There Ram's words trailed off. She nodded to herself a few times and said, "You probably gained a resistance to the drug. The drug is derived from the leaves in the tea you always drank, after all." "I was drinking that poison every time?!" "I am kidding." It hadn't sounded like she was joking, but Subaru did not press the issue further not purely because he was afraid to know whether it was true or false, but also because he felt the trembling in the arms with which she touched him. Realizing that her trying to break the tension had resulted in him blurting something out in plain sight, he said, "Sorry I made you put your guard up like that. Whatever the cause, you were pretty serious back there, huh?" "I suppose... Serious enough to be resolved to take my foe down with me. Can I truly trust the gentlemen behind us?" "Or what, they'll seize the chance to march on the mansion? A pretty nasty bunch is after the place, after all. Even Crusch doesn't really want that much trouble." "...So it is outlaws lurking in the forest that are after Lady Emilia, then." "I really did write about that in the letter, y'know..." With Ram unexpectedly hinting at the Witch Cult's presence, Subaru could only lament the cause of the jumbled circumstances. Upon his opening the lid of his painstakingly acquired insurance, it had turned into the greatest of all traps. However, the singular fact that a blank letter of goodwill had arrived brought a different problem into sharp relief Namely, that someone out there had swapped his letter of goodwill, aiming to turn Emilia and Crusch against each other. "What happened with the messenger who brought the letter to the mansion?" "We politely granted him our hospitality. After all, I thought that he might prove useful in the event of a prisoner exchange." "Prisoner exchange...?" Even if a prisoner exchange with the Crusch camp truly came to pass, the only people from the Emilia camp to have returned were Subaru and Rem. When Subaru thought back to the surprise attack, he remembered that Rem's first move had been to try to drag Subaru off without a care as to appearances. Perhaps the purpose of that aggressive operation had been to get the "imprisoned" Subaru back. Though even if he asked Ram about it, there was probably no way in hell she'd give him a straight answer. Either way, she already had someone from the most powerful candidate in her grasp. If the messenger proved to be a spy, she would interrogate him, simple as that. "Anyway, you can relax about the enemies hiding in the forest. We've already smashed seventy percent of them. We have a way to draw out the last thirty percent, too." "...The enemy is seventy percent crushed? Barusu, are you are saying that you destroyed them?" He'd conveyed the state of the battle with the aim of changing the subject, but Ram was taken aback upon hearing the words. In modern warfare, losing 30 percent of your fighting strength was considered being routed, but even in an age without modern logistics, 70 percent was a considerable number. The Witch Cult was on the verge of being wiped out. "But where they're concerned, they've gotta be annihilated down to the last man. Besides, the fewer they are, the more time it'll take to find 'em. Plus, it might make them desperate." "So that is why you assembled the transportation needed to evacuate... Holing up in the mansion is a poor plan, I take it?" "These guys would set it on fire and not even blink. We have a lot of memories of that mansion, so I don't wanna see it go up in smoke. Easy to understand why running is better, huh?" Along with the reinforcements he'd brought were the horde of traveling merchant dragon carriages. When he explained the force's various objectives, Ram closed her eyes, sinking into thought. Many of them were the result of Subaru's own independent decision making. It was natural for her to be bewildered by it all and yet: "Sorry to act out of turn, but this is my decision. As for the right to decide...Roswaal's not at the mansion, is he?" " That's right. Right now, Master Roswaal is traveling to Garf's...to the sanctuary. Currently, I am under instructions to obey Lady Emilia's commands." "Did Emilia order you to smack anyone approaching the village with illusions?" "That was my independent judgment." "Figures." Even if she was backed into a corner, it would have been far too violent an order for Emilia to give. Subaru patted his chest, relieved at the fact. "...You are naive to be relieved about that part, Barusu." "Ah?" "I said, the village has come into view." Subaru hadn't caught her murmur the first time, so he thought Ram had repeated her words as she pointed forward. At her urging, Subaru turned his eyes to the road ahead; the entrance to Earlham Village truly was within view. The highway, continuing to infinity within the illusion, had come to an end. To Subaru, it had been a very long road, enough to make the proper return a sight for sore eyes. "I'm finally back..." Not once but twice had he returned to find the village a tragic sight. When he had returned to the village before that, Subaru's mind had been whittled down to the bone. So to him, this was a first. "But...doesn't feel like there's much of a welcome." The expeditionary force passed through the entrance, entering the village square. Amid that imposing atmosphere, the villagers poked their heads out of the surrounding homes one after another. However, the expressions on their faces were certainly not sunny; naturally, they were ones of worry and confusion. Subaru could hardly blame them; an armed group had suddenly appeared in the village's midst. "Ram, how much did you tell the villagers?" "...I warned them not to wander outside the village and to stay out of the forest. I did not touch upon any of the details." "Okay. Nice call."

If the Witch Cult was even guessed at, the village would surely be in chaos. Perhaps Ram was to be commended for keeping that part a secret, considering that she had thought the Crusch camp was her enemy. "Hey, isn't that...Master Subaru and Miss Ram?" "It really is. So Master Subaru has come back..." One by one, the villagers began to realize that it was Subaru and Ram on dragon-back. With all eyes upon them, seemingly in charge of the group, Subaru got off Patlash, judging it a good time to do so. He was probably best suited to explain the situation. "Barusu..." "Just wait a minute. I'll talk to 'em Wilhelm, Julius, Ricardo." Subaru put a hand up to Ram and addressed the three heaviest hitters of the expeditionary force. He chose them because they would amplify his persuasiveness to the villagers. They weren't just reliable; they looked the part. Subaru brought the three with him as he walked straight into the center of the village square. "Subaru, it would seem that they are concerned. Do not neglect to be considerate." Nodding at Julius's whisper, Subaru took a deep breath before loudly clapping his hands together. Seeing the Subaru they knew so well do this made the villagers widen their eyes, wondering what was going on. Seeing from their reactions that he'd nicely gathered their attention, Subaru opened his mouth to set their concerns at ease. "Yes, everyone's attention, please! Hi, it's been a while. It's been a few days, but is everyone doing okay?" *** "I know coming back like this is really sudden, but today, I'm asking everyone to do something." After a modest greeting, Subaru switched to the topic at hand. The way Subaru raised his voice made the villagers, surrounding him from a distance, look at one another's faces. They all knew Subaru, and he knew all of them. Understanding their worry and confusion, Subaru spoke in the gentlest voice he could, but also laid things out very quickly. He wanted to convey the situation with haste, enough to deny them time to think about other choices and enough to make evacuation a reality. "Actually, the demon beasts in the forest seem to be getting bad again. These are the people brought in to wipe them out...but I want everyone away from the village until that work is done. Of course, I prepared the transportation in advance. It might not be that comfy a ride, but..." Hiding the lie behind a layer of truth, Subaru selected words that would not startle the villagers as he continued speaking. Their memories of the demon beast–related crisis two months before were surely still fresh. He had to be convincing when he told them that the forest beyond the barrier still harbored demon beasts. Behind him, they could see an expeditionary force formed of veterans and numerous traveling merchant dragon carriages to transport them. Even if it felt high-handed to him, Subaru pushed forward while concealing that the Witch Cult was attacking. However "The evacuation will be for half a day at shortest, one or two days at most. Sorry to cause trouble for everyone, but please accept this as the safest way to..." " Why are you lying to us like this?" In the end, that was a judgment formed according to Subaru's notions of common sense. "Huh?" Subaru's eyes widened at the sudden interjection. The one who had spoken was a youth with a crew cut. As one of the village's band of young men, he had exchanged words with Subaru numerous times. It seemed that he'd spontaneously blurted it out, but when Subaru met his eyes, he hesitated for a moment before stepping forward. "You bring a huge group of outsiders...to hunt demon beasts? Why tell us something like...?" "Because, hey, it's dangerous. I mean there was the demon beast ruckus not long ago, right? We need to deal with it before it becomes that bad this time around, so..." "Don't try to pull the wool over our eyes!" Subaru tried to correct the precarious atmosphere, but the young man would not lend Subaru his ear. His unsophisticated face had a scowl on it, his fist shaking as he glared at Subaru. Upon it were repressed rage and despair, and irrepressible fear. "Master Subaru, you said you were trying to clear up our concerns, but...doing it this way is making everyone in the village afraid! We've been thinking the Witch Cult is up to something the whole time!" "Uh..." The young man visibly lost his temper as he shouted, instantly making Subaru's words catch in his throat. The youngster's voice echoed around the village, spreading unrest among the villagers, and, naturally, among the traveling merchants as well. There was no unrest in the expeditionary force, but the turbulent flow of discourse made their faces grow graver as well. "You're...not denying it, are you...?" The young man weakly murmured, finding his answer in Subaru's silent demeanor. The sight caused an outburst of unrest among the villagers, making their pent-up worries pour out all at once. "So the people from the mansion really were talking about the Witch Cult yesterday... Why are they in a remote place like this...?" "That's obvious, that's obvious, isn't it? It's because the lord did something like that!" "Why must he support a half-elf...a half-demon...?" The worries spoken by one set of lips after another made it painfully clear that Subaru's efforts to smooth things over had resulted in the opposite effect. The villagers had understood long before: the unrest enveloping their village was not unrelated to Emilia, residing at the mansion of the lord of the land. They were not conveniently ignorant. It was only natural that they would reject Subaru's plan. "Hold on a minute! I'm sorry! I was wrong, and I apologize! But..." *** Accepting that his effort to convince them had failed, Subaru voiced an apology. At the same time, he realized something. Among the villagers, some lamented, some raged, some glared. Those negative actions were not caused by their difficult-to-resist fear of the Witch Cult. Their negative energy was trained not toward the Cult, but toward the half-elf who had yet to show herself. "What makes you think that?! Don't you realize it's got nothing to do with half-elves or Emilia?" Subaru exclaimed. "How can it not be related?! The Witch Cult rampages against anything related to half-demons. Even the children of the village know that much! And yet, the lord not only shelters a half-demon, he nominates her to be the nation's king! This is no joke!" *** The youth's anger shocked Subaru; the near scream cut into him like a blade. His reaction made the youth's eyes freeze over as he looked downward. But he did not amend his statement. When Subaru looked around, he saw, to a greater or lesser extent, the same emotion in the eyes of the other villagers. "Is that what you all think? You think it's all the fault of the half-elf in the mansion?" There was no reply. They seemed to think silence was more eloquent than anything they could say. These were the friendly villagers he'd spent so much time with. Though it had only been two short months, so many things had happened that Subaru felt deepened the friendship they shared with one another. That was why he had been so desperate to save them. He'd believed that they would accept his feelings without suspicion or doubt...and yet. "This was just me getting ahead of myself again...?" He'd underestimated the deep-rooted fear of the Witch Cult planted in every human being of that world. Even people who believed in Subaru's innate goodness could not defy the scars of history. That fact made Subaru weakly slump his shoulders but the next moment, his shoulders were slapped from behind. From very close, an individual patted Subaru's shoulders, moving parallel to him while exhaling. "Raise your head after all, Lady Crusch says you should never lower your sights." "You..." "Do you think what you're doing is wrong...? If you don't think that, you don't need to look down." Ferris's firm declaration surprised Subaru, coming from the last person he would have expected to console him. So, too, was he surprised at the memory that Ferris's words spurred him to recall. They were words Crusch had actually spoken to Subaru, albeit during a different time around from the present. "Besides, wasn't recklessly picking fights at the castle a lot harder than raising your head here?" "...Now hold on." Ferris's taunting comment made Subaru's shoulders go slack in a way that was very out of place. Subaru wondered just how long he was going to be made fun of for that single moment. But " Yeah. Compared to that, this is nothin'." As much as his words had been rejected, he did not doubt that he was doing the right thing. He understood that the villagers had an aversion toward half-elves. That very cruel fact caused a dark shadow to fall over Subaru's heart. But that reality was absolutely not something he could do anything about now. It was something to be changed by Emilia's future actions, with Subaru at her side. "It's not somethin' I can do anything about just by saying 'I'm gonna change it.' Not when I haven't managed anything else yet." As much as he thought their assessment was unfair, all he could do was show them results big enough to make them see her in a new light. And Subaru and the others were acting to create the time necessary for him to do so. Subaru Natsuki wanted to believe that was the reason he had come again like this. "From what you've said, I understand how you all feel. I won't tell you, 'Drop everything and come with me.' It's natural you all have your thoughts on it. It hurts, but I get that, too." "Master Subaru..." "But for now, please, swallow it down. I really do understand all the feelings you're trying to put into words. So please, do as I say right now so we can speak properly about it later. The village really is in danger." When Subaru spoke those words, training earnest eyes toward them, the villagers kept their silence, saying nothing. With silence falling over the village, Subaru thought their reaction very sad. At this rate, all he'd have done was spend time in futility. However, it was Ram who sternly smashed the stalemate asunder. " The words of a servant of our house are the commands of Master Roswaal, lord of this land. You serfs never had any right of refusal to begin with. Come now, hurry and obey your instructions." Having observed on the sidelines up to that point, Ram had stepped out of the ranks of the expeditionary force to stand alongside Subaru as she confronted the villagers. The overbearing glint in her eye and the authority of her statement surprised and unnerved the villagers. "H-hold on! I get why you're putting it harshly, but you don't have to put it like that. Everyone has their own lives. It's only natural they'd be thrown off like..." "It would seem you, like these villagers, are insufficiently aware of the greatness of your lord." When Subaru objected to Ram's high-handed statement, Ram glared at Subaru with an exasperated air. "If you incur issues or damages due to the evacuation, our landlord shall take responsibility and compensate you. If any of you object, come forth and state your names. This is Master Roswaal's decision." The way she said it was stern; her meaning was severe as well. But though she had been uncompromising, the contents of her proposal soothed the concerns of the populace, leaving Subaru and the villagers in awe. Everyone understood: by backing up Subaru's words with the authority of the landlord, Ram gave the villagers what they needed to agree. "Ahh, sorry for Ram's harsh way of saying it, but what I want hasn't changed. Everyone

needs to evacuate the village. I realize that it's so sudden you can't properly prepare." *** "That's why I'll take responsibility and talk to Roswaal about proper compensation for damages. I want everyone to at least believe me about that. Please." Accepting Ram's viewpoint, Subaru appealed not to emotion, but to logic. Between Ram's calm and Subaru's urgings, the villagers were silent for a time. Then they nodded in apparent resignation. They were a long way from liking it. However, they'd given their consent. The evacuation could begin. "Sigh..." When, with one thing settled, Subaru breathed out with relief, he was joined by the comrades standing in a row behind him. Everyone had been tense and anxious, but somehow, they'd climbed that mountain. "I've gotta say, though." "What?" Subaru shared in his comrades' relief before proceeding to look at Ram, standing right beside him. Ram had a suspicious look in response to that gaze, but there was no question that it had been her words that had given the final push. He thought that was very Ram-like hard edged, difficult to fathom, but kind. "Having you tell people to do what I say is new. Does this mean you've accepted me?" "Hah!" Ram snorted. Somehow just a little bit he took solace in her demeanor. 6 The evacuation would last for two days at most. So it would begin as soon as the minimum supplies needed for that time were loaded. The conditions Subaru placed on the villagers were very grudgingly accepted. "There's fifteen dragon carriages. If we put seven people on almost each one, we should be able to get everyone aboard with room to spare." Subaru had asked the young men of the village to take a roll call, ensuring every villager was accounted for. Now that they were evacuating, they surely didn't want to cause any extra trouble. Though they still dealt with the expeditionary force rather awkwardly, they dutifully did as they were told. There was just one issue that couldn't be left unresolved "Explaining this to Lady Emilia and Lady Beatrice at the mansion, yes?" Ram said, hands on her hips as her eyes shifted to the path going from the village to the mansion. The issues for proceeding with preparations to evacuate had been resolved. The mansion was another issue. And for Subaru, it posed the largest problem of all. "I thought the village was pretty agitated, but what's Emilia been up to?" The time had moved past early morning, finally entering the period one could call "morning" proper. Even if most human beings would be asleep at that hour, it was difficult for him to believe that Emilia could sleep soundly given the state of the Mathers domain over the last few days. Ram's testimony had already made clear that Emilia had had no role in Ram's attack. But the fact that Emilia hadn't responded to the unrest in the forest tugged at his mind. Ram responded to Subaru's suspicions by lowering her eyes with a faintly melancholic look. "She was busy until late evening, so she should still be resting at the moment. Ever since returning from the capital in a state of despair, she has been weary, lacking any time to put her heart at ease." "Unghh..." "She has the look of someone who has been put through a distasteful ordeal by a man." "Don't attach distasteful to it, okay?! ...Not that I'm denying it..." Her third-party opinion magnified Subaru's feelings of guilt all at once. It was natural that the events at the capital had greatly wounded Emilia. He could not disagree with Ram's scornful opinion of him. "While Master Roswaal is absent, it is up to Lady Emilia to deal with anything amiss at the mansion and the village. But you can understand the villagers' reactions to Lady Emilia from their earlier demeanor, yes?" "I can picture it, but I don't really want to put it into words... Rejection, huh?" "'Rejection'? A rather simplistic impression, isn't it?" Ram laughed loudly at Subaru's words, her face immediately turning more cheerful. " More like repudiation. If you have been rejected, you can always reach out again. If one's outstretched hand has been brushed aside, that means there has been contact. But what if you have been repudiated instead?" *** "If it is disgusting to even touch, one must wonder how one closes the distance." Subaru made no reply to Ram's argument, seemingly made to test him. Ram didn't seem to be looking for an answer, either. "I said something mean," she said immediately with a sigh. "Lady Emilia realized there was something amiss in the forest and attempted to have the villagers take shelter in the mansion. Then the villagers repudiated her. She is not someone sensible enough to withdraw immediately after being repudiated, something I imagine you know for yourself, Barusu." "But I also know that she's not a girl who'll get hit with cruel words and not be hurt." Emilia had been trying to deal with the Witch Cult unrest in her own Emilia-like way. However, that way was not enough to soften the hard hearts the villagers bore toward half-elves. Or perhaps the villagers' excessive reaction was the result of their speaking with her. "So what'd Emilia do after?" "After repeated attempts at persuasion were declined, she was unable to sit still, so she went around reweaving the barriers around the village. After all, as we had not judged the unrest to be from the Witch Cult, she feared it might be demon beasts." "Well, that wasn't really a bad call, but..." "After that, the blank declaration of war arrived last evening, so she was fretting about that until the morning." "So that pops up here, too..." While Ram spoke as if it were light banter, Subaru could only lament that the letter had done damage on another front. The report on events in the capital, evacuation preparations, Emilia and Ram's concerns, Ram's independent actions the secondary damage was a gift that kept on giving. For such a simple trick, the effects were all too painful. "In any case, with this much advance preparation to evacuate, Lady Emilia is unlikely to object. If we report to her at the mansion, it should make her agree immediately." *** "Barusu?" "No, I get it. Just makes my heart hurt a little." With Ram looking suspicious, Subaru shook his head, conscious of his quickening heartbeats. Here, on the brink of a reunion with Emilia, his tension was at its zenith. Just as Ram saw it, Emilia was not the kind of girl who'd reject the cooperation of so many people. Hence, Subaru's stress and worry were an issue of Subaru's own heart. "Julius, come with me, 'kay? I'm heading to the mansion to convince Emilia and the loli." "Me?" As he hardened his resolve, Subaru looked around him and called for Julius. Subaru nodded at Julius, whose face showed that the nomination had come unexpectedly. "Yeah. I'm a lot more convincing with you beside me than not. You'll be my proof that I've behaved and repented after all the stuff at the castle." "I see, very well. If it will make the talk go more smoothly, use me to your heart's content." His handsome face indicated consent, elegantly nodding at Subaru's suggestion. The gesture made Subaru grimace. Ram, glancing sidelong at the exchange, sighed as she said, "A petty and very Barusu-like little trick." "Hey, don't call it petty. Call it paying attention to the little details. Ahh, Julius, besides that." "What is it?" "You're the one who stuck a spirit on me, right? I want a proper explanation." The offhanded way Subaru made the remark made even Julius look apprehensive. His reaction made Subaru avert his eyes, a guilty look on his face as he continued: "Now look, I've been saved two times now with my life on the line, so I get that you're a spirit mage whether I like it or not." "I would prefer you called me by the proper title, spirit knight. I employ spiritual spells, of course, but I do not recall skimping on my sword training." Giving that reply, Julius stared at Subaru's face with utmost seriousness. "...You are unexpectedly calm. I was thoroughly convinced you would find my being a spirit user to be distasteful." "Even I can account for time, place, circumstances, and person once in a while. There are times when I haven't, though." Subaru, eyes still averted, made a pained smile as he motioned toward Julius's right arm. There emerged the minor spirits that Subaru had seen during Ram's attack, seemingly orbiting the arm. The flickering spirits numbered six in total, each one lovingly nestling close to Julius's arm. However beautiful and fickle they looked, they were beings imbued with supernatural power. "As you have surmised, these girls are spirits known as common spirits that I have formed a pact with. They are buds yet to bloom into distinct categories of spirits. I borrow their strength through my pledge to become a knight worthy of the beautiful flowers they shall become." "So you had the red one keep an eye on me?" One of the minor spirits resting on Julius's palm was the red one that had leaped out of Subaru's hair during the illusion. When he thought back, it was that same scarlet minor spirit that had appeared when he had been captured by the crazed woman. All of it was Julius's doing. Twice, Subaru had been saved by him in his time of need. "It is hurtful to hear you call it keeping an eye on you. She was protecting you from the shadows." "...Incidentally, what was that thing you used when you were breaking the illusion?" Julius had used some kind of magic to share the method of breaking the illusion with every member of the group. As a result, Subaru's brain had been put through the wringer from the multiple thoughts passing through it. "That was magic cast through borrowing the power of In and Nes, combining Dark with Light...that is Nekt, an advanced magic spell. It links the Gates of all human beings within range, enabling thoughts to pass between them. Though it seems to have been rather too effective upon you." "Yeah. I thought I wasn't gonna be me anymore." "As a matter of fact, there is no question it is a difficult spell to employ. After all, it is a ritual to thin the boundaries between you and the minds of others. If deepened to excess, not only thoughts but also the five senses can be commingled. I'm sure you experienced the fear of being consumed by others to a fair extent?" "That's walking one hell of a tightrope!" Subaru was aghast at learning far too late that he had crossed a more precarious bridge than he had even imagined. Julius turned a look of deep interest toward him and said, "But it is rare for the buds to make a mistake when tuning it. Perhaps you possess an unusually high affinity for spirits... Does anything along those lines come to mind?" "Sorry, the only spirit I get along with is a mouse-colored cat." On top of that, right then, he had no confidence that he could ever approach that cat in the same way as before. "If you have an opportunity, you should try to learn the basics of spiritualism from Lady Emilia. If she is resistant to teaching you, I would be willing to aid you myself." "I'm not sure what brought on this sudden outpouring of friendliness, but it doesn't sound like an instant process, so I'll pass for now." He didn't deny that the suggestion held its attractions, but Subaru reflexively declined the offer. His reaction made Julius pull back, seemingly disappointed, when Subaru simultaneously remembered something. Ferris had told him. Subaru was still subconsciously harboring enmity toward Julius just as he had at that very moment. "Can't I do something about that?" The first time, Ram

had interrupted, but was it not the time to properly clear up the ill feelings between them? With such thoughts in Subaru's mind, his gaze caused Julius to incline his own head. Subaru narrowed his eyes at the handsome young man fluent with words, anguished in the attempt to somehow spit out serious words of his own. But "...I understand that you don't feel like putting all your cards on the table, but right now you've gotta put up with it. There'll be problems with our teamwork if we don't know what the other can do, right?" " Mmm, understood. If possible, I would like to put Ia on you again. Please grant your consent." In the end, hesitation clogged up Subaru's throat, and all he could manage was to keep his statement inoffensive. While Subaru's thoughts were elsewhere, the red minor spirit called Ia circled above his head. It proceeded to land on the crown of Subaru's head, asserting its existence with a faint emission of heat. "Hey, this isn't gonna make me bald, is it? I'll have you know I'm trying to go through life without becoming bald or chubby..." "She's been nestled against you until now without you even noticing, yes? It is especially so for those with a high affinity for spirits. Your Gate will acclimate quickly, and you will cease to notice her." In accordance with this lecture, Subaru immediately stopped feeling the heat on the crown of his head. The principles were unclear to him, but she had apparently slipped inside Subaru. That faint heat was the only thing he'd felt from it. "What should I do to call it out?" "She responds to the name Ia. As she cannot respond to commands that are too complex or beyond her power, please do not forget to be as considerate as when approaching any lady." Apparently, in other words, read the mood not Subaru's strong suit. "Now then, Barusu, will you finally put your cowardice aside?" Ram, looking tired of waiting, cut into the pair's conversation. She was leaning on a fence, and her jaw was firm as she indicated the road running from the village to the mansion. "Or do you intend to let a defenseless girl, her mana all used up, walk such a dangerous mountain road alone?" "More like you ran out of gas doing friendly fire. To be honest, I didn't know you had that in you..." He was genuinely surprised at her combat ability. She could even take Wilhelm on, if only for a short period. However, he could not wipe away his disappointment including at how a crucial scene had gone up in smoke. "Had Master Wilhelm been at full strength, I would not have lasted ten seconds. After all, my power has fallen two steps...no, four steps from its peak." "Why'd you make it double Wilhelm's? Stubbornness?" "Pride." It was an exceptionally Ram-like statement, and for that matter, it was likely the literal truth. Subaru couldn't even imagine how astounding Ram had been before she had lost her horn. "That probably accounts for why Rem dwelled on it so much..." "Did you say something, Barusu?" "Nothing at all, Big Sis. If I spill the beans that much, it'll make for more scary people to deal with." *** Ram was suspicious about his demeanor, but Subaru avoided saying any more at that juncture. He was hesitating about Rem her little sister and all the feelings Subaru bore toward her. More than any other, it was thanks to Rem that Subaru had overcome his trials at the royal capital and was standing there. In that moment, the importance of Rem's existence rivaled that of Emilia's inside Subaru. But considering the time and place, explaining those difficult-to-describe emotions to her older sister just wasn't happening there and then. He could face that, and all the other concerns, after everyone had overcome the current state of affairs. "We have to explain the alliance, too, so we should grab Ferris and head to the mansion, huh?" Someone from the Crusch camp was required for smoothly clearing up the misunderstanding from the letter of goodwill incident. They'd leave most of the expeditionary force to guard the villagers, with several heavy hitters joining him on his way up to the mansion. "So about Ferris... What's he up to anyway?" Subaru, searching for any sight of the kitty-eared knight in the village, finally spotted him at a corner of the village square. There rested the merchants' dragon carriages in a line; Ferris was surrounded by their owners, engaged in some kind of argument. "It is because the circumstances with the Witch Cult have come to light. They might be venting their frustrations about it." "Geh... Well, I suppose they would. Sorry, I'll go mediate a little." Scowling at Julius's guess, Subaru headed toward them. Ram seemed beside herself as she watched him go. Ferris was clearly relieved when Subaru wedged himself into the center of the dispute. "Ah, Subawu..." "Okay, that's enough! Can someone explain to me what this argument's about?" "They keep saying, 'This wasn't the deal'! Even though I told them again and again that Ferri doesn't represent the group..." "That's right, pal. You're the one we wanted to talk to!" This time, instead of Ferris, whose cheeks swelled up in a huff, the angry voices poured onto Subaru. Breathing raggedly through his nose, the merchants' representative an individual named Kety jabbed his finger into Subaru. "The deal... Well, I suppose not?" "Of course it's not! There's no mistaking what you told us: 'Help us evacuate people while we exterminate demon beasts.' And when we open the lid, what's inside?!" Kety, his face red with anger, pressed roughly against Subaru's chest and said, "It turns out to be trouble involving the Witch Cult! This is quite a fraud, you know? What the hell are you up to, dropping that kind of huge lie at our feet?!" Accosted in such a threatening manner, Subaru was of course taken aback by the sheer force of it. They were right to be angry about circumstances not corresponding to the explanation they'd been given beforehand. That said, Subaru was at a loss for how to apologize to Kety, who was vehement to the point of incoherence. Then "If that's the case, how about we make a more tangible apology by raising the reward, meow?" " Wha...? You sure got more sensible than earlier all of a sudden." Kety's smile toward Ferris, hiding behind Subaru's back as he made the proposal, deepened further. Inside, Subaru breathed a sigh of relief that his demand was so straightforward. If they'd gotten bent out of shape Subaru would be right back to square one. A little extra damage to Roswaal's coffers was no great concern. "The original condition was to name our price. Can we expect double that?" "Because you're greedy, meow... Where is your register? I'll review the contents with Subawu." "Hey! Do we have to do that...? Doesn't human life come first?" Subaru's eyes widened as Ferris drove the conversation further and further afield. Kety, having just handed the register over to Ferris, gave a mean-spirited look down at Subaru and said, "This is a huge issue related to the lives we'll be leading tomorrow. But if you don't want to, that's fine." "...I'm just grumblin'." Cowed by Kety's downward gaze, Subaru grudgingly climbed into the wagon of his dragon carriage. So far as he could tell, the register listed all the cargo the carriages hauled, as well as personal accessories and jewelry and the like, in an unexpectedly meticulous manner. "Even though the owner's so violent, meow?" "I had the same thought, but why are we doing this together? Go thataway or somethin'." "This'll be done faster if two people are checking, yes? And it's not like he minds, meow." Ferris snuggled against Subaru as they checked the cargo in the curtained wagon. Subaru raised his eyebrows at Ferris's pushy demeanor when Ferris narrowed his eyes and said, "More importantly...making up with Julius? Did you do it?" "...Concerning that issue, after much consideration and study, I wish to approach the matter with positivity and discretion." "I thought so, meow. I thought, It's Subawu, so he'll mess it up for sure. And after you said all that cool stuff in front of the villagers, too " Ferris put a hand on his mouth and giggled, showing no sign of ceasing his teasing look. Subaru, feeling burned at the teasing over earlier events and his lingering resentment toward Julius, continued the inspection, comparing cargo to the register. "Well, it wasn't a bad try, meow? All you have to do is apologize to Julius with the same intensity..." "Why you little...!" "Hey now, don't start a lover's quarrel inside someone else's dragon carriage. Get the work done already." When he talked back at Ferris for making light of his situation, Kety made his disapproval with both of them very clear. When his tall frame lumbered over, he was even more sour about Subaru and Ferris's lack of concentration. "I can yell at you more, you know. If you'd rather I don't, get serious." "Y-yeah, sorry. We'll do it right..." "Uh-oh, he's angry with you, Subawu. Sheesh, you really are a handful, meow." Seizing on Kety's anger, Ferris hopped away from Subaru's side. Subaru had just about had enough of his antics. But before he could raise a coarse voice " So careless of you." "Guh ?!" When Ferris murmured, narrowing his yellow eyes, he touched Kety's exposed arm. The next moment, the tall man let out an anguished cry, his eyes rolling up as he toppled onto his side. "Huh...?" "Subawu, don't just stare like that. Stand watch outside so that no one notices." All trace of levity gone, Ferris gave crisp instructions to Subaru, who was taken aback by the sudden series of events. But Subaru was rooted to the spot, unable to understand what had just taken place. Seeing this, Ferris sighed and explained. "This person is part of the Witch Cult. I touched him to check earlier when all those people were around me; he has the same weird ritual embedded in him as the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins' finger had earlier." " ?! He's a Witch Cultist?! And a Sloth on top of that?!" "The possibility is high. That's why I thought I'd get into the dragon carriage to lower his guard." As Ferris replied to the wide-eyed Subaru, he checked Kety's fallen body and found something. When he lifted a hand, it was holding a cross-shaped sword furnished by the Witch Cult. "That's one of the swords the Witch Cultists... They seriously infiltrated the traveling merchants...?" "But we captured this one alive. The instant I touched him, I made the water in his body run wild and knocked him out. Though if I've directly affected someone even once, I can do the same thing without even touching, meow." "...Meaning you can do the same thing to me. Kinda gives me the chills to hear that..." Grudgingly, Subaru did as Ferris directed and checked on things beyond the curtain. Fortunately, no one on the outside seemed to have noticed the skirmish inside the carriage. No one else seemed to be coming aboard. "But if one of them was a Witch Cultist, that changes everything." "We can't be certain they don't have others among the merchants...but we can check that from here on out, I suppose?" Subaru was chagrined at the plan backfiring, but Ferris shook his head as if it was no big deal. After that, he gave the unmoving Kety a smack on the cheek, then pressed a palm, glowing with a pale light, to his face and said, "Now, spill out everything that you're planning, would you? Ferri's hand is the gentlest in the world...but it can do such terrible things, meow?" *** Subaru's body shuddered when he remembered the phrase Those who know how to heal people also know how to break them. Ferris's request

made Kety open his eyelids a crack, gazing at Ferris with unfocused eyes. His lips frailly struggled to move, but Ferris's power was supreme. He apparently couldn't move at all. "Ferris, be careful. If he is a Sloth, even if he can't move his limbs..." "He can still use his power, yes? That's why I have you watching, Subawu." Just because the flesh could not move didn't mean Unseen Hands couldn't be put into motion. In accordance with Ferris's request, Subaru squared his shoulders and kept the closest eye possible on what Kety was doing. With Subaru and Ferris both hemming him in, Kety breathed out, seemingly deflated. Then *** "What?" When Kety seemed to murmur something, Ferris narrowed his eyes, demanding he repeat himself. Subaru hadn't been able to hear the statement, either. Kety opened his mouth once more *** " ! Ia! Protect him!!" Ferris seemed to leap to his feet the instant the whisper reached his eardrums, calling to Subaru, at the entrance to the wagon no, to the common spirit tethered to him. Ferris's gravity, normally unthinkable for him, made Subaru stare for a second, wondering what had happened, when... "Ah?" With a burst of heat, the common spirit flew out, deploying a crimson wall of shimmering light around his entire body. It enveloped Subaru, completely isolating him from his surroundings "Now cooomes the beginning...of the end!!" Frozen stiff, Subaru heard a shrill voice saying that right before his eyes. The next moment, Subaru was engulfed by the flames of the exploding dragon carriage, losing all track of which way was up. CHAPTER 4 *** 1 When Subaru's mind returned to reality, the first thing he took in was the powerful stench of something burnt. It was like meat that had been barbecued to ash, stir-fried vegetables that had been fried black, completely and thoroughly burnt from too much heat inside and outside, a scent that brought one's mood to its nadir. *** He opened his mouth, trying to get his voice out. He couldn't hear a thing. It was not that sound did not reach his eardrums, but rather that too great a sound had slammed into them a moment prior. A sound far too great to be termed ringing echoed through his skull at length, leaving Subaru to expect little from his hearing for the time being. *** Subaru continued instinctively raising his voice as he relied on his other senses. His eyelids were open, but his field of vision remained pitch-black, ruling sight out. His sense of smell was dominated by the stench of something burnt, and there was a strong taste of rust inside his mouth. The fact that he lay faceup, limbs spread wide, meant he'd probably fallen onto the ground. " Aah." During the time he checked to see that his limbs could move, his own voice faintly slipped past the ringing in his ears. As the ringing began to fade, he began to be able to hear himself. At the same time, he began to hear the sound of his own blood coursing through his body, and the darkness in his field of vision gradually brightened. His five senses were functioning. Sight and vision were returning, allowing him to sense the world around him. And then *** As his hearing recovered, stringent shouts flew his way. Some voices were bloodcurdling; others were those of crying children. Screams. The mansion, burnt instantly, his thoughts came to a boil. " ! What the ?!" When his thinking processes recovered, bolstered by his five senses, Subaru sat up with a start and looked around the area. His entire body, covered in burns and scrapes, pleaded for mercy, but the spectacle before his eyes made him forget all that. Right before Subaru's eyes were the burning remains of a dragon carriage, with several land dragon corpses scattered around it. "Ex plosion..." His memory from just before came back, allowing Subaru to properly grasp what had happened. Explosion. Yes, an explosion. Explosion was the only word he had for the supreme might of the destruction wrought. Such was the power of it that the dragon carriages lined alongside had been blown away and a good chunk of Earlham Village completely leveled. The homes bordering the village square had been engulfed by the spreading fires from the explosion, with flames licking at the familiar scenery. The blackened, charred objects scattered around the area were partly the dragon carriages and the corpses of their land dragons, but that none were intact made him unable to differentiate between organic and inorganic matter. It was surely a foregone conclusion that the dense scent of burning flesh invading his nostrils was from the land dragons that had perished in the blast. Aghast that land dragons had been blown away without a trace, Subaru bit down on his back teeth and said, "Ia! Come on out, Ia! You're here, aren't you?!" When Subaru slapped his chest and desperately called out, the red common spirit instantly responded. The red light appeared before his eyes, making no complaint at being called on repeatedly as she silently asserted her existence with her heat. Subaru remembered that Ia had protected him, deploying a wall an instant before the explosion. If not for the common spirit's protection, Subaru would have died in the explosion just like the land dragons around him. However, Subaru had not been the only one in the dragon carriage. It would be meaningless if he had been the only one saved. "Ia! The person with me... Where's Ferris?! Where's..." " I'm here." Subaru was on his knees when a frail voice reached his ears. As it was truly the voice he'd yearned to hear, Subaru practically tumbled as he turned toward it. He heard the voice from the shadow of a ruined house. "Ferris?! Are you all right, Fe " "All right...might be a hard sell, meow." When Subaru practically crawled in that direction, Ferris, the one he sought, revealed himself out of the smoke. Subaru had feared the worst but was relieved to the bottom of his heart when Ferris emerged. But an instant after that relief, he realized that something was very off. He was happy Ferris was all right, but he was too all right. "Ia's magic wall didn't deploy in time...? Some sort of super-powerful defensive spell, then?" "Nothing of the sort...I died once, that's all." Ferris, with one eye closed, bore no wound worthy of the name. Unlike Subaru, he surely didn't have the protection of a common spirit, and yet his fur and flesh were in tidy shape. But his attire was not the uniform of a Knight of the Royal Guard, but merely a tattered cloth wrapped around his naked flesh. Given the little time available, the cloth must have come from a dragon carriage curtain. "Why are you dressed like...?" "Well, I can't help it! Clothes can't be regenerated with magic! And more to the point..." Ferris thrust his palm forward, interrupting Subaru's question as he turned hard eyes elsewhere. Following his gaze, Subaru clicked his tongue. The situation was even worse than he'd imagined. In the blink of an eye, Earlham Village had transformed into a battlefield a clash of fire and sword taking place. "No retreat, push them back! Cut open a path! Evacuating the villagers comes first!!" On the other side of the village square, one of the knights shouted to that effect as he and an attacker crossed blades. A large number of people were gathered together in the square, knights included. However, the majority were noncombatants villagers and merchants. The expeditionary force was surrounding them in a circle while resisting the enemy. The attackers were dressed in black robes, carrying cross-like straight swords in their hands it was the Witch Cult. "How did they enter the village...?" "That's obvious: they were in the dragon carriage wagons." "Shit!" His "insurance" had backfired in every possible way. Subaru cursed his own stupidity and god-awful luck. They hadn't placed any restrictions on the merchants aiding with evacuation. Realizing that the merchants had ferried the Witch Cult in made the phrase the Witch Cult is everywhere ring painfully true. Particularly if an Archbishop of Sloth was among them. "Subawu, you don't have time to get depre " "I know! Scrap the evac plan! Anyway, let's get everyone up to the mansi " Poor strategy or not, they had no choice left but to go and hole up. The instant after he made that judgment, Subaru saw it. Repeated spells by the Witch Cultists tore the knights' circular formation apart, causing the combat strength resisting the Cult to collapse. The black-robed figures proceeded to leap into the village square, waving their swords as they assaulted the helpless villagers. "Those bas !" Their short swords reflected the flames; their glints burned into Subaru's eyes as he yelled at the top of his lungs. However, his voice could not halt the vile blades. Nor could the knights halt their wicked deeds in time. Mother protected child. Husband shielded wife. Young stood before old. And crosses would impale them all "Al Clauzeria !" A brief moment before that tragic scene was to unfold, a chant resounded, and simultaneously, Subaru saw light in the sky. Light spawned and swirled about in midair, swelling into a rainbow-colored aurora that poured down onto the village square. The vivid aurora traced a beautiful arc, indiscriminately bathing the knights, villagers, and Witch Cultists with its colors. But a moment later, the effects upon them were at polar extremes. The rainbow softly enveloped the knights and villagers, transforming into a wall for them. The Witch Cultists impaled the rainbow with their daggers, and the next instant, they were enveloped in an unimaginable shock wave that sent them flying. The square upon which the Witch Cultists had intruded was conquered by the overpowering light of that rainbow. And this had been wrought by a handsome young man in white armor, appearing in the square as if he had flown there. "None shall mar the beautiful radiance of the rainbow this is the truth of the heavens." "The Finest of Knights," master of the aurora, snobbishly spoke those words as he thrust his cavalry saber toward the sky. The cavalry saber that had swept the Witch Cultists clean was surrounded by the lights of five common spirits all except Ia, who had been assigned to Subaru. The way Julius had turned the battle around at its darkest moment was truly worthy of his other name. Seeing the result for himself, Subaru clapped his hands as he rushed over to Julius. "Incredible! Good job, well done! You really let loose! I'm glad you're here for once!" "Somewhat vexing praise, but I shall accept. I am glad you and Ferris are safe." Julius, thanks to whom the front line had recovered, was relieved to see Subaru and Ferris rushing toward him. But unfortunately, there was no time to celebrate their safety. "Sorry, I messed up. There was a Sloth with the traveling merchants, but I couldn't deal with him." "It is the result of the enemy outthinking us. I have no intention of criticizing you. Right after the dragon carriage you and Subaru entered exploded, the Witch Cultists in the village went on a rampage. The damage from the explosion and the surprise attack is not shallow, but I had TB and Ram evacuate the wounded to the mansion." "There's a lot of enemies, though. The evacuation didn't go well, I take it?" Julius had avoided spelling it out, but the authority of Sloth was without doubt the cause of their disadvantage. That power could change the course of battle all by itself, and Subaru's eyes were the only counter. And if he could not fulfill that duty, all they could do was await their fated destruction. "Anyway, we've got to smash all the Sloths! I'll do the looking! Julius, lend me your strength!" "Of course. Ferris, link up with the evacuees and treat them. You are our lifeline." Subaru clenched a fist, Julius

nodded, and Ferris winked. Acknowledging their mutual roles, the three instantly separated. Subaru and Julius were to wipe out the Sloths; Ferris was to bolster the knights and villagers and form a defensive line at the mansion. "Now then, stand up! We'll head to the mansion and hold out there. Run, run!" With Ferris's gallant voice at his back, Subaru turned his attention to the clashes of blades he heard all over the place. The combat, far fiercer than what had come before, showed that the Witch Cult had gotten serious. "How many Witch Cultists are in the village, roughly?" "The precise number is unclear. However, there were many participating in the height of the battle. The entire force of the remaining fingers has likely entered the village. Clearly, this is a difficult foe." If there were three fingers left, and each had ten people with them, the number of enemies had to be creeping toward forty. Beyond tangling with a force of that size, the expeditionary force had people to protect, a disadvantage that put it in a difficult situation. However, there was hope if the enemy's entire force was assembled in the village, at least. "If we can take down the last three Sloths, we can win this in one... Ah?!" Subaru saw a chance to turn things around, but that instant, he saw the sky ahead blotted out by blackness. Directly above the flames in the village, countless black hands were covering the sky. The numbers were straight out of a nightmare. " Unseen Hands!!" When Subaru looked up and shouted that, Julius's expression grew graver still. But his eyes were glazed; he could not see the same nightmare. In a sense, that was fortunate. After all, it would not be strange if seeing lethal violence on such a scale caused the heart to falter. "Probably under there...!" Subaru had to take Sloth on, but someone was taking Sloth on without him. His intuition soon became firm belief. The black hands cascaded from the sky, destroying trees, houses, and the ground itself with their overwhelming power. It was without cessation, over and over again, destroy, destroy, destroy fueled by the anger of being unable to finish off one's foe. "We have to hurry! Wilhelm's fighting right near there!" There was only one human being who could take Sloth on without Subaru. 2 Wilhelm broke through the downpour of invisible attacks by moving beyond the limits of his own vision. He swayed from left to right, suddenly accelerated and decelerated, did as many flips as he could, toying with his enemy and drawing ever, ever closer through each repeated skirmish. The authority known as Unseen Hands would be a dangerous attack even if it weren't invisible. It could freely alter its range and direction, both able to overwhelm the enemy with numbers and destroy him utterly with a single blow. These constituted countless advantages in every kind of battle, making it the ultimate technique for bringing death to one's foe. Only because he was the more experienced fighter was Wilhelm able to manage. "Accordingly, I shall nail you to the wall here and now, Witch Cultist !" "It cannot, cannot, cannot, cannot be! To think you would resist to this extent!!" To the fore, farther down the road, a tall man stood opposite Wilhelm. His posture, with his head bent at an unnatural angle, resembled that of a doll that oozed creepiness as some human hand toyed with it. In point of fact, the madman had lost free use of his flesh; instead, it was the authority that held his body in its grip and controlled it, but such considerations were worthless to the Sword Devil. What he required was the fact that the man standing there was an enemy, and one of the three Sloths remaining the man, dressed in traveling merchant attire, did not appear to be making the slightest effort to conceal his identity. He'd slipped into Subaru's painstakingly arranged "insurance," craftily manipulating it for his own wicked intentions. Simultaneously, Wilhelm wondered about the safety of Subaru and Ferris, who should have been right by the dragon carriage that had exploded. But in the heat of battle he instantly thrust such melancholy thoughts aside, and the Sword Devil immersed himself in his own fight. It wasn't that he lacked concern. He would never be able to face his master, Crusch, unless Ferris returned safe and sound. However, his heart pleaded that he did not really need to worry too much. They would break through that crisis, Subaru and Ferris both. Such was the great faith he had in them. "Rrrrraaa!!" He swung his sword, splitting the earth, kicking up a shower of dirt that allowed him to read the arcs of the invisible attacks. With superhuman evasiveness, Wilhelm broke through the wall of bloodlust burying the path between him and his foe and charged. He didn't need to concern himself with Subaru or Ferris. This had been the only thing he'd wanted to begin with. What he could accomplish was settled from the first moment he'd held a sword in his hand. "Such favor, to increase the numbers so! Such tenacity in the face of them! Such conviction! As a diligent disciple, I cannot praise it enough! Ahh, ahh! Oh, love! My brain is shaaaaking!" Different eyes, different face, different voice even so, they shared the same madness-filled look. Though a different being with a different appearance, this Sloth was obsessed with Wilhelm just the same. As he received the repulsive praise, Wilhelm moved farther from the battlefield, pursuing the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins on his own. Given the current balance of forces, he was the only one who could take the madman on. He was the only one who could keep the damage to a minimum and strike the man down. Wilhelm glared at the insane man before him, increasing the speed of his steps. The invisible attacks slammed down, trying to pursue him, but the Sword Devil sprinted like an arrow, leaving them behind. *** Heedless of the shower of dirt, Sloth recklessly repeated the invisible attacks. It was as if not only was he insane, but his tactics were stupid, as well. Of course, the duel would be settled just as stupidly. *** The madman made some kind of lament, but Wilhelm, running straight forward, did not hear. He stripped away all that was unnecessary, charging forward as he became a single blade, the steel that would rend wickedness asunder. Naturally, as he drew closer the obstacles increased. The number of grazes grew greater, and the inside of Wilhelm's body was bathed in sharp heat as he poised his sword, lashing out. The earth split apart, and the madman's posture tilted. Wilhelm turned his sword tip toward the center of the body's mass, driving it home. " I have you!" There was not even slight resistance to the tip of his blade. The feeling of rending a life was one the Sword Devil had oft tasted. His treasured sword impaled the madman through the left of his chest, completely destroying the beating heart within. Not even Ferris could have pulled him back from the brink of death. The merciless strike had brought his life to a conclusion. "...Yes, if it was you, then..." Failing to die instantly with the blade running through his back, the madman spewed blood as he tried to say something. Wilhelm drew his sword back to cut his last words and testament short. It was then that the madman said into Wilhelm's ear, "When you focus on fighting invisible arms, you lose sight of what you can see... Lazy, is it not?" *** His thoughts contorted for a second. An unnecessary crack in the Sword Devil's belligerence was pried open, as if he was trying to think of what the words could mean. An instant later, the madman lunged at Wilhelm, his shaking arm raising a dagger. Then, without hesitation, he employed the dagger to stab his own left eye. Through the eye socket, the tip of the blade invaded his skull, piercing his brain and cutting short his own life. "Wha ?" The instant the blade robbed him of his eye, and his life, light surged out 3 The instant he rushed around a demolished house and onto the broken road, the earth shook. *** The shock wave coursed underfoot; the shudder in the air made it hard to breathe. Then, as Subaru sprinted forward, the delayed flames and wind from the blast followed suit, mowing down everything in front of him. "Whoaaa !" "Don't move! Aro! Iku!" With Subaru frozen in place, Julius raised an arm before him, calling out to the spirits glowing green and yellow. A green blade came to be, and a bulwark of earth and stone rose before them. The wave of heat rushing from ahead was sliced apart before bouncing off the stout wall, protecting the pair from its wrath. "What happened?!" "I do not know. Just before the explosion, I felt like I saw a human silhouette pass through, but..." As the reverberations of the blast relented, the two rushed past the broken ground toward the center of the blast zone. The surrounding area looked as if it had sustained a ferocious shock wave from the blast, enough to send the rooftops flying off brick homes. Naturally, there was a crater in the ground at the center of the blast, adding poignancy to the sad tale. And when Subaru saw who lay at the center of the blast zone, his voice went cold. "Wilhelm...?!" Raising his shaking voice, Subaru rushed over to the white-haired, aged swordsman who was lying curled on the ground. He had sustained grave wounds from blast winds and flames over his entire body; it was almost strange to find his body in one piece. His face was a grimy black; Subaru couldn't tell if it was from blood, dirt, or burns. But he was faintly breathing. Knowing at least that was true, he let out a long, long breath. "But he's in big trouble at this rate! We've got to get him to Ferris, or " When Subaru went down on one knee, intending to carry Wilhelm, Julius stepped beside him and said, "It does not seem things will be quite that simple." Sensing the urgent warning embedded in those words, Subaru lifted his head. Julius swept the tip of his drawn cavalry saber around the area. His reason for doing so was simple: the enemies he was holding in check hailed from several directions, not just one. Carrying cross-shaped swords, Witch Cultists blocked them on each of four sides. But that was not the largest problem. A final person arrived with the four, removing her hood as she appeared. It was a small-statured woman, with short hair the color of black tea. The cultist's hands were empty; she stood before them seemingly defenseless and wide open. However, her bloodshot eyes and the way she hurt herself, biting her shorn-nailed fingers, were all the proof they needed that she was the most dangerous of all. After Petelgeuse, the madwoman, and Kety, this was the fourth Archbishop of Sloth. The woman bit the nail of her right thumb, twisting her hand as she tore the nail off. The sight and liquid sound of blood droplets and exposed flesh made Subaru grimace in pain and disgust. "Comin' out one after another with timing like this... How many of you are there, damn it?!" "Why, why, why, why...why is it youuu yet live? All of those measures, and yet...why is it you do not fall before my diligence?!" "Well, that's my line! Cut it out already! Doing continues over and over like this! You have some kind of grudge against us?!" Probably words of complete and mutual hatred, enmity, and vilification were the only ones Subaru and the woman could share. Then Wilhelm stirred in his arms. Perhaps it was due to external stimulus, but the Sword

Devil was still unconscious when his lips faintly moved. The way his anguished breaths held increasing anger toward their foe felt ghastly to Subaru. It was almost as if he was subconsciously trying to tell them something "Wilhelm?" "Same...ne per..." He couldn't completely make out what the trickling voice tried to say. And the Witch Cultists were not merciful or polite enough to wait for him to hear it once in coherent form. Subaru was clutching Wilhelm on one knee when the woman turned a nail-less finger toward him and shouted. "You! If the lazy you and the diligent you backed away, all would be firm! All would be decided! Everything arriving at its proper conclusion! Thus, scatter here! Scaaatter to the winds!!" Spewing spittle, the woman put her hand into her own robe. However, she did not find what she was looking for. Pulling her hand out, she gnashed her teeth hard enough to break them. Subaru had a hunch as to why she was in such a mortified rage. That flash of insight let Subaru understand what role was his to play. Witch Cultists were on all sides, whereas Wilhelm was gravely injured and Julius was exhausted. The only one left to take on the fourth Sloth was Subaru Natsuki, useless at anything but decoy duty. But even if his Witch Cult attraction was of no use, there yet remained something he could do. "Julius, can you fight off the four besides Sloth while covering Wilhelm?" "Subaru?" Shifting his gaze alone, Julius gave Subaru a slight, questioning rise of his brows. However, there was no time to explain the fine details. Subaru glared at his amber eyes and repeated himself. "Can you do it? If you can do that...I'll do what I can do." *** "Right now, you're the only one I can count on. If you're willing to put yours in my hands...I'll put mine in yours." "Put what?" It was obvious. Subaru responded to Julius's words by pointing at Sloth and saying, "I'll smack that idiot. I'll fight and take your life in my hands. In return, I'm putting my life in yours so can you do it?" Subaru declared his determination to take on the Archbishop of Sloth single-handedly to Julius, his one and only ally. At his words, Julius drew back his sword. His hesitation and silence lasted a second. Julius closed his eyes, opened them, and poised his sword. "If I did not say I could do it, 'twould be my shame as a knight." "Fair enough !!" They were still at a disadvantage. Subaru knew it was reckless. But his battles had always been reckless. So once again, his disadvantage was like a tightrope. He'd simply cover his eyes and run across. Subaru, gently laying Wilhelm down on the spot, put a hand into his own pocket. The Witch Cultists were gradually tightening the encirclement, but he detected no sign of Sloth moving a step. Subaru did not underestimate her. Distance and range were meaningless words to Sloth. But that only applied to every opponent who wasn't Subaru Natsuki. "Now, let us finally end this! Great love abooove all! Exalted love above all! Before my diligence, to repay Her favor! You were born worthy of being the first offered up to..." "Hey, chick Petelgeuse Look at this." Subaru called out to the madly raving Sloth with a snort. Then, he stuck his hand in his pocket. When he withdrew his hand, he was holding a book bound in black. It was the Gospel that Subaru had recovered from the corpse of Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti "You're looking for this, right? The thing sent by Miss Witch you love so, so much." "Thief!! So IT truly was you who had it?!" Sloth screamed, eyes bulging. The way she'd rummaged in her pocket had made Subaru realize something was off. The other two Sloths had done the same thing. They'd searched for something that ought to have been in a certain pocket with their hands, been irritated not to find it, and raged at he who had stolen it. The object of their desire had been the same: that single book. "Guess you even tried digging up Petelgeuse's corpse to get the Gospel back. I've heard of book junkies, but come on, robbing graves to get a book back?" "Silence! Cease your prattle! Give that book back, right " "Hey, don't shout. If you get too angry, you know your brain'll shake." " ! You mussst die!!" No one present could outdo Subaru when it came to taunts and provocations. As Sloth exploded in a rage, the shadow at her feet swelled up. The shadow split into an innumerable horde above her head, seemingly covering the sky in pitch-black hands whose fingertips bore down on Subaru all at once. But if the intent was to kill Subaru, that was the wrong call. "My favor! The manifestation of my love! Crumble BEFORE them, sinner !" Sloth shouted, and the black arms pressed toward Subaru like an avalanche. The veritable manifestation of destruction loomed before him like a tsunami as it advanced. To Subaru alone, it was all too visible. And even to him, the attack was far too obvious. "Ra-aa !" The evil hands were countless, but slow. Now that he had witnessed, however imperfectly, combat between superhumans, they looked like stopped flies to Subaru. No, that was going too far. They were like flies in flight. But they were by no means impossible to evade. Subaru took a large detour, evading the savagely onrushing horde of Unseen Hands. The Sword Devil would have leaped between them, but such inhuman feats were beyond Subaru. He used his endurance to make up for it. The bombardment of power had missed its mark, the invincible authority wasted by its user. "My authority...?! Then, you shall die at the hands of my disciples " "Unfortunately, I have been tasked with denying you that option." By the time the woman, realizing her failure, regained her composure and commanded her underlings, it was too late. Sword in hand, Julius assaulted the Witch Cultists, vividly hindering them from pursuing Subaru. On top of that, the cultist in the direction in which Subaru had fled had been tragically caught in the wave of evil hands and dismembered. "Huh, huh, huh?! You took out your own guy?! What kind of a sorry villain are you?!" "G...gah...! How dare you, dare you, dare youuuu! My disciple of love!!" "Don't gimme that, you're the one who mixed us up! Tunnel vision! What, are you lazy?!" Subaru raised his middle finger as he rearranged the trademark phrase of Sloth. Just as intended, the woman was incandescent with voiceless rage, savagely running after Subaru as he fled. " Julius! Manage your end somehow! I'll handle mine!" "A most vague command. But understood." To Subaru, thrusting a fist and raising his voice, Julius raised his cavalry saber aloft. Now that they had divided the battlefield between them, Subaru's and Julius's battle lines were wholly separate. On Julius's side were the wounded Wilhelm and three Witch Cultists. For his part, Subaru had one Sloth, mad with rage the right person for the right fight. After all, Subaru had no chance against the Witch Cultists, and had the best chances of anyone against the Archbishop of Sloth. "See ya later!!" "Fight valiantly!" Vowing to meet again, Subaru left Julius behind and darted across the battlefield. Evil hands rolled across the ground like a surging sea, but Subaru could see them. He leaped over them and took off, unharmed. "Wait, wait, waitwaitwaitwait, I say! You despiiicable, foolish knave!" As Julius began his clash of swords with multiple opponents, Subaru drew the madwoman off to another location. To draw Sloth to a place where her attacks would ensnare no one else, unwittingly doing just as Wilhelm had. Subaru pressed a hand over his heart, seemingly ready to burst, and ran at full strength. He had a destination. He would not go as far as to say that reaching it was linked to victory. However, if he arrived there, he could buy time for victory to come calling. For that reason, he ran and ran toward it. " ! You can't hit me! You're one heck of a klutz!" Behind Subaru, the madwoman chased after him on her own two feet. However, her speed was slow. In addition, for some reason, her deployment of countless Unseen Hands was sporadic, allowing him to narrowly evade them even while on the run. He was completely shaking off her ability. The number of arms chasing him was some sixty or seventy, clearly the most of any Sloth to date. In spite of that, her skill in using them was the worst so far. The balance was all off. That being the case, it must have been the first and foremost Sloth, Petelgeuse, who'd used his authority with the greatest skill. "I guess Petelgeuse really was the main Sloth...not that it matters!" He could think about that later. It didn't change the fact that all the Sloths had to be wiped out. He didn't have time to reach for anything else. If Subaru's foe wasn't in tip-top shape, all the better for him. He curved around corners, darted down the straightaway, curved around another corner, and leaped. "Made it ! But..." Arriving at his destination, Subaru surveyed the area. There were signs of combat all over the place, and the fallen did not stop at one or two people. He saw not just Witch Cultists but knights and beast people among them. Subaru felt blame for his own powerlessness pressing upon him. He closed his eyes and forced it back. The next moment, he leaped sideways and rolled, evading the evil hands striking where he had stood. The ground split open, causing a cloud of dust to rise. Behind it stood the hate-filled Sloth, huffing and puffing. The number of arms stretching from her back was greatly diminished, limited to some twenty or so at present. "Guess you learned you were wearing yourself out." "And ooonly for making me realize that do you have my thanks! However, your escape ends here! Or do you still possess some way to resist?!" "Way to resist..." When those words trailed off, Subaru blinked for just a moment. Along the line of his gaze was the madwoman, and behind her However, he immediately hid behind an impetuous smile. "...love and courage, I suppose." Subaru licked his lips and made a big fuss as the madwoman stood with her arms spread wide, her eyes full of bloodlust. His statement sent the eyes of Sloth bulging wide, causing her creepy voice to begin to laugh. "Very good! Then challenge my faaavor with this love of yours!" "I said love and courage!" Taking a breath, he went into a sprinter's crouch and practically leaped as he rose, shooting his body forward. After having fled so thoroughly, he now charged straight forward, leaping into the woman's flank. Sloth blinked in surprise and, perhaps thinking charging in was the height of idiocy, instantly flew into a rage. "This is your love?! Your love has this little resolve?! No crafty schemes, simply running like a fool, ahh, your love is so reckless! So powerless! So thoughtless! In other words, lazy!" "Ooooh !" Subaru let out a shout from the pit of his belly, as if to overwrite the despair the woman's shout drove his way. Shout and shout he did, enough to make himself hoarse, calling out love, and calling for courage. "Then you shall die, and pay for your laziness with your lo " "Now, Patlash !!" " ! What are ?!" The impact cut off the latter half of the cry of surprise. Sloth was triumphant one moment; the next, her diminutive frame was caught by the land dragon charging into her side. Its huge frame, several hundred kilograms in mass, slammed right into the defenseless woman's body, blowing it away as if it were a leaf. *** The woman proceeded to bounce along the surface of the

village square, flipping over as she sailed into a half-destroyed house. The glass window made a sound as it shattered; the house, unable to take the blow, was smashed, and dust slowly rose from it after. The blow, even greater than he had imagined, sent Subaru leaping to glom the land dragon's head and rub her nose. "You did great, awesome teamwork! Above and beyond the call, Patlash!" *** With Subaru trying to kill her with compliments, Patlash raised her head and gave a high-pitched neigh. Subaru returned to the village square he'd started from, luring the woman to Patlash, the dragon's valuable legwork part of his escape plan. But having failed to locate her just after arriving, he'd started to worry that he'd been wrong, and she, too, had been burned to a crisp "When I saw you'd doubled back behind her that was a seriously devilish move." The instant his shifting gaze located the land dragon behind Sloth, he seriously shouted like a girl on the inside. The next instant, with zero prep work, he and the land dragon did a combo attack, pulling it off perfectly. This was the result of trusting everything to love and courage albeit love really meant "bluff" and courage meant "reinforcements" in this case. "Now, it'd be great if that settled things, but..." Climbing onto Patlash's back, Subaru glared at the wreckage of the house Sloth had sailed into. If she'd died from the crushing weight of the mountain of debris, it would be a big help. But life just wasn't that easy. "...IT seems I was being prideful." The mountain of rubble collapsed, and from under the remains of the roof, countless shadows welled up all at once. The wriggling, pitch-black arms writhed like tentacles. A tiny figure rose up from the middle of that black mass. It was the madwoman bloodied and reduced to a state half-living, half-dead. Her head was bleeding from lacerations it had suffered, and her left eye was completely taken out, impaled by a shard of glass. The right half of her body, caught up in the collapse of the house, was dyed crimson, and Subaru doubted her slender arms or legs were now of much use. From the looks of her, there was no doubting that she was wounded all over. And yet, having said all that, the vigor and madness displayed by her right eye was greater than ever. "You...yes, you certainly are a diligent human being. Yes, diligent! Compared to you, having come so far, using everything at your disposal to challenge your foe, I was so very careless! Architect of my own ruin! Neglectful! Insufficient! I was too prideful! Ahh, I was so lazy!" *** Her demeanor and the statements themselves did not differ from those of the other mad people in any way. Even if she did have a new thought, he could deal with her the same way provided there was no extreme change in her tactics or repeated attacks. Now that he was riding Patlash, able to dish out speeds far greater than Subaru himself, it was even easier. Having played for time, Subaru would deliver as decisive a blow as possible to defeat this Sloth with neither having a decisive way to win, the fight would come down to whichever found a way to finish the other off first. But the woman cruelly laughed in the face of Subaru's resolve. "I will show you my favor. That is the first thing you should accept. If you do not acknowledge it, adhering to the only love you know, and as a result sinking into laziness, that, to me, would be the greatest and vilest of acts...and furthermore, one I shall correct." "...Shit." As the madwoman continued her murmurs, the countless evil hands moved toward the sky. Watching the spectacle, Subaru cursed, suppressing the shudder in his creaking heart. Before his eyes, each of the many arms took hold of the wreckage of the collapsed house. "That's her best option, damn it." An instant after his rueful declaration, the rampage began. She hurled the wreckage of the house at them, the building becoming shrapnel that poured onto Subaru and Patlash all at once. 4 The means Sloth had chosen was her best option against Subaru because it did not use Unseen Hands. In other words, put briefly, all she had to do was stop Unseen Hands from attacking directly, using the evil hands to attack indirectly instead. The attack speed of Unseen Hands itself was less than that of a punch from a normal arm; if you didn't panic, they could be dodged, even in great numbers. But if the evil hands grasped things and threw them, the speed was incomparable. The pure physical might they possessed went far beyond human norms. The missiles they threw traveled with a speed rivaling that of a major-league fastball. On top of that, what she launched at them was, at minimum, the size of a human head a single solid hit would be fatal. "Patlash! Out of the village, into the forest! Without cover we're dead!" *** Subaru clung as tightly to Patlash's head as he could; she accelerated at the same time he gave the order. She had probably come to the same conclusion before hearing his command, but either way, charging into the forest was the right call. In the hands of those pitch-black limbs, broken pieces of the brick house served as fine weapons of murder. Fortunately, thanks to the thrower's lack of technique, the control was awful. In spite of that, the flying rubble unleashed showered down like rain. As with a poorly aimed firearm, a few hits and you were just as dead. *** A ferocious sound arose as flying rubble mowed down trees right beside them, exploding into the ground just behind them as they galloped forward. Bounding over the earth, they wove about as the entrance to the forest into which they had leaped turned to charred plains in the blink of an eye. Impact, destruction, impact, destruction they alternated over and over. "Guooo!" Subaru lowered his head to narrow his profile even a little. All he could do at the moment was cling to Patlash. A piece of flying rubble grazed the land dragon's black hide, gouging the hard scales and causing blood to spurt out. But Patlash's speed did not lessen, nor did she raise any outcry. Though they sprinted over poor footing, she galloped with the ease he'd been told about. Patlash's contributions, which were beyond Subaru's expectations, had saved him. But letting her literally shoulder all the burden wasn't a solution. When he looked behind him, the actions of the madwoman pursuing them were burned into his eyes. Even if he regrouped and found a way to fight, it meant nothing if he couldn't predict her actions. At the very least, if she couldn't keep up with Patlash, that'd make things go a lot smoother " So much for Patlash's speed!" "Yesyesyesyesyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees !!" As Subaru made a disparaging shout, it was overridden by the hateful voice repeating itself. The mad voice was launched from a height surpassing that of the trees of the forest, literally right above him. The woman was now far overhead. Her diminutive, beat-up body was curled up with her hands around her knees put crudely, a somersault pose. She remained in that pose as she used Unseen Hands to grab her own body, hurling herself through the sky as in a game of catch, she tossed herself from one hand to another as she chased after Subaru and Patlash. Whatever it looked like, it was disturbingly fast. Sprinting through the forest, Patlash was breaking sixty kilometers an hour. However, if you disregarded her moving only in straight lines at low accuracy, the speed of Sloth, flying like a human cannonball, was butting against a hundred. It wasn't much of a difference, but Subaru couldn't shake her off at that range. At that rate, with her looking down at them, they'd be wonderful targets for her sniping. Furthermore, Subaru lacked the means to reach the madwoman as she moved far overhead. "Can't go back to the village. With her like that, no way we can draw her back now." Besides, Subaru would be at an even greater disadvantage if she linked up with the Witch Cultists. Subaru was the only one who was still a good matchup against Sloth after being backed this far into a corner. "But at this rate, I'll be hit sooner or " *** As soon as he said it, "sooner" came calling. A flying clump of brick hurled at them squarely connected with Patlash's head, sending the leather helmet covering the top of the land dragon's head flying. Her posture heavily tilted as blood poured from her head. Subaru bit back an anguished cry, earnestly pulling on the reins to keep them from bowling over. "Patlash!!" There was no way shouting to her would give her strength. It could not be so, but the way Patlash dramatically slammed the ground with her foot, refusing to tumble, he thought it just might be true. He'd have to praise the land dragon ten times as much for guts alone. But the flying rubble continued, and blood kept flowing. At that rate, victory was out of reach "After lasting this long, even if we get deep in the forest, at this rate..." Continuing the war of attrition had poor prospects, but he couldn't find any leads for a counterattack if they didn't buy some time. However, the damage just now had already stamped a time limit on Patlash. He couldn't expect the same performance from her as before. If he was going to have a flash of inspiration, it needed to be that moment, because if not But such a convenient turn of events had never happened to Subaru before, and it likely never w " Just now..." Subaru bit his lip in anger at the absurdity of it all. That instant, he saw something out of place in the background of the forest they were passing through. The question of what it was tugged at his mind; the instant suitable information floated up, he pulled back on the reins. If things were as Subaru remembered, it was worth a shot. When a plan to achieve victory offered itself, you bit. "Patlash, left!" *** Patlash was bleeding when Subaru gave the order. For a single moment, she shifted her eyes in that direction, as if to ask, Are you sane? and Are you sure about this? It was natural to wonder if he was sane. However, if sanity kept victory out of reach, madness was indispensable. Subaru answered his favorite dragon's silent question as he stood straight, giving the reins a heavy flick. "That's right! Patlash, head for the light in the woods!!" He shouted, repeating and emphasizing the command. Patlash glared forward, and hesitation vanished from her eyes and gait. Apparently, she greatly esteemed Subaru's judgment. She had put her life in his hands. The land dragon's feet seemed to scrape the earth as they drove into the forest floor, braking hard as they changed course. The wind repel blessing cut out, and Subaru gritted his teeth to endure the momentum threatening to throw him off. Right after he held on, on, on for dear life, they accelerated, running down to the left at a steep angle. "No matter where you run, there is nowhere to hide!" The madwoman did not miss Subaru and Patlash's sharp turn and roaring descent. The angle of the hurled rubble shifted, and the trail of sylvan destruction followed suit. Verdant trees burst apart; the split, fallen trees were immediately recycled, grasped and hurled to spread the destruction further. Death followed close behind them. *** Even as that cascade of destruction pursued them, Subaru ordered Patlash to follow the flickering light he'd seen from the corner of his vision one that might prove a literal beacon of hope. The land dragon zigzagged left and right

as she ran, making herself a difficult target even without pulling farther ahead. Subaru wondered how arduous it must have been for his steed to go at high speed down a steep incline with a wounded body, but no matter how much his head might ponder, an answer would not be forthcoming. "Do you not know when to give in? What is ALL this running, running, running? And where does it all lead?! Your actions only prolong the inevitable... No! No, I will not!" Sloth looked straight down at Subaru and Patlash as they continued fleeing at full tilt. However, the woman's words were cut off at that point as she jabbed a finger into her crushed left eye in apparent self-rebuke. She proceeded to gouge out the flesh, causing blood to flow once more, her voice shrill with bitter resentment and delight. "I must be neither careless nor prideful. My task unfulfilled, brought to death for the first time, I must part ways with my doubts, my fate, my distracted thoughts!" Killing carelessness with self-mutilation, Sloth continued her attacks, hurling relentlessly. The ground exploded, and flying rubble ripped through the air; a fragment clipped Subaru's shoulder, making his bones creak. He threw his head back, bit down a cry of pain, and groaned as he endured. He would not cry out before Patlash. But their chase scene was finally coming to an end "Gah !" A blow conveyed through the earth made the ground beneath Patlash's feet disappear. A moment later, the land dragon's huge frame floated skyward. By the time Subaru noticed, he didn't even have time to scream as he rotated hard in midair, holding on to the reins as he thrashed about, and fell hard toward the ground, his entire body slamming fiercely into it. "Aghh...!" They vigorously rolled downhill. When they stopped, Subaru had lost track of which way was up. He was hurting all over, but miraculously, he couldn't see any sign of mortal injury. No matter how much his limbs were torn up, his head was still attached to his body. But that good fortune seemed only to have managed to push his death a tiny bit into the future. "IT seems that finally...the time to end this has arrived." *** Subaru lay faceup, watching Sloth descending from the sky. When she landed, the woman dismissed the evil hand that had carried her, standing beside Subaru, still unable to move. Then she gave a bloody smile full of satisfaction and tendered a hand down to him. "Now, return my Gospel. It is not for the likes of you to possess." "Gos-pel..." Murmuring in a broken voice, Subaru obeyed the woman's demand, putting his hand into his pocket. His fingers found the cover they sought. Fortuitously, it had not fallen from his pocket during all the time they'd been chased. "If you want it...take it...!" Grasping the book, Subaru pulled it out and mischievously tossed it into a thicket. The woman's hand reached out, grasping nothing but air; she opened and shut her fist as she let out a sigh. "It would seem your attitude regarding my favor, and the things of others, has NOT improved." The woman shook her head; her apparent lament had an echo of disappointment. Subaru coughed. He'd never imagined that the madwoman would make an appeal to reason and common sense. The woman went over to pick up the book Subaru had thrown. Meanwhile Subaru moved his head in an attempt to locate the fallen Patlash. He found her; her breaths were labored, but she was all right. And ideally positioned. "Ahh, guide for my love, proof of my favor...! Finally within my hands... I am deeply MOVED!" The woman clutched the recovered Gospel to her chest as she shed tears. Holding the written word, her crazed love in tangible form, the woman shifted her head, turning a mad smile toward the barely alive Subaru. "You fought bravely. You fought well, worthy of such praise! You and your land dragon resisted so well, so diligently! In praise of your actions, I shall grant thee mercy!" "...Mercy?" "YES! Mercy! If you have any last words, I shall burn your words into my very soul, never to forget them for eternity! Now, say what you will!" He was surprised that the madwoman would show her opponent compassion after a hard-fought battle. She only made room for it because she'd recovered the book and had victory right before her eyes, but it was an unexpected side of her even so. Then Subaru, taking the madwoman up on her offer, lifted up a hand. It was his left hand, opposite of that which had thrown the Gospel. He was holding something in it. "Do you know what this is?" The question made a suspicious look come over Sloth. The words were different from those she had sought, but the woman peered into Subaru's hand. It held a magic crystal, small enough to rest in a palm. Giving off a white light, it was not a one-shot-one-kill trump card. By itself, it held no power to turn the battle around. In the first place, there were things like this all over the forest. And properly speaking, it belonged among the others, not in his palm. "This is..." "A barrier magic crystal. They're stuck on trees all over the forest. You didn't notice?" *** Subaru wondered if her silence meant that she hadn't noticed, or that she didn't understand what he was saying. He didn't really care which. The plan was already in motion. "What are you sayi ?" The woman, her disquiet at Subaru's last words evident, suspiciously reached out with a hand. Just before her hand arrived, the plan went operational. *** Sensing something leaping toward her shoulder, the woman instantly tried to turn around. She never made it. From behind, the fangs of the demon beast breaking through the forest sank deep into her neck. 5 He'd had his suspicions. The possibility had grazed his head several times while they'd been on the march. The kicker was when Julius and Ferris looked as if they doubted their ears when he told them the area around the mansion and village was a giant demon beast habitat. Demon beasts harbored nothing but hatred for all living things. The battle with the White Whale had soaked that terrifying aspect of their nature into his bones. But at the same time, he wondered... The demonic, canine Urugarums in the forest, as well as the White Whale, hated Subaru's physical makeup and saw him as an enemy. If so, didn't the same go for the Witch Cultists, who saw Subaru as an ally? And now, firm proof of that hypothesis rested right before his eyes. "Gaaaaaaa!" Impaled by sharp pain and the sudden impact, the madwoman looked unaware of what had happened as she screamed. With the leaping demon beast's fangs in her neck, the small-statured woman could do nothing to throw him off. The black-furred demon dog was large enough that it made the tiny woman look like a child standing beside an adult. The woman was swung up and down by the demon beast maw clamping down on her, slamming her into the ground several times. The woman went limp, drained of strength. Without hesitation the demonic canine held her down, withdrew its fangs, and went for the final blow. With a growl, it opened its maw, this time aiming for the woman's windpipe. Perhaps it meant to snuff her life out; perhaps its action was pointless, the fruit of its murderous instincts. Subaru could not tell which. He could not, but the madwoman was not one to go down without a fight. "Filthy beast...! Unseen Hands!" Pressed against the ground, the woman shouted, and instantly, her wriggling shadow became evil hands that mowed the demon dog down. Bathed in the invisible attack, the demon dog cried out very much like a puppy as it tumbled heavily. But it instantly got back on its paws, howling as it moved anew to rend its prey apart "Wait! That's enough!" But Subaru intervened, barrier crystal in hand, putting a halt to its aggression. The demon beast was in a leaping stance as it growled, glaring hatefully at the white magic crystal in Subaru's hand. The beast slowly backed away, perhaps compelled to do so by the power residing in the crystal. Subaru and the madwoman might have been the pair the demon beast could least overlook. Even so, the demon beast did not leap at them. Its fangs quivered; it growled and drooled as it leaped backward. The demon beast proceeded to mingle with the thickets, its footsteps growing more distant. There was no way it had let them go. It probably meant to watch and wait until he let go of the barrier crystal. Watching the demon beast's retreat, Subaru let out a long sigh before turning his head, looking down at the madwoman. Stopping the Urugarum demon beast from finishing her off had certainly not been an act of mercy. There had been no need. From the way her guts were already spilling out from her belly, the woman must have already known this for herself. "How can this be? To think, at a demon beast's..." "You didn't do your homework. This whole area's a demon beast habitat. They just isolate it with the barrier." The back of her neck bitten off, the woman was unable to move, covered in mortal wounds. Perhaps she was already blind; her one remaining eye, lacking any spark, did not turn Subaru's way. The results weren't sufficient to call the operation a success. He'd been saved by happenstance and a flash of inspiration, clutching victory by a hairbreadth. After all their history, to think an Urugarum would appear in a place like that... "Roswaal, you bastard...you said you'd wiped 'em all out." Cursing his all-too-secretive supporter, Subaru knelt on one knee at the woman's side. He picked up the Gospel that lay right beside the woman, bloody and on death's door. Even if Subaru couldn't play decoy himself, the book could still be used as bait in scenes to come. The battle with the woman had proven its worth well enough. "I don't know what happened to Kety, but at most, there's two fingers left...we'll smash 'em." "Mm-mm-mmm..." Subaru looked down at her. "Oh, it's reckless? Undoable? How many of you have I taken down? Learn already, geez. Though no point saying that to you now, I suppose." *** On the brink, the woman twisted her lips at Subaru's words. The bleeding from them wouldn't stop. Blood trickled from the corners of her lips as the woman smiled, boldly greeting her impending death. When Subaru saw her like that, it sent the greatest possible chill up his spine. "Go ahead...hold it, for now. But...soon..." *** "Soon, I will taaake my love back." At the end, that part came out loud and clear before the woman's smile faltered, her life signs coming to an end. It was death, plain and simple an end from which there was no coming back. It was the fourth, or perhaps the third, death of Sloth he had witnessed. "Shit...what was she trying to tell me anyway?" Subaru scratched his head as he looked down at the dead woman's face. The inside of his mouth was dry, and he felt that his arteries had oddly quickened for reasons unrelated to stress and nervousness. For the first time, without relying on anyone else, Subaru had brought another person to death in the midst of combat. That fact made his knees faintly shake. He clamped his teeth down and sighed at length. The woman had set a curse upon Subaru just before her death. It was a curse he could not dispel right that moment. "...Can't stay standing around. Even if one's down, there's still Sloths left." Brushing hesitancy aside, Subaru turned his eyes away from the corpse and rushed over

to Patlash. The land dragon looked pretty beat-up from the furious tumble, bearing countless wounds over the entirety of her body. And yet, when the land dragon sensed Subaru's approach, she stoutly rose to her feet. "Sorry, Patlash. I really want to give you a break, but I still need you." *** When Subaru declared he would push her further, Patlash silently turned her back to him in response. He mounted, unable to count how many debts he now owed the land dragon after the last half day, the last several hours in particular. Drawing the reins, he ordered the helmetless land dragon to return to the village. The barrier crystal in his hand was warm, steadily continuing to warn of the presence of demon beasts. Perhaps the demon dog was lurking in the thicket, watching them that very moment. He paid no heed as they took off running. "The Sloths left over, the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins' fingers...probably one left!" At the height of the battle in the village, Subaru and Julius had headed toward the source of the Unseen Hands. There, they found an explosion, and at the center of that explosion, Wilhelm. Subaru had no doubt Wilhelm had been fighting that Sloth until the instant just prior to that. He was sure the Sword Devil had struck down his foe. He deduced that, just as with the dragon carriage explosion, something in Kety's possession had caused it. If Kety had been defeated by the Sword Devil, he might have blown himself up to try to bring Wilhelm down with him. If that was true, there was one finger remaining and that ought to be the last Sloth left. "If we can deal with that one, we just need to mop up the regular Witch Cultists and we win!" He finally saw a beacon of certain victory. But that glimmer was far back in Subaru's mind. To escape the madwoman's attacks, he'd had to flee deep into the forest. He was far from the village, where the battle was surely still raging. Every second spent running uphill felt like a lifetime. " ?! Shit! He really did come out!!" Clenching his teeth, Subaru glared up at the sky, shouting with anger and nervousness. The sight was even worse than he'd expected. Once more, black hands stretched from the other side of the forest up to the sky before his eyes, pointed toward the village. Subaru was still far away. His shout could not reach the people those arms were aimed at. If they swung downward, more would die. Knights. Beast people. Villagers. Lives would be snuffed out. Lives that belonged to people Subaru knew. Raising a voiceless scream, Subaru prayed for the black, evil hands to disappear. As if responding to Subaru's lament, Patlash, battered all over, increased her speed. They practically flew over the lip, charged down into the forest, and raced to the village on the verge of being violated once more. "Sloth!!" As they galloped, he yelled hard enough to rend his throat. The village bore vast traces of destruction: human corpses were strewn all over the place; flames were raging, mingling with someone's crying voice in the air. Even in a world filled with the sound of swords clashing, he instantly knew who the madman must be. The fifth Sloth was a very thin, balding, middle-aged man, tearing at his bloody face as he laughed maniacally. *** Subaru instinctively knew that this was the last one. The madman turned, seemingly drawn by Subaru's certainty. They exchanged gazes, acknowledging each other as enemies. However, the man played the most horrific of opening moves first. "Ahh my brain is shaaaaaking!" Already, countless arms swung up, blocking the heavens before they came crashing down alongside an angry, unhinged shout. The attack became a cascade of death, no doubt intended to violate the village to its roots, crushing anyone and everyone to death by sheer force of numbers. "Gotta stop him!" Subaru cried with determination, but it was a cry of despair, for he had no power with which to do so. And a moment before the madman's act of brutality proceeded to repaint the world in black "That is far enough, villain." he heard a voice. And that voice took everyone aback. Standing in a daze, they looked up at the sky, unable to move. "Enough I will tolerate no more violence from you." For above the myriad wriggling black hands, the sky was covered in the pale glow of absolute zero. CHAPTER 5 *** 1 The pale light danced violently, covering Earlham Village, crimson from blood and flame, with its twinkle. The frigid air spawned fine fragments of ice, reflecting the light to create a fantastic sight a phenomenon known as diamond dust, robbed of its beauty by the reality of the tragedy beneath it. "Enough I will tolerate no more violence from you." The beautiful voice cut through that surreal scene like light through a clear piece of glass. The battlefield was dominated by that voice, clear as a bell, and everyone's eyes were stolen by the girl who appeared upon it. Her long, silver hair flapped in a warm wind. Her violet eyes were imbued with a powerful will. Her beauty was so great that none who witnessed it could ever forget. Her outward appearance was enough to draw the eyes of others several times over. However, in that instant, her appearance was not why she had stolen the gazes of all present. Everyone's eyes had been stolen for no reason beyond the overwhelming awe of her presence. *** The sound of steel against steel, the cries of anger and sadness, and even the flames burning homes fell into silence, seemingly holding their breath. In such a world, the silver-haired girl Emilia quietly gazed at her foe. "Emilia..." When Subaru put her name on his lips, all of his complicated feelings enveloped him. Of course it had come to this. There was a battle raging on the mansion's doorstep. Villagers were evacuating to the mansion one after another. Someone was fighting to protect her. There was no way she would stay quietly shut in. Emilia's eyes contained sorrow and enmity toward the Witch Cult that had created the field of battle. "Step back, villain. I won't...let you do such terrible things." "Ahh, how can this be...?" Identifying the madman standing in the square as her enemy, Emilia pricked him with a stern tone of voice. However, the madman was hardly thrown off by that voice; his blood-smeared face registered surprise before beaming with delight. Sloth twisted his body, stretched both hands toward Emilia, and continued to smile as he shouted. "Ahh, ahhh! What a fortuitous, wonderful day! Such marvelous fate! To think such a wondrous opportunity would come to fruition! Truly, the living image! Never, amid these repeated trials, did I believe I would have the chance to come across a vessel of such magnitude...!" "...What are you saying?" So deeply moved was the fifth Sloth that he wept, a flood of tears pouring out of him. Seeing the madman's out-of-place tears, Emilia raised her eyebrows, bewilderment plain on her face. "Ohh, ohh, O Witch...the beacon of love that guides me...!" The madman stumbled forward, narrowing the range between himself and Emilia. Perhaps her reaction was part of what stirred him so deeply. With the distance counting down to ruin, Emilia turned a palm toward him. "Don't move! I won't warn you again." Emilia kept her palm thrust out, making the statement as the madman stepped closer. However, her call for him to halt never reached the madman's ears. He took one step, then another, narrowing the distance "This time! Or the next! Someday, someday, I shall...!" "I told you, don't move." As she had said, this time was not another warning. She coldly switched from an ultimatum to an implementation of force. The light wildly dancing in the sky cracked open, and a surge of mana froze water droplets in the atmosphere. This created a total of four sharp, icy spears and these, she launched in an instant. *** The chill of overwhelming death was merciless. A single blow would sever the thread of life without fail; a being impaled with a solid blow would have his flesh dyed white, frozen down to the soul to become an icy statue. However "No hesitation, no pity, no mercy... Truly, truly, truly a diligent decision!" "...Aren't they your allies?" The madman energetically laughed beside the Witch Cultists now frozen beside him, having shielded him with their bodies. The sight made Emilia uncomprehendingly furrow her brow. Responding to her doubts, the madman tilted his head at a ninety-degree angle, stretching an evil hand to a frozen subordinate, shattering him. "They are disciples! Furthermore, my fingers! However, before you, before the vessel, these things bear no meaning! It is the same even for ME! Right now, now, nownownownownownownownow! My will, my reason for existence! All of it, unto you!" *** "Unto you, unto you, unto you... However, that is not where it must end." To Emilia, aghast at his madness, the madman opened his eyes wide and raised a bloody finger. He trained the crushed fingertip on Emilia or, more precisely, Emilia's left shoulder. Atop her slender shoulder, a little cat spirit was nestled against her silver hair. It was to this being that Sloth turned his hated. "Spirit, spirit, spiriiit! Diminutive in stature, knowing neither love nor righteousness! Unaware of just how grave a crime it is to cuddle up to the vessel! Ignorant, in other words, sinful! What blasphemy!!" Sloth vented excessive rage and hatred toward Puck. However, when the madman addressed him with a torrent of enmity, Puck trained cruel eyes upon him. It was an expression unimaginable on the spirit that had been so gentle and carefree daily no, Subaru knew that look, what Puck looked like with bloodlust honed to a tip. Subaru knew the mighty power resting inside that tiny body, for he had experienced it for himself. "Unfortunately, being with her is the reason for my existence. I do not need anyone's permission, nor do I intend to seek it besides, you're the unpleasant one here." Both were set in their ways, making the hatred they turned toward each other all the clearer. The madman had rebuked Puck with fierce emotion; Puck responded to the madman's disgust with scorn. At that rate, the slightest touch would set them off, and the clash between two beings of immense power would truly begin. "Wait, that's..." "You're the one who needs to wait, Subawu. Settle down, now..." When Subaru tried to intervene on the brink of hostilities, someone suddenly tugged him back by his sleeve. The force took Subaru by surprise; Ferris, who'd appeared at some point, was the one pulling his sleeve. Ferris, still wearing the tattered mantle from earlier, stroked a heavily wounded Patlash as he sighed at Subaru. "Subawu, she's terribly wounded, and so are you. You need absolute rest. That's an order, meow." "Like this is the time! I can't just make Emilia fight that..." "It was Ram and I who decided to call Lady Emilia trust her a little, okay?" With a stop put to his nervous feet, Subaru grimaced at Ferris's words. In response to the perplexed Subaru, Ferris closed one eye and said, "Trust that the person you want to protect isn't only fit to stand back and watch." 2 Considering the harsh exchange just before, the battle began in eerie silence. *** The walls of icy mist Emilia had scattered around her were smashed as she leaped heavily backward. Just then, the ground where she had stood until a moment before exploded; she blinked at the clumps of excavated dirt. "So you really can't see them at all." "This needs extra attention." Puck whispered from atop Emilia's shoulder. She straightened herself out as she lightly touched down on the tips of her toes. The invisible blow wielded by the madman as Ferris had informed her beforehand, Emilia's eyes

could not catch sight of the fists. But she had ways to defend herself even without seeing them. She surrounded herself with a body of icy mist, dodging when she sensed outside intrusion. Puck had suggested the method, and with his capabilities, it was far from impossible to pull off. "I'll get close and hit him right away." As Emilia murmured, the ground tapped by her tiptoes was being dyed white. Centered on Emilia, the frost covering the ground spread farther, turning it into frozen earth for a twenty-yard radius around her in the blink of an eye. It was a familiar sensation under her soles. Influenced as she was by the forest she had been born and raised in, gliding on ice was second nature to her. "Before my love, such petty moves! Tricks! SCHEMES! Merely futile resistance!" The man shouted at the gliding Emilia, reaching top velocity from the first step toward her. The next moment, he pressed on with an oppressive cry, ripping away the icy mist floating around her. But by the time the invisible arms broke through the mist, Emilia's body was nowhere to be found. Gliding over the ice, Emilia was running circles around the man to throw off his aim. He tried chasing and getting in front of her, but nothing he tried resulted in a hit. Freely dispersing ice over the ground, she could escape anywhere. And before the invisible arms could hit her, Emilia's reliable protector completed his encircling snare. "I understand you falling for my beloved daughter. I'm very proud of her. But no pests allowed." "Nn ?!" The instant Puck made this laid-back statement, thick walls of ice rose up, surrounding the man on four sides. His path of escape blocked, the man's eyes went wide with wonder, leaving him completely defenseless. Immediately, the icy walls let out a creak as they shot spikes from the surfaces within. There was nowhere to run; a lethal attack without any forewarning. Prey struck squarely would be impaled inside the walls, frozen to the last drop of its flowing blood, and shattered. It was an attack that embodied the innocent cruelty under Puck's adorable surface. But " Naive!! Naivenaivenaiveveveeeeee, yessss!!" A bellow rose from inside the icy encirclement. The next instant, the icy walls broke into smithereens with a high-pitched sound. The ice-turned-shards twinkled as the man leaped out of them, unharmed. The instant he was showered in spikes, he'd created a wall of invisible force against the interior of the walls of ice. Unable to withstand the pressure from within, the icy walls had been smashed to pieces. "That mere tricks could defeat me is absurd! A trial is not so easily " "Eiiya!" " Kwaa?!" However, when the man, proud of his victory, trod across the ice, Emilia launched from her powerful glide into a flip. Emilia's kick, slipped in without a sound, drove into the man's defenseless solar plexus. The speed and force of the unexpected kick were of sufficient power to lightly blow the man off his feet. "This time...eh?!" Emilia proceeded to beat the man to where he was due to fall and deploy her magical energy, making icy flowers bloom but the spectacle she witnessed made her doubt her own eyes. Tracing an arc, the man she had knocked away halted in midair, flying up in another direction. The movement was unnatural, as if something had caught him out of thin air before hurling him in another direction "Using it like that..." "Ahh, the repudiation of thought is the essence of Sloth! Apply! Redirect! Reappropriate further!" When the man, dancing in the sky, reached an arm toward her, Emilia instantly formed a pillar of ice, driving it toward her opponent. But as the icy pillar flew toward the man, it struck something and shattered, failing to reach him. In contrast, with the oppressive force coming from the man undiminished, Emilia glided across the ground, moving forward and proceeded to use the momentum from her glide to sail into the air. *** With both rising into midair, Emilia and the man exchanged glances. Madness met righteous indignation, and once again, it was Emilia who first went on the attack. The next things she created were multiple icy disks that she pounded toward the man, sending them through the air in erratic curves. Stranded in midair, the man could not dodge the icy disks surrounding him above, below, left, and right. "Yesyesyesyes, YES !!" However, the man did evade the flying, icy disks, moving unnaturally via the most absurd of methods. He bounced erratically in the sky, and though he was uncontrollably spun round and round, the man escaped the disks, shouting in delight. "What was...what?" "THIS is love!" When the creepy movements made even Emilia exclaim, the man gave a reply that was not an answer. His ferocious desire to return the favor transmuted into stabbing bloodlust that made goose bumps stand on Emilia's pale flesh. The man's combativeness was more than a match for her wariness. He poured his hostility into the hands he powerfully brought together "Be baptized by Her favor, the symbol of my love! Prepare to undergo the trial!!" *** When Emilia felt the icy mist being destroyed, her face stiffened for the first time in the battle. That was the result of detecting the invisible menace unleashed upon her from all sides, denying her any avenue of escape. She was in the sky, unable to move freely. The difficult-to-evade blow was truly retribution for the earlier attack. *** And then the center of Emilia's chest was impaled, brutally run through. The destructive power gouged out her breasts, punching right through her chest. The man's eyes bulged at the results, the wound so deep that he could see through to the other side. "This is the result of Her favor! The fruit of my love! The proof that the Witch responds to my love! But there is no cause for despair! Even if what is within is lost, the vessel is ours to " "Eiiya!" " Kuwaa?!" The man's declaration of victory was interrupted by a kick. The blow from behind sent his body flying. Beyond the sheer force of the kick to the man's blind spot, completely unexpected from his point of view, he had no idea what had happened. Before him was Emilia, with Puck riding on her shoulder, clapping his paws with no hint of sarcasm. That instant, the ice statue of Emilia pierced through the chest shattered into dust. Even the light had been fine-tuned to create a false Emilia that looked just like the real thing. "That's no good, looking away in the middle of a fight you'll get sucker punched, you know?" The man she had kicked into the sky, spinning round and round, had no time to get his bearings. He'd fallen for Puck's fake Emilia hook, line, and sinker, exposing his defenseless back. And with that setting the stage, Emilia couldn't miss. "You won't get away this time." *** The man was hurtling downward from the kick when his arms and legs were buried in manacles of ice. He was no longer able to move, no longer able to resist, and Emilia's blow was already prepared in full. The man slammed into the ground; his frozen limbs pinned his body there. From midair, Emilia proceeded to fall straight down, aimed right at the man's torso. The man's eyes widened as the distance narrowed. Then he laughed at the fast-approaching Emilia. "Ahh. This is truly diligent!" "Thank you now die properly!" Descending straight down, Emilia thrust the heel of her palm into the laughing man's torso. The force made his bones creak. The man let out a painful cry, stunned by the blow. But the cry lasted for only an instant. The next instant, the place touched by her palm began to freeze over. Not only his limbs but the man's entire body was dyed white, freezing to its core. *** Unable to even raise a death cry, the man became part of an ice flower in full bloom and perished. That was how the battle between Emilia and the man was decided. 3 Watching the outcome of the battle, Subaru was rooted to the spot, unable to make a sound. *** Overwhelming was insufficient to express it. From start to finish, Emilia had soundly engaged the enemy, splendidly succeeding in striking down the final Sloth. "You see? It's just like I said, meow?" In place of the dumbstruck Subaru, Ferris, standing beside him, expressed admiration for Emilia's battle. His basic healing magic had closed up the land dragon's wounds; now he reached a hand out to heal Subaru's. The touch of his slender fingers made Subaru aware of the pain of his own wounds once more. He had countless bumps and scrapes all over his body; in particular, the right side of his body really hurt. He'd taken a hard hit when he and Patlash had been bowled over in the forest. "Ah, Subawu...doesn't this really hurt? Your ankle, your shoulder..." "Where's your bedside manner?! Put my mind on the parts that don't hurt or something!!" "Ahh, this might be pretty bad. You might die from it, meow..." When Subaru made a grandiose show of pain, Ferris teasingly poked his ribs. When his teasing hand withdrew, Subaru sighed as he looked toward Emilia once more. It was unclear what Emilia felt concerning the madman's death. But there was a trickle on her pale cheek; Subaru saw a shining tear rolling down it. It must have pained her spirit to take another person's life. If so, that was Subaru Natsuki's sin it was his powerlessness that had drawn Emilia and the Cult together. *** However, Emilia looked surprised at the rolling tear on her face, quickly wiping it off. Perhaps the spirit on her shoulder had said something to her, for Emilia knit her brows with a conflicted look. She didn't even know why she'd shed a tear. That was how it looked to Subaru. *** As Subaru watched Emilia, he suddenly noticed deep emotions strangely stirring in his chest. The multiple thoughts toward her somehow seemed like separate, foreign emotions. For some mysterious reason, he had a deep urge to scratch his brain. It was almost as if "My, my, they're all so hasty." Ferris, hearing battle cries in the distance from all over the village, gave a slightly pained smile as he spoke. Now that Emilia had struck down the final Sloth, the battle was nearing its conclusion. The Witch Cultists being fought in every corner of the village had largely been slain, and cries of victory filled the sky. The Iron Fangs were particularly boisterous, but it was not only in the beast people that victory bubbled to the surface. The knights who had fought and survived raised their swords, letting up shouts of their own. To Ferris, a healer, the real battle had now begun, for the number of casualties, and the number of casualties who could be returned to health, rested upon his skill. Of course, pouring cold water on his comrades when they boiled with victory was the one thing he could not do, but "Ferris." "Yes, yes, Ferri at your servi er, Old Man Wil?!" When addressed, Ferris turned around with a lighthearted greeting, but was taken aback at who the speaker was. Behind him was Wilhelm, breathing raggedly as he dragged his half-bloodied body around. The heavy burns and countless lacerations on him truly justified the word half-alive. "Wait a ! You can't walk around with those wounds! If I don't lay you down and heal you right now " "I can wait. More importantly, there is something crucial I must say." "You might die, you know?! Don't tell me it's more important than your l " "Even so, I must speak it now. Where is Sir Subaru?" In contrast to his level of injury, Wilhelm's voice was filled with vigor and drive. He would have fallen on the spot, save for sheer will. Both

surprised and exasperated at the fact, Ferris immediately looked back and said, "Subawu? He's right h " He ought to have been rooted to the spot, hemming and hawing over what to say to Emilia. And yet " Subawu?" When Ferris looked back, Subaru Natsuki was nowhere his eyes could see. 4 Clutching his head, he barreled through the thickets, running deeper and deeper into the forest. He had to get as far as he could, as far as he could manage, as far as was humanly possible; far from the village, far from the square, far from his friends and far from Emilia. "Haa, hu...haa!" Short of breath, he earnestly, desperately ran across the poor footing of the forest. Sweat was in his eyes, and his heart hurt as if it would leap out of his mouth, but he couldn't be bothered to care. The image of a silver-haired girl turned away from him was burned into the back of his eyelids. She would turn, their eyes would meet, and they would speak words of reunion but that was a moment he could accept no longer. It was not that he was ashamed to meet her face, nor was it timidity of any kind. He had a different reason. A terrible, abominable reason. *** "Subaru, where are you going?!" *** Subaru had headed toward the uninhabited depths of the forest, and yet someone had called out to him even so. He stopped; his eyes turned back, watching the slender figure with wonder. He was a handsome young man, with short, light-purple hair and a look of elegance and refinement Julius Juukulius. Julius, wiping his bloodstained uniform with a sleeve, put a hand against a large tree beside him as he gazed at Subaru. "I am glad that you are safe...but what happened? I hear cries of victory from the village. If you are here like this, that Sloth must have been slain. And yet, why are you here?" *** "If something troubles you, please, speak of it. After all that, we are comrades through thick and thin." Hand-combing his disheveled hair, Julius spoke patiently to the stiff-faced Subaru. Just as he'd said, Subaru could still hear their comrades' voices from the direction of the village. They were still close enough that he could hear them, even though he needed to be farther, much farther away... After all, if he didn't get farther away "Subaru?" Julius knit his brows at Subaru's persisting silence, saying nothing. Sensing that something was off, the knight took a step forward, approaching with concern in his eyes. It was the look of concern one gave the ill or wounded. However, it was not his body that was the problem. Ferris's no-frills healing let him move without any difficulty. That was why he was using that flesh to the fullest. "Suba " "Julius, get away fro but it is TOO late!!" *** Desperately, Subaru resisted with all his body and soul, managing to partially hold it back. But even the fragmented, cut-off words made the knight instantly put distance between them to avoid the risk. "Subaru" raised an arm, swinging it in the air, and tilted his head in dissatisfaction at a ninety-degree angle, straight to the side. "A fine reaction, yes! Though this flesh resists, you evaded WELL. You truly, truly, truly are a diligent person! All the greater the pity..." " I had a bad feeling when I was suddenly expelled from Subaru's body." On one knee, cavalry saber drawn, Julius murmured with frustration. Complex emotions swirled in his yellow eyes: anger, regret, and inexhaustible hostility and hesitation. Seeing the wavering of his eyes, "Subaru" squared his shoulders in approval. "All the more promising! The way you are, you think, you waver, is all proof of your diligence! The only thing that sullied that was your base, filthy soul..." "Truly, it is he who has been sullied by something base and filthy. Namely, you " Mad hatred and hatred mixed with righteous anger clashed as Julius and "Subaru" glared at each other, their fierce emotions at polar opposites. And then "Julius! Subawu!" With a great sound of running feet, a high-pitched voice intervened, riding through the trees. A jet-black land dragon appeared, kicking up a cloud of dirt, and riding on its back were Ferris and Wilhelm. Atop the dragon, Ferris's eyes widened as he saw Julius and "Subaru" facing off. Wilhelm leaped down from the dragon, standing at Julius's side. Then he turned to "Subaru" with a grave look in his eyes. "Sir Julius, Sir Subaru..." "Master Wilhelm that is not Subaru." Hearing Julius's hushed reply, Wilhelm radiated hostility, clenching his teeth enough to make them creak. The atmosphere tightened. Their faces contorted Ferris's with worry, Julius's with righteous anger, Wilhelm's with fierce emotion. "Subaru" was the only one having a good time, clapping his hands as a crazed smile came over him. And then "Now that you are assembled, allow me to reintroduce myself I am the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins entrusted with Sloth..." His head tilted at ninety degrees, "Subaru" opened the front of his jersey and the madman laughed grandly. "Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti!!" Thus did he give his name. 5 He'd been wrong. He'd been mistaken. Subaru had failed to grasp the most important thing about his enemy. He had been mistaken about the evilest, most important part of Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti. The Witch Cult's Archbishop of Sloth was not multiple beings bearing the titles of ten fingers. It was a single spiritual entity named Petelgeuse, attaching itself to the flesh of others. *** "Truly fine! Truly a splendid body! It has been decades since flesh has felt so comfortable, the perfect resource for supplementing my lost fingers!" "How dare you...?! Get out of Sir Subaru's body right now, heretic!" "For what purpose, and with what right do you say such a thing? It is because you robbed me of my precious fingers that I must inhabit this body as a last resort!" Wilhelm grasped Petelgeuse's face, bending his head back while yelling into it. But the madman responded with Subaru's face and Subaru's voice and, for the pure enjoyment of it, scratched at his throat. The painful sight of gouged flesh and blood scattering mortified Julius and the others. "Your qualifications are by no means poor. Unfortunately, you have engraved too many excess rituals into your fleeesh. This makes you fundamentally unsuitable to be my finger." *** "Diligent old bones! Your flesh, too, is unsuited to be my finger! Even if I must praise the spirit, your flesh is an unsuitable vessel for love...ahh, how tragic!" To Ferris, and then Wilhelm, Petelgeuse pointed his finger and shook his head. They did not understand the finer details of what his declarations meant. But putting aside that he could mean nothing good, they understood that they were unsuitable in his eyes. And then " And above all else, a spirit user. You are the MOST incompatible of all. The hindrance of your impurity aside, you would become a fine finger of mine. Is THIS answer enough?" "Unfortunately, I shall not cast the flowers aside, even if they were to abandon me. Perhaps a madman like you cannot understand such feelings." Julius responded to that extraordinary malice with a reply of utmost enmity. The contents thereof made Petelgeuse's eyes go wide; the next moment, he slapped his knees, seized by laughter. "Madman! Truly, that IS the proper term! Yes, I am crazy for love! Love, undaunted love, mementos of love, affectionate love, kind love, warm love, benevolent love, thirst for love, reverent love, love of family, climactic love, private love, pure love, cherished love, gushing love, filial love, trusting love, deep love, virtuous love, sensual love, bitter love, profound love, charitable love, spiteful love, faithful love, gracious love, humble love, biased love, delusional love, fraternal love, romantic love, love, love, love, loveloveloveloveloooooooooovvvvve!!" "Damned fool..." As Petelgeuse made his insanity clear, Julius focused his hostility at him while pleading to Subaru's soul. "Subaru! Open your eyes! You are too good to be taken over by a madman like...!" "It is futile! This flesh is already under the control of my mind! Though it attempts to RESIST, it is fruitless, meaningless! This body is already my finger!" "No one is speaking to you! Subaru, think! What did you come back for? Why do you fight? Did you not shout those very words to me?!" While disparaging Petelgeuse, Julius wrapped his six colored spirits around his cavalry saber, raising it high. The powerful, rainbowlike light repelled the darkness in the forest, its radiance dazzling the eyes for a brief moment. This created a faint gap in Petelgeuse's thoughts, which had completely smothered Subaru's to that point. And then "Wh-what is this?! What are...? As if you need it spelled out, you stupid jerk...!" *** The madman opened his eyes in shock, rocked back by the torrent of emotions surging up from within. Halting as they were, the words that trickled out of his mouth were a glimpse of the mind of the owner of that flesh. In short order, Petelgeuse's look of shock was forced back, replaced from beneath by the look of Subaru breathing painfully. The transformation made Julius and the others raise their voices, seeing a glimmer of hope. "Subaru!" "Subawu!" "Sir Subaru!" "I am...Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti... Shut the hell up, I'm Subaru Natsuki...!" Push back, push back. Bury everything in the dark dregs of the mind. "You are merely...mumbling in my ears...you will soon falter... Do you really think...you can defeat the likes of me, by strength of will...?" With bluff, a show of pretense, he tried to take back, seize back his own mind. If he didn't, he was on the brink of surrendering to the urge to destroy himself that very moment. Or perhaps of wanting the destructive arms to stretch from his shadow and lay waste to everything around him. *** Was that urge a darkness that enveloped Petelgeuse around the clock? If so, he could, on one level, understand and sympathize with the madman's aberrant actions to date. Immersed in such madness, he injured himself to maintain his sanity. If he was constantly coated in such powerful madness, small wonder he'd become mentally unbalanced. Was this the world as Petelgeuse saw it? "I do not seek your understanding!" Those were the first words Petelgeuse spoke when he broke past Subaru's resistance. The voice that had spoken such madness, such crazed delight, such fury, now spoke with a mind that was indifferent, unmoved. It was a darkness that chilled Subaru to the bone more than any of his madness ever had. And then he understood he couldn't let this darkness come to the surface. "...Do it, Julius." With Petelgeuse's resistance slackening, he'd settle it while he was still in control. For that purpose, Subaru chose the method most likely to succeed. That sword held the greatest possibility for beating Petelgeuse. When addressed, Julius was aghast; his eyes widened, and his lips quivered. "What are...you saying?" "Sorry, but...it's only a matter of time. If you...don't stop me now, we can't win...so before that happens..." "No! Subaru, you must reconsider! I am both a knight and a spirit mage, a spirit knight who swore to aid you in your objective. I cannot break that oath now!" "You swore with me to...protect Emilia... Pretty sick of me, I know." The reply Subaru wrung out of himself made Julius grimace in anguish. He'd always maintained his elegance and composure. With that demeanor to go on, Subaru was a little surprised at the expression he was making. Subaru had never dreamed that he'd hesitate after coming this far. "And you had something to speak to me about later." "...Sorry. But no can do." He remembered the words spoken the instant they'd prayed for each other's good fortune in battle at the height of the fight with Sloth. He should have cleared the air before that, but in the end, after dragging his feet, he hadn't said it in time. "Wilhelm, don't

do anything rash..." "I pushed myself to reach this point. I absolutely will not accept an end like " Wilhelm was heavily wounded, having delayed treatment for his injuries to rush over with all haste. Subaru could only praise the Sword Devil, forcing a body that should not to move through willpower alone, but this darkness could not be swept away by skill with the sword. Subaru gave a momentary, limp smile before leaving things in the hands of the last person. "Ferris, please." "You can hate me for this, Subaru I hate me, too." At Subaru's words, Ferris the person there who most hated the cruelty of life and death nodded. He seemed to somehow have known he would be called upon. With tears in his eyes, he pointed a finger at Subaru. The gesture triggered an abnormality in Subaru's core namely, a scorching pain, as if his blood were being boiled, burning his entire body with unendurable heat. "Ga aaaa !!" Hot. Hot. Hothothothothothothothothothot His throat was hot. His eyes were hot. His body was hot. His tongue was hot. His nose was hot. His hands were hot. His ears were hot. His feet were hot. His blood was hot. His brain was hot. His bones were hot. His soul was hot. His life was hot. Hot, hot, hot. His blood was literally boiling, his internal organs were simmering, and the high-temperature steam his brain gave off clouded his vision. "Aaaaaaa ?!" From somewhere other than his melting ears, he heard the echo of a death cry that was not his own. One body was inhabited by two minds. Naturally, burning the body meant burning the mind of the madman with it. There was no escape. At this rate, that soul, trapped in its vessel, would be sent straight to the afterlife. *** He suffered, he writhed, he convulsed, and finally, his body could move no more. Petelgeuse could try his sore loser act again, but it wouldn't work this time. Inside Subaru, his days were done. "Ferris! Why...?" "No one else could do it, right? This is what Subawu wanted." "Even so, to inflict such pain on Sir Subaru like this " " ! Do you think I wanted to?! To use this power, power I have for Lady Crusch's sake, that I promised to use to put her on the throne, like this...!" The voices of lament, regret, anger, sadness...they sounded so distant. Lacking the strength to even shift his head, Subaru silently apologized for forcing Ferris to stain his hands like this. With Julius hesitating, and Wilhelm beyond reach, Ferris was the only one he could count on. It was the same method he'd used to make Kety faint inside the dragon carriage that later exploded. Subaru's body had been directly healed by Ferris, so Ferris could interfere with Subaru's mana without touching him. The result was plain. The power, and suffering, were beyond Subaru's expectations, almost enough to make him regret his choice. But those feelings were overshadowed by his guilt of forcing such a deed on Ferris. Ferris's power was the power to heal others. That was the source of Ferris's pride, his mission in life, and the part of himself he treasured above all else. Subaru had made him use that power in a terrible way. He just wished he could utter the word sorry. *** Lying on the ground, unable to move, Subaru felt something touching his face. His eyes felt like a haze, displaying nothing. But Subaru recognized the hard, grainy sensation from somewhere. It was not from Julius, nor from Ferris, nor from Wilhelm, but from someone else related to *** With Subaru's life flickering like a candle in the wind, he felt Patlash, the jet-black land dragon, nestle close to mourn his passing. Probably, these were the top four on the list of people he'd caused trouble for no, Emilia and Ram were missing from that list. And he was truly grateful neither of the two was there. "Subaru." He sensed someone standing opposite Patlash, speaking with a forthright voice. He didn't even have to think about who it was. Full of determination, the voice could be none other than that of "The Finest of Knights." After all, there was no knightly knight in that place save he. "It was my inadequacy that forced you and Ferris into an unpalatable decision. I shall surely pay for this sin someday." Don't dwell on stupid stuff like that, was exactly what he didn't feel like saying. Dwell on it more and more, damn it. Don't you ever forget it. I won't ever forget. This pain, this powerlessness *** For a moment, there was silence. However, that did not break the knight's resolve. Sensing the feeling of cold steel on his neck, Subaru let out his breath at the apparent fact that he would soon be sent on his way. "Sir Subaru, I am very sorry." "Lady Emilia will probably cry." The voices sounded distant and broken to him. Everything was vague, incomprehensible. There were promises. To never forget. To take something back. To definitely come again. It ends here? Absurd! I cannot...not like this! Right when I have found a suitable vessel! On the eve of the trial's completion! A finger! If I have a new vessel, I cannot be destr... Shut up and go to hell. 6 He fell, fell to an unknown place far, far away Somehow, he'd died again. He'd probably lost it all once more. He surrendered everything to the abyss. This was the familiar embrace of failure after he pathetically lost his life. Look back at the world. Look back at your failures. Don't forget. Don't forget. Do not forget. Ferris's tear-filled voice. Wilhelm's lament, shaking with regrets. Julius's resolve and remorse, so great he probably gnashes his teeth over it Don't forget, ever. No matter how low you are, don't ever let go. Thus, another life came to an end. However, nonetheless, even so Subaru Natsuki continued. Whatever happened, no matter where he came back, no matter how much suffering he carried with him, his struggle would not cease. He would repeat and do over, for that was what he swore. With a strike, and a sound, everything plunged into darkness. And so it was interrupted. It was severed. And then "I love you." Together with that soft, gentle, fleeting, and cruel breath Subaru Natsuki lost his life, and the world was born again once more. *** It was dark. An entire world of nothing but darkness. He was tossed into a hazy world, seemingly floating in water with no sense of left or right, up or down. His body was unable to move at all. He couldn't feel his hands or legs, and he doubted his eyes and ears were functioning. With his mind so dazed, any thoughts he tried to formulate simply slipped out of his brain. Where is this? Who am I? What happened to make it like this? What little consciousness he held on to resulted only in ramblings that made the darkness flicker ever so slightly. " I love you." In that pitch blackness, a voice penetrated deep into his heart. It hung in his unhearing ears. It reached what should have been his still, unbeating heart. It found his soul, which was still unsure of its own existence. He wailed as the voice touched him directly, its wild, mad emotion pressing in on his heart. The voice was so terribly fleeting. The whispers wrenched his heart, filling it with such longing that it threatened to shatter. Hearing words lovely enough to scorch his soul made him feel like he would go mad. If I had fingers, I would touch you. If I had a mouth, I would call your name. If I had arms, I would embrace you. If I had feet, I would run to your side. If I had a body, you would never be alone again. But none of these wishes could be granted. He had no fingers, mouth, arms, feet, or body to give. The feeling was the same... In fact, it was a passion even greater than what he'd felt before. The warmth he received magnified his yearning, his emotions many times over, until finally they became sins. Sloth, because I cannot wipe away your tears. Lust, because I want us to melt together and become one. Gluttony, because I want to consume you, to take all of you for myself. Greed, because I want to have everything that I love. Wrath, because I cannot forgive the absurdity of it all. Pride, because I scorn everything that is not you. Jealousy, because that is all I feel for the world that embraces you. With this realization, the world shrouded in black was filled with an overwhelming sensation of love. That instant, the supposedly empty space warped, then shattered as irreversible time began to flow backward. It was simple. He understood that he was starting over. Where he had ended in darkness, light was born, and if he walked toward it, the world would greet him once more. " I love you." He turned his back on the voice and walked forward. He wanted to turn toward it, but he held fast. However, surely, one day he would take her hand. " I love you." The lovely voice called out until the very end, when Subaru Natsuki began anew. CHAPTER 1 *** 1 " Hey, kid?" "Ah?" Subaru's mind was roused by the abrupt calling of his name along with the sensation of his shoulder being shaken. The image of the world around him changed in an instant, almost like someone had switched camera angles in his brain. The sudden influx of information startled him, making Subaru feel dizzy as he blinked several times. The next moment, the unfathomable shock known as comprehension coursed through his entire being. "No way..." Subaru put a hand to his forehead as he listened to the sound of his heartbeats pumping blood through his body. Subaru had experienced a blank of several seconds interrupting his thoughts a number of times before. It was the result of "Death" the time between the erasure and resurrection of Subaru Natsuki. He'd died. He'd died. "Death" had greeted Subaru once more. Moreover, Subaru had lost his life in battle against that wily bastard Sloth. *** After overcoming many hardships, much suffering, in the end he'd still lost his life. He'd defeated the White Whale and, after that, reorganized the expedition force, bringing it with him as he traveled to Earlham Village to fight the Witch Cult. At the end of that anguish, all that joy, sadness, and anger, had all come to naught " Nom." "Ugyaaaaah ?!" Subaru had been covering his face with his hands, cutting himself off from the world, when he was suddenly assaulted by unexpected sensations. The feel of hot breath and his earlobe being pinned between two hard points sent the astonished Subaru tumbling to the ground. Wide-eyed from the exceptionally soft sensation, he noticed yellow eyes gazing down at him with a teasing look. The owner of those eyes touched a finger to their lips coquettishly as a wry, beautiful smile appeared. "The teasing was because you were staring into space, but what a wonderful reaction, meow. Ferri enjoyed it so much that this might become a habit..." The sight of his flaxen kitty ears flicking as he continued speaking lightheartedly left Subaru listening with his mouth agape. Eventually he swallowed and called out her or rather his name. "Is that you, Ferris?" "Who else does it look like? Maybe you're not just daydreaming, but hallucinating, too? You could have swallowed some White Whale mist... Should I give you a proper examination?" "...Nah, I'm all right. I just felt like asking. Right, what I was asking about...?" As Ferris peered at him in concern, Subaru shook his head before taking a deep breath and examining the area. Ferris was seated directly beside him, and around Ferris, many others no, properly speaking, they were in a circle with Subaru at the

center. Beneath his feet lay the grassland. It was clear from the dawn sky above that the sun had not risen yet. With everyone's gaze focused on him, Subaru sensed a ferocious bestial presence hovering to his left. "...Were you the one who spoke to me first?" " ? What are you talkin' about, bro? You had a crazy look in your eyes. Pull it together." The dog face of Ricardo, the large-framed beast man, grimaced with a suspicious look. Subaru, realizing from the exchange that Ricardo had seen his face the instant he Returned by Death, scratched his cheek as he looked over everyone's face once more, nodding as he spoke again. "That was seriously bad for my heart. I mean really, I thought I was back in front of the fruit store again." Exhaling like a deflating balloon, Subaru let the tension out of his shoulders as his palm brushed the ground. The cold dirt, fresh grass, and raw earth under him meant he definitely wasn't in the capital. This was the Liphas Highway, where they'd held a general briefing right after defeating the White Whale. In other words... "The save point...got updated, huh?" It felt like he had narrowly avoided a terrible fate, but it wasn't something he could laugh at. Still, the silver lining brought him relief. 2 When it came to worst cases, some were worse than others. Having fought the good fight, only to gain an empty defeat and Returning by Death, was undoubtedly a worst case. But there could have been something even more terrible namely having no change in restart point and returning to a moment before he managed to defeat the White Whale. Compared to that, this worst case was not the most horrific possibility. At the very least, they had beaten the White Whale, fulfilling the Sword Devil's fourteen-year ambition. *** "Sir Subaru, are you all right? Your face appears rather pale." Wilhelm, the Sword Devil, stared at Subaru and expressed his concern. "It's nothing," said Subaru, shaking his head immediately, tightening his disjointed thoughts and slackened cheeks. Even though he was still reeling mentally after only just enduring a Return by Death, he couldn't simply use that as an excuse. After all, Subaru and the others were in the very middle of a critical discussion the briefing to decide what countermeasures to take against the Witch Cult. "If you are no longer distressed, let us review the situation." Raising a finger, the elegant knight Julius restarted the meeting. Scholarly wariness and righteous indignation resided in his almond eyes as he requested they carry on. "From this point onward, we shall proceed to the Mathers domain to oppose the nefarious Witch Cultists lying in wait. Ideally, this will result in their annihilation and the slaying of the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins commanding them. However, what we must prioritize is the safety of the innocent people caught up in this incident, and in preparation for that " "For the getaway, we have called on the traveling merchants Anastasia and Russel to help us. The messenger we sent to communicate the alliance and the rescue operation should have arrived at the mansion already... Sorry, I'm all good now." Subaru thanked Julius for giving him time to calm down and fully rejoined the conversation. Thanks to Julius summarizing the topics at the assembly, Subaru could grasp exactly how far things had proceeded before his Return by Death. Apparently Subaru had already explained Witch Cult Hunting Made Simple, as well as the insurance he'd procured. However, he had already learned from the last go-around that his attempts to secure insurance would transform into deadly poison. The letter of goodwill they had sent had turned out to be blank, which had sown distrust. Meanwhile, inviting the traveling merchants to participate had left them open to infiltration by Witch Cultists. He needed to implement new countermeasures as quickly as possible, but "Your face suggests that...something is amiss?" "What are you, a doctor? Stop looking at people's faces and figuring out everything they're thinking, geez." "Want the actual doctor sitting right beside you to examine you from head to toe instead? I wouldn't mind..." As Subaru sank into thought, Julius and Ferris sandwiched him from both sides as they pointed out his troubled expression. Inwardly Subaru ground his teeth at their persistence. He certainly did have an issue on his mind. However, he couldn't come up with a good way to explain it. He had to warn them about the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins' dangerous Authority, and a number of new problems on top of that, but how could he explain these things in a way his comrades would believe? " No, this is wrong. It's not good enough. Right, I...forgot some things again." "Hmmmm?" When Subaru firmly shut his eyes, the words he found within himself caused Ferris to cock his head in confusion. Julius remained silent with his brows knit as Subaru rued the extent of his own stupidity. How many times would Subaru Natsuki make the same mistake before he moved forward? *** He opened his closed eyes and looked around at the faces of the fifty-odd members of the expeditionary force. Subaru's silence had brought tension to their gazes, but they harbored no doubt. What they felt was not fear, but anticipation. There was no sense of despair, only hope. After everything that had been spoken, after all the help that had been given... In the end, Subaru had even gotten this far only thanks to the support Rem had offered him. "...I believe you have immersed yourself in sentimentality enough?" Julius sensed the change in Subaru's demeanor, and his lighthearted prompt invited a change in subject. The man really got on his nerves, but for a short moment, Subaru felt nothing but gratitude toward him. He felt equally grateful for the comrades who granted him their own thanks and trust. "Sorry for being all indecisive earlier. Actually, I have to add to my explanation about the Witch Cult...... No, that's not exactly it. I realized some things for the first time. I want to speak to all of you about those issues." He didn't have to worry about how to come up with a good explanation. That was a waste of time. All he had to do was not hold anything back, tell as much of the truth as he could, and they would respond with their faith in him. Even if Subaru could not reveal the nature of Return by Death, he could uncover the things he learned as a result of it. This was the one way he could share what he knew of the future with his comrades. And they would accept his preposterous tales in complete seriousness. All because understanding and trust were the greatest weapons in Subaru Natsuki's arsenal. 3 Subaru had gleaned a number of new facts from his most recent confrontation with Petelgeuse. One was that a Witch Cultist infiltrating the traveling merchants hired for the evacuation had delivered a blank letter of goodwill to Roswaal Manor. Another was that Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti's Authority included the worst power imaginable. In particular, one aspect of Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti's power Possession posed the greatest obstacle to the expeditionary force's efforts to take down Sloth. "Anyone know about...a power to overwrite someone else's mind with your own, letting you mentally take them over? Some sort of magic that can do something like that?" Much of the magic in this new world Subaru found himself in had effects beyond anything he could conceive. The basics of magic began with the four elements; then there were a great many other things, like Beatrice's Passage, Roswaal's flight magic, the mutant aberrations of magic called curses, and the special abilities known as blessings, too. In a world where such incredible abilities existed, Possession had to be possible, too. It was with such hopes that Subaru put the question to his lips, but "Overwriting another person's mind with your own? That's nothing but a stupid, unbelievable idea, meow." "...Gimme my greatest weapon back." "What are mew talking about?" Though Subaru had brought up the subject with courage, the way it was laughed off so quickly was a major blow to that foundation of trust. When Subaru pouted and gave Ferris a resentful stare, Ferris was merely baffled. Cutting in, Julius adopted a thoughtful pose and spoke. "Given the topic at hand, you believe it's possible the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins employs a strange power along those lines... Am I correct?" "Yeah, you've got it. I decided to call it Possession, but that's not far off from what actually happens. He survives by moving from body to body. That explains how he shows up in so many places at once, right?" *** From the long silence, Julius seemed to be mulling over Subaru's explanation. But whether others doubted it or not, it was a fact. Having shared his own body with that very madman, Subaru could firmly confirm that much. His mind conquered people's flesh, stealing control for itself. Without any doubt, Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti was a spiritual entity that grafted itself to the bodies of others a repulsive, wicked ability. "In the past, I have seen references in old tomes about research on similar phenomena. It was reckless research, but..." "Really?" When Julius, a hand still over his own mouth, offered up that morsel, Subaru bit. The handsome man plumbed the depths of his memories as he deftly summarized what he could recall from the tome. "It was research on lost magic, or perhaps a related record. The world lost many things in the immediate aftermath of the Great Catastrophe four centuries ago. This variety of magic seems to have been among what was lost. Gone without a trace, save in records, there was a description of an ability similar to what you describe." "Well, don't hold back. What was the similar lost magic?" "A technique for soul...transference." As Subaru drew closer, Julius revealed something that sounded far removed from magic. However, Subaru did not miss the look of disgust that came over Julius's face as he spoke of it. After firmly declaring the research abominable, Julius closed his eyes and continued. "The phenomenon itself is exceedingly simple. Everything comprising the caster's soul his memories, experiences, and most likely, elemental character and destiny are seared onto the soul of another person." "Meaning, it...is possible to overwrite the memories and mind of another person, then." It was like doing a copy and paste with a computer file. It treated human memory like a file, overwriting it with another person's file-like soul, blotting out the old and saving the new. That way, the discarded soul would be lost, and the overwriting soul would remain. "But it does not exist in reality. The magic is lost, the ritual is theoretical, and the difficulty is of an almost unheard-of level. Reproducing the feat would require magical genius and tenacity beyond the ability of mortals. I simply cannot believe this Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins possesses such intellect and skill." "Hey, man, not believing it exists isn't a real reason to reject the idea, especially since this is the Witch Cult we're talking about." "Subawu, you're getting too worked up. Julius has things to say, too." The influential Julius rejected his hypothesis, which made Subaru snap at the knight until Ferris chided him for it. Subaru proceeded to put on a guilty look and said, "Go on," prodding Julius to continue. "Sorry. It is a bad habit of mine to take my time reaching a conclusion. Even if we put aside the fact that the ritual has been lost, there are a great deal of obstacles for the technique we've been discussing. First, the souls that the caster can affect are fairly limited. The technique is not the kind that allows the caster to transfer his soul to any random person he touches." "Well, of course not, meow. Memories are a bit out of

my field, but overwriting individual Gates is no trivial thing. It's probably...limited to blood relations, meow?" "A limitation to blood relatives would be extremely desirable. As Ferris said, the soul being transferred would bounce off the Gate if it is not highly similar. Besides, even when one soul is laid over another, the original soul's influence over the body will remain. There would be a constant concern about the body being compelled by the mind." "...It sure does sound like magic that has a lot of downsides." Hearing the pair's opinions, Subaru could understand why the objections were numerous. Subaru could not dismiss out of hand the possibility that Petelgeuse was an exceptional magic user capable of employing lost magic, but it was pretty much impossible that his choice of bodies was limited to blood relations. The fact that he had successfully possessed Subaru shelved that premise completely. "However, it is too soon to dismiss a completely different method." "Will you make up your mind?!" "I am offended by your outburst. I stated that I know of similar magic as a prerequisite for further discussion. Besides, even if it is not the exact same technique, there are surely important clues we should consider." "...Such as?" "Naturally, I mean the possibility that the conditions for Possession are just as strict as those for soul transference." Julius's assertion made Subaru's face scrunch up, but he immediately grasped the point. If soul transference was invariably limited to blood relatives, then Possession might have similar restrictions. "We could deduce that the technique is limited to fellow Witch Cultists...and a select few at that." "You mean those finger people...?" "It is a title in poor taste when referring to spare bodies. I suppose that suits an Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins well." Julius agreed with Ferris's conclusion, a fact that made Subaru gaze in astonishment. In such an incredibly short time, the two had worked out a plausible theory about how Possession operated. Even if the pair were the brains of the operation as well as the most versed in magic out of all the members of the expeditionary force, the results were beyond Subaru's expectations. And simultaneously, a plan to truly hunt down the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins of Sloth took form. Namely "If we take away all the archbishop's extra lives...in other words, destroy all his fingers..." "...He would lose the chance to possess anyone. That's when the archbishop will face his end." The way Julius firmly finished the thought made Subaru feel both deep admiration and a sense of defeat from the bottom of his heart. The difficult situation had made him start to lose all hope, but thanks to them, he could finally see the light in the darkness. After all, it was a solution that was neither contradictory nor disputable. "In conclusion, we will prioritize eliminating the fingers lurking in the forest, then settle matters with Sloth." Julius's declaration drew the meeting to a close. The faces of the expeditionary force members seated around them surged with determination and resolve. Great strength can be found when a person's ability and mission are one and the same. When the members of the expeditionary force rose, their morale was as high as when they had done battle with the White Whale. " Everyone, there's just one more thing I have to tell you." It was then that Subaru called out, drawing the attention of the impetuous warriors who were ready to venture forth. When those intense gazes turned his way, Subaru endured his genuinely apologetic feelings to discuss something he was obligated to explain. Namely "Sorry, but it's not just the fingers. I'm probably a target for the archbishop's Possession ability, too. What do you think we can do about that?" "Huh?" It had been the direct cause of his latest Return by Death, and the final hurdle he'd had to overcome. Once he shared that pitiful fact, they began to devise a countermeasure. 4 In the end, their departure time arrived before the "Witch Cult Countermeasures Conference" reached a definite conclusion. Subaru wanted to continue hammering out a plan, but if they didn't make it to the battlefield in time, that would be putting the cart before the horse so to avert that, Subaru gave Julius a suggestion. "Hey, Julius. With the magic of your spirit groupies, you should be able to link together the minds of people within its effective range, right? Can't we use that to discuss this on the move?" Subaru was basing this query on his experience with Nekt, the mind-sharing spell he had experienced from the last loop, as if it were his own wonderful idea. At the time, Julius had used the spell to link all of the expeditionary force's minds to quickly deal with Ram's surprise attack. It had to be possible to use that to hold a meeting, too. Subaru's proposal made Julius look at Ferris with mild surprise. "He didn't hear it from Ferri, okay?" said the kitty-eared knight in response to his gaze, waving a hand as he headed for his land dragon. "What did Ferris mean that it wasn't from him?" "...It's nothing. I did not think that you knew I was a spirit user. I was merely wondering where you might have learned that." "Ah, right. This is where the spirit knight thing first came up..." That Julius had identified himself as a spirit knight was information Subaru heard close to the end of the last go-around. At the point where he was currently, Subaru shouldn't have recognized Julius as anything more than a first-rate knight. But it was a rare opportunity to take Julius off guard. Subaru put on a smug face. "You're just more famous than you think. Well, the price of fame didn't have anything to do with me noticing you quietly stuck one of your quasi-spirits on me." "So you were aware of even that?" This time, a look of unconcealable distress was plain in Julius's gaze. The reaction made Subaru smile, but right after, he turned his head aside. That was because, for an instant, Julius's eyes, which stared at Subaru, seemed to endure a wave of deep pain. "Certainly, as you have pointed out, I placed one of my flower buds on you Ia, come on out." But he immediately concealed the wave of emotion behind his usual composure. Beckoned by Julius's hand, a red light leaped from Subaru's hair. It was more flicker than flame, more warmth than light, one of the six quasi-spirits accompanying Julius. "This is Ia, quasi-spirit of fire. I had her follow and watch over you." "That's fine, but tell me about stuff like this. I'd panic if some emergency happened and she jumped out all of a sudden." "There is no need for concern. The buds are quite capable. It would never come to something like that." "Thanks for sharing your sappy love story. Now, setting that aside " When Subaru complained about planting insurance on him without permission, Julius was slightly apologetic. Subaru took it in stride until he realized something didn't fit. Julius sticking Ia on him matched the events of the last go-around. His memory of the spirit saving him from the dragon carriage explosion was still fresh. But besides that, he remembered something odd where Ia was concerned. And as he realized that "Julius. Under what conditions could Ia be shoved out of me against her will?" "...I am not quite sure I follow your question." "This is important. The answer has a direct impact on the plan to take on the archbishop." Faced with Subaru's firm statement, Julius discarded his momentary bewilderment and answered. "Attaching Ia to you means, from a spirit user's point of view, a provisional pact. Forcibly breaking the pact would mean that you, the provisional contractor, have rejected her, or perhaps..." "Perhaps?" "A superior, formal pact displaced the provisional pact." In that instant, he gave the answer Subaru truly wanted to hear. Perhaps Julius realized it while speaking the words, because his amber eyes held a glint of comprehension. "It couldn't be," the knight said immediately after, shaking his head as if to deny it. However... "A famous detective once said, 'Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.'" "It has the ring of truth. But if it is so...what is to be done?" "This is the final piece. I wanna hear the rest along the way. Like which people fulfill the conditions, and which don't." "Understood. Let us do exactly that." Julius nodded, keeping his words concise as he stuck Ia on Subaru once more and headed to his own land dragon. Subaru felt the warmth of the quasi-spirit on top of his head as he mounted his favorite, pitch-black dragon Patlash. "We've used up a little more time than before. Gonna have to go all out, Patlash." *** As the land dragon took in Subaru's words, the side of her refined face made it seem he'd stated the obvious. Then the expeditionary force resumed its march along the Liphas Highway, heading for the Mathers domain. " Nekt." Julius used the mind-melding spell once they were under way, affecting the entire expeditionary force. The results of the spell were truly as Subaru had envisioned. But "Ah crap, I completely forgot." "Sorry. I didn't think my tuning with Ia and Nes would be in error... There's also the fact that Ia seems rather fond of you. Perhaps you have a high compatibility with spirits." "Save that stuff for later. We can take our time with that talk once everything's over." Subaru accepted the telepathic apology, pressing his fingers to his temples as his ears continued to ring. Just like last time, Subaru was reeling from the onrush of everyone's brain waves the instant Nekt was activated. It was Subaru's own fault for forgetting all about that side effect. Julius adjusted the signal to more tolerable levels, allowing Subaru to focus on the flow of the conversation. "So for the plan of attack against the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins...how shall we proceed?" Unlike with speaking out loud, there wasn't a good way to differentiate voices conveyed directly via thought. In spite of this, it was possible to tell the sender of thoughts thanks to their individual character. The thought Subaru had just received was a deep blue, but concealed scarlet passion within it Subaru could instantly tell it was Wilhelm who had spoken. The Sword Devil was riding alongside on his land dragon, the grave look on his face radiating hostility toward an unseen madman. "If Sir Subaru and Sir Julius's conjecture is correct, we must carefully consider our method of attack. Invisible magic hands and the ability to take over another's body are both major obstacles." "Yeah, they sure are..." The Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins of Sloth had two powers they needed to overcome. He had Unseen Hands and Possession at his disposal, but the expeditionary force had solid leads on ways to deal with both. The main issue at hand was that the method to tackle one power left them vulnerable against the other. "I'm the only one who can see Petelgeuse's Unseen Hands. That means if we go at him in a frontal attack, it's no good unless I'm around. But I'm also a target for Possession. If I'm there and he takes me over, we'll lose our chance to stop him from getting away anyway." "...Sir Subaru, I actually have a proposal about that. Would you care to listen?" As Subaru sank into thought, pondering "out loud," Wilhelm interjected with an air of confidence. His words aroused hope throughout the expeditionary force, making Wilhelm give a firm telepathic nod. "Concerning the archbishop's invisible arms, I thought of a simple way to expose them to the naked eye. First, we would scatter a large amount of dust, or possibly dirt, around the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins."

"Ah, I don't think we can rely on that, meow." Though Ferris casually inserted himself into his explanation midway, Wilhelm paid no heed and explained to the very end. Subaru had already seen his plan in action once before: a Wilhelm-style dirt screen to hold Petelgeuse's Authority in check. Knowing the results from the last go-around, Subaru knew that Wilhelm's proposal could work. The problem was that it was such a superhuman feat, only Wilhelm could pull it off. Indeed, all the expeditionary force members found the suggestion too challenging, with even Julius and Ricardo communicating telepathically that the feat was beyond them. "I believe anyone can do it with enough practice, but..." "Yes, yes. But we don't have fifty years to spend practicing. Aside from proving that Old Man Wil is inhuman, what'll we do?" Callously ignoring the dejected Wilhelm, Ferris prioritized moving the conversation forward. Subaru felt bad for Wilhelm, but Ferris had made the right decision. Subaru mulled over Ferris's question. "Guess that decides it," he muttered. "Yeah, let's go with the original plan for dealing with the Witch Cult and the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins, plus the issues at the mansion and the village. That's probably best." *** All the members of the expeditionary force reacted to the conclusion of the telepathic Witch Cult Countermeasures Conference. Sympathy, concern, trust, anxiety there was a crush of various emotions, but the general consensus was to respect Subaru's viewpoint. They would proceed as originally planned. " To confirm, you are truly all right with this plan? You won't have any regrets?" When Subaru was still feeling unsure of himself, Julius was the only one to raise the question. Though it was an inelegant method, this exchange served as a necessary ritual to dispel the expeditionary force's hesitance. Plus, that it was Julius, of all people, who brought up the topic meant this was an expression of his knightly beliefs. "Don't be ridiculous. It's my plan and my idea. I'm not gonna turn around and say, Oh no, maybe we actually shouldn't...though Emilia is probably gonna be super mad at me when we do this." With closed eyes, Subaru pictured a lovely girl with silver hair. It had been only a few short hours since he'd left the world where he'd gazed upon her with unrequited love, his wish for a one-sided reunion having been granted. Even so, the serene sight of the her face and the sound of her lovely voice were undiminished. It was because he could still vividly recall those things that he was able to hold firm in his decision. "I'm happy everyone's worried, but don't give me the chance to say I wanna stop. If you thought that I had managed to squeeze out any courage from myself, you should know that it's actually all on loan." The success or failure of the operation would be decided by Subaru's will, but he knew that they would never keep questioning his resolve for such a callous reason. That was why he could bear it. "Besides, I'm optimistic that everything'll be fine once we reach the last part. The road that leads there is a little treacherous, but that's all. When you think of it that way, it'll be an easy win, right?" "...Subawu, choosing the words easy win means you're actually a big shot and I just never realized, right?" "Don't be stupid, I know I'm small fry. I might be optimistic, but I need all of your strength so I can share a passionate embrace with Emilia at the very end, all right? Come on, guys, just think of yourselves as my cupids and gimme a hand, okay?!" "I am still not quite sure on what basis you made that claim but you have made your resolve clear." Julius spoke for everyone when he approved of how Subaru's lightheartedness had swept away the heavy, stifling atmosphere. As that brought the meeting to an end, Subaru shifted his eyes to the road ahead, toward the edge of the plains. Past that boundary, the grassland came to an end, and Subaru would soon be able to make out the treetops of the forested region beyond. Once they left the plains and took a few woodland roads, they would arrive at the Mathers domain. His heart beat loudly, throbbing as if it might crack, yet even so, Subaru continued to look. *** "Ho-ho? What, you're worried about me? That's adorable." Freed of the briefing now that everyone was no longer telepathically speaking, Subaru found Patlash's head turned toward him with a pensive look. Subaru showed her a strained smile as he stroked her neck. Then he rummaged in the sack affixed to the land dragon's saddle, locating something by touch alone. What he found was a tool that would play a critical part during the operation. After all that time, an ache still ran through Subaru's chest when he recalled how it had passed into his hands. In Subaru's mind, it was because of that pain that he could move forward, thrusting his fear and anxiety aside. "This time, I'll make things right." "Of course, that's what everyone intends to do. It'll be all right. The plan was devised so scrupulously, there is no reason to think of failure. Our preparations have been meticulous. Also, once this is all over, I would like to have a toast with you." "Stop saying so many things that sound like famous last words !!" Subaru shouted at Julius, who was riding alongside him, presumably ignorant of the concept of death flags. Those yells echoed loudly, ringing in the air as though they could even be heard in the Mathers domain, which was still far, far away. 5 When the light of day reached her sleep-deprived eyelids, Emilia rose with a light headache. "It's...morning already..." Emilia sat up in bed, blinking several times. She brushed her silver hair away from her forehead, briefly lingering on the boundary between sleep and consciousness before letting out a frail murmur that mirrored her thoughts as it floated to the surface. She hadn't slept much for the past several days. Last night, she had gone to sleep several hours after sunset again. After entering the forest at night, using her power to reweave the wards that kept demon beasts out, Emilia had probably managed to get only a couple hours of sleep. Her head felt heavy and her thoughts sluggish, as if someone had plunged them into mud. Emilia had never been much of an early riser to begin with, even before the numerous issues that had occupied all her time for the past several days. While fatigue and anguish were constantly whittling her mind away, there was no helping it. It had been a week since the candidates for the royal selection had assembled at the palace, and a week since she had demonstrated her determination. After that, Emilia had returned to the manor and spent five days acting as the representative of her faction. The pressure she'd felt during those scant five days had been more than enough to overwhelm her. "I thought I understood... I really thought I did." Emilia strongly gripped her bedsheet as she lamented her incompetence. In the blink of an eye, she recalled the events of the last week in the back of her mind. She had been called to the capital, faced the other candidates, declared her conviction with all the eyes of the court upon her, and then " Subaru." As Emilia spoke the name of the boy she'd left behind at the capital, she lowered her eyes, enduring the pain. She thought of that cheerful, sensitive boy who was always desperate to help others, and just a tiny bit delusional, wondering what he was doing at the moment. The intense argument between them at the palace, as well as his pained expression, like an abandoned child's, were seared into her retinas. Those images had been burned into her conscience over and over. In the end, his tortured face, the things that he'd spoken, the words that he hadn't wanted to hear but heard anyway Emilia felt that no one could be blamed for those things...except for herself. "...But it's for the best, isn't it?" The clash of their inner thoughts had resulted in the two of them going separate ways. However, Emilia did not think that explosion of emotion was something that should have been avoided. In fact, it was better for them to follow different paths. The place where Subaru belonged was not by her side. After all, Emilia was a half-elf, the object of everyone's hatred. Anyone who stood by her would bear the same hatred from simply being associated with her. That kindhearted boy would be no exception. Indeed, it was because Subaru wanted to be by her side that he had been so terribly hurt, in both body and spirit, during his duel with Julius. She didn't want to subject him to that, to make him go through such a thing again. Over the course of their quarrel, she thought Subaru had to have seen his mistake. Emilia's one regret was that, at the very, very end, she had let her true feelings slip. Namely, the hope that Subaru, of all people, could set her existence as a half-elf aside and treat her as a normal girl... It had been a fickle, fleeting, futile, selfish hope. "Subaru can't see me as anything but special... That's what he said." She despaired at her own selfishness, pushing him away, hurting him, only to look to him for salvation. Such shallowness was unforgiveable, half-elf or no. "Lia, you're furling your eyebrows. You're ruining your adorable face." A voice suddenly spoke to Emilia as she held her knees while still in bed. When she glanced up, there was a little cat spirit with gray fur. Emilia smiled slightly as she offered a greeting. "Good morning, Puck. You're up early today." "Good morning, Lia. This morning there was...something to take care of." " ? Did something happen?" "Mm, if I said I was making an effort to sleep early and get up early...that would be a lie. It's because I'm really worried about you, Lia. It's been one thing after another, especially yesterday." Emilia lowered her eyes at Puck's uncharacteristically awkward reply. ...The events of the previous day had contributed a great deal to Emilia's current mental fatigue and lack of sleep. The bitter memory of the nearby villagers rejecting whatever she had to say or offer bubbled up in her mind. Their fear and disapproval had not been enough for them to hurl cruel words at her, but their gazes alone had already cut deep into Emilia's heart. "...I knew...that would happen." "You also know what falling is, but you still hurt and bleed when it happens. If you ask me, simply knowing the result isn't the same as actually experiencing it for yourself." When Emilia used a childish excuse to push past, Puck mercilessly cut off her escape route. But this wasn't something Puck did maliciously. Puck, in his own way, was urging Emilia to stop running from the truth as well as hiding her feelings. "Puck..." "Mm?" "Puck...what do you think I should do? How should I...? No, not just me, how can everyone get along better? How do I get everyone to...?" " Lia, maybe you should just do what you like? I'm on your side no matter what happens, Lia, and anyone who gets in your way is my enemy." Though it was a promise from her surest ally, in that moment, the words offered Emilia no comfort. It was the answer she'd expected. Puck would support Emilia unconditionally, but that didn't help with her problem. In the end, Emilia would have to rely on her own judgment. Puck's entire value system was centered on Emilia; everything and everyone else came second. "You're not going to turn your back on that village no matter what, are you? The

pink-haired girl headed to the village again this morning. Maybe waiting for her report is all you can do?" "...Ram went to the village? But she hasn't had any rest for a while either..." "I'm telling you, that girl's doing a lot better than you are, Lia. She finds places to take breaks from her work. At the very least, she can handle herself." She shrank a little. Puck's rational assessment of Ram of course implied that Emilia was wholly incapable of taking care of herself. As it happened, Emilia found herself relying on Ram that very moment. For the past several days, Ram had been executing a portion of Roswaal's affairs, shouldering his responsibilities dealing with the mansion or Earlham Village, all while Emilia remained in the mansion. Excusing himself to conduct negotiations with a local big shot, Roswaal had claimed he would be away for no more than a few days. The great responsibility brought worry and stress, but if she couldn't cope with that much in the span of a few days, how could she possibly hope to participate in the royal selection and be ready for what would come after? With such thoughts in mind, she'd accepted the duty, shelving her feelings of guilt from leaving Subaru in the royal capital, then readied herself to face the days to come with atypical seriousness but two days prior, the situation had greatly changed. "A strange presence in the forest...?" "Yes. Unpleasant fellows against whom even my Clairvoyance is ineffective." Ram delivered the news in her usual calm tone of voice, but her furled eyebrows were an ominous sign. Her Clairvoyance was the unusual ability to synchronize with the vision of others and see through their eyes. However, even this ability, particularly useful for reconnaissance and searching, had been unable to discern the identity of the presence she'd sensed in the forest. "It's not...related to demon beasts?" "The barrier has been redeployed. I believe it is unrelated, but... What do you wish to do?" "Well, that goes without saying... We can't pretend nothing's happening. If we can't do anything about it, at least we can keep the villagers from falling into danger." "Prioritizing their safety... You wish to evacuate the villagers, then?" "That...would be best. This mansion is big enough to accommodate all of them, right?" That was the conclusion Emilia and Ram had reached during their discussion about the forbidding presence in the forest. That Ram hadn't objected was somewhat reassuring to Emilia. As Roswaal's proxy, Ram would have mercilessly shot down any proposals she deemed foolish. Accordingly, Emilia had walked to Earlham Village practically next door with some expectations. She'd convince the villagers to evacuate to the mansion, sparing them from peril. But "We've heard about the royal selection as well as the fact that you are a half-elf. We refuse to follow you. Everyone has agreed on this." An old woman acting as the village's representative spoke these words, rejecting Emilia's offer. The obstinate reply, filled with rejection and renunciation, hurt Emilia. The fact that it hurt surprised her. Rejection was Emilia's natural environment. She had tasted that discouragement countless times before. And yet, she realized at the same time, that pain was still felt sharply in her heart. Emilia had hoped it would change her. She'd hoped that leaping into the royal selection, a great undertaking, would be the first step to changing her lot in life, and that perhaps the reactions around her that she'd taken for granted might change, too. The points of contact between her and the villagers over the two preceding months had further raised these hopes. But Emilia had continued to deceive them about her true identity using concealment magic. Could anyone truly trust her, or allow her into their heart, when she had never shown her real face even once? When she'd spent those days with the villagers in what she mistook for harmony, those smiles had not been not aimed toward her. They had been meant for the young man leading Emilia to the village by the hand. Emilia had not earned anything herself. And yet, had she misunderstood even so? "...In the end, what was I even doing?" Once her offer was rejected, her subsequent pleas fell on deaf ears; she offered three more times, but every time she was refused. The calamity that had come from the royal capital on the heels of that despair had only added to Emilia's suffering. "I have come bearing a letter of goodwill from my master, Duchess Crusch Karsten." An envoy of humble demeanor had arrived at the mansion to present an envelope sealed with the lion's crest of the House of Karsten. When she accepted the letter, Emilia could only guess as to its contents. Crusch was not only a royal candidate, but the person she had entrusted with Subaru's care in the capital. Wondering what might have befallen him, she had opened the letter in great haste " But it was blank. The pink-haired girl said the message was a declaration of war. I can't blame her for being upset." The letter itself was resting atop the room's desk. When Emilia's gaze drifted to it, Puck had discerned what she was thinking, cocking his head slightly as he recounted their discovery that the sheet was blank. Just as Puck said, the letter had been delivered blank. There was nothing written on it neither front nor back. Sending a blank letter implied that the sender deemed the recipient someone not worth speaking to. However, the letter's contents, and the very act of sending such a thing, clashed greatly with what Emilia knew about Crusch as an individual. Because of that, she had immediately suspected there must have been some mistake. She had asked the envoy what Crusch had truly intended, but he promptly asserted that he'd simply done as he had been commanded. Ultimately, Emilia was unable to find a satisfying answer. "Let's keep the envoy under watch here at the mansion. If it comes to that, we can use him as a bargaining chip." In spite of Ram's extreme position, the envoy was being hosted at the mansion, safe and sound. Even so, the forbidding presence in the forest and the blank letter had only worsened Emilia's mental load. In the end, she hadn't been able to sleep well last night, either, so Emilia did the only thing she could: check the surrounding barriers to make sure they weren't weakening to ward off any potential demon beast attack. After she made her rounds, she returned to her room at dawn, fell asleep, woke, and arrived at the present. Rem seemed to have left her alone at the mansion, heading off to the village in another attempt to persuade the villagers while Emilia slept. Technically speaking, given her position, Emilia would normally be expected to go with her, taking the lead in appealing to the villagers to evacuate "But it might actually go better without me..." A feeling of shirked responsibility prodded Emilia to rise from bed. At the same time, she was deeply anxious about the possibility she would be shunned, which would make the situation worse. As a matter of fact, if Emilia had gone with Ram, the villagers would surely have rejected the proposal out of fear. That was reality of the situation. Emilia continued to slam into the wall that people used against those who were seen as strange and different. But to fight against that, maybe she should go into the forest herself "Oh, Lia. Someone's coming up to the mansion." "...Ram, I suppose. I need to ask her how things went in the village." Puck's call interrupted Emilia's thoughts. She quickly headed into the changing room. Normally Puck was noisy about Emilia's grooming, but he hadn't been too picky for those last several days. But even this show of consideration became fuel for Emilia's growing self-hatred. "Ahh, I'm going to visit Betty. Call me if something happens, 'kay?" "Err, yes, all right. Say hi to Beatrice for me." As soon as Emilia stepped into the corridor, Puck split off to see the young-looking girl who, despite living under the same roof, didn't care much for showing her face. When Emilia thought about it, she hadn't seen the girl a single time since returning to the mansion. "Maybe Beatrice is angry I left Subaru behind..." Subaru and Beatrice got along rather well, so maybe she was upset. Negative thoughts seemed to keep bubbling up without end. Emilia sighed and set off for the entry hall at a brisk pace. She put off seeing Beatrice until later. There were many things she had to speak about with Ram. "Lady Emilia." Emilia arrived in the hall just as the doorway to the mansion was opening. She exhaled a little when she saw Ram through the crack of the door. "Ram, I'm sorry for putting everything on your shoulders. I will make it up to you very s " "No need, Lady Emilia. More importantly, you have guests." Ram shook her head, interrupting Emilia as she moved aside, clearing a path to the door. "Huh?" said Emilia as her eyes grew wide when figures came over the threshold. "Lady Emilia, please forgive our sudden visit." It was a well-aged man with a sturdy physique who addressed Emilia with a bow. Emilia squinted slightly, recalling that she had seen his tall frame somewhere before; the memory came to her right after. "You were...the gentleman who came with Ferris once, right?" "Yes. I am called Wilhelm Trias, humble retainer of the House of Karsten. I have come today representing my liege." The old man introduced himself in a dignified voice before dropping to one knee in a display of the utmost respect. Emilia, blushing at the sight, rushed down the remaining stairs that separated them to bid Wilhelm to rise. However, she immediately realized that something about him was bizarre. Smeared in blood and grime, the old man did not have the appearance she would associate with an official messenger. "Those clothes... What happened?" "I apologize for the unsightly display. With some luck, I was fortunate enough to encounter a trifling demon beast while traveling to the Mathers domain. My atrocious appearance is the result." "I don't mind, but your wounds......seem to have already been treated." "There is no need for concern. More importantly, I must properly communicate my master's will." When Wilhelm suggested shifting the focus from himself to the topic at hand, Emilia acceded. The old man calling himself Crusch's representative reminded Emilia of the letter that had arrived the night before. "Actually, last night, I received what was apparently a letter of goodwill from Lady Crusch. However, the letter was blank...... I was concerned, wondering if there was some kind of mistake." "Blank, you say I see, so it truly was blank." "What do you mean...?" Wilhelm's blue eyes narrowed at his learning the contents of the letter. Sensing something strange in his demeanor, Emilia remained concerned as she instinctively echoed his words. But he immediately shook his head. "No, this is highly embarrassing, but that contradicts the letter my master originally sent. I know her thoughts well, and I assure you, there is no need for concern." "The original... I see, it actually was a mistake? I'm so glad that she...doesn't hate me." Emilia put a hand on her chest, relieved to hear someone close to Crusch firmly deny any ill will. The letter had arrived directly after the residents of the village had rejected her. On the one hand, she hadn't thought it was like Crusch; on the other, there had been some part of her that worried the head of the House of Karsten was acting out of contempt for half-elves. An anxious heart indulged in unnecessary doubts, which invited vulnerability. That was the state Emilia was in. "I sincerely apologize for the confusion. My master, Lady Crusch, is not the sort of person to engage in such rash

acts, nor would she ever deem Lady Emilia worthless or someone to be ridiculed. Try as I might, I can say without reservation that I cannot conceive of such a notion." "Th-thank you very much... Then, um, what was the letter actually about?" The great amount of praise left Emilia surprised, but also a little happy. Her spirits rose slightly. As they did, Wilhelm retained his exceedingly polite posture as he answered. "Lady Emilia and Miss Ram...it is Lady Crusch's opinion that those present in this mansion as well as the residents of the village should be temporarily evacuated from the area." The announcement made Emilia's small smile freeze on her lips. 6 Once Emilia recovered from the initial shock, Wilhelm continued his explanation. "Of late, we have received information that a criminal group known to the kingdom has infiltrated the Mathers domain. I have come representing a unit formed for the purpose of hunting down this group." "And those people are hiding in the forest around us... Is that what this is about?" Emilia blinked in surprise as the truth about the unrest even Ram's Clairvoyance could not discern was revealed. As Wilhelm gravely nodded, Ram, standing beside him, nodded readily as well. Then Ram gave her own pink hair a gentle stroke as she spoke. "The envoy has already been taken into the expeditionary force's custody and has deployed in the village to prepare against enemy forces. But the enemy is the notorious Bandit King, so if fierce combat breaks out, damage to the surrounding area is unavoidable." "Bandit King...! We're supposed to evacuate, then? That's why even dragon carriages were arranged for us?" According to Wilhelm, enough dragon carriages to carry Emilia, Ram, and every single villager had already entered the village to ready for their escape. Ram, having confirmed this with her own eyes, gave her seal of approval. "When everyone has been evacuated, our expeditionary force shall immediately exterminate them. Should the danger be swept away, you have my promise you may return to your peaceful lives." The rest of Wilhelm's explanation contained the details of the evacuation plan arranged for Emilia and the others. Emilia admired the unblemished goodwill, but she could not bring herself to politely leave everything to them. Of course, the proposal made perfect sense, and she had no intention of doubting them. But she also had some misgivings. "But why would Lady Crusch do so much for the sake of this domain?" This land was squarely within the Mathers fiefdom, plus Emilia and Crusch were political rivals for the throne. The goodness of her heart was probably not Crusch's reason for acting. Emilia suspected there was something else. Wilhelm slightly lowered his voice as he responded to Emilia's doubts. "This is just between us, but...we have a history with this criminal organization and cannot pretend the Bandit King is someone else's concern." "History...with you, Sir Wilhelm?" "Not just me. There are some youngsters who are champing at the bit to get at them as well. Besides " Wilhelm's lips had slackened slightly into a smile, but it vanished as he continued his explanation. "My master has been recognized by the marquis as an ally for the duration this royal selection. The terms are the handing over of magic crystal mining rights for the Great Elior Forest... Does this clarify matters for you?" " ! ...I see, the rights to the forest. So that's...how it is." Even as Emilia accepted the words that followed, they shook her a little. While Emilia had been worrying about things all by herself, Roswaal had already worked in the darkness to prepare the best possible response. It was not that she didn't trust him, but it was something of a shock nonetheless. "...But evacuating is easier said than done. Where will we go?" "We have thought about this as well. This is connected to the earlier matter, but we would like you to head for the royal capital, Lady Emilia. Lady Crusch is in the capital and desires a conference at which to seal the alliance." "That is...yes, that's all right. But is it possible to bring everyone to the capital?" The capital was about half a day's journey by dragon carriage. It would prove a difficult journey for the elderly and the very young villagers. It was also unclear how long it would take to eliminate the criminal organization, which raised her concerns about who would be able to accommodate them all. If this issue was dire enough to justify their leaving the area surrounding the manor, then "Perhaps it would be best if I assisted to drive the Bandit King away sooner?" "...Lady Emilia, I am grateful that you would offer. However, that would be..." "I may not look like much, but I'm confident in my modicum of skill. I have a really strong spirit with me, so I won't slow you down." Emilia was referring to Puck, who wasn't present at the moment, as she offered her cooperation in the coming battle. Her words made Ram close her eyes as Wilhelm fell into thought for a time. She had attempted to propose something helpful, but for some reason, Emilia wasn't getting a very good reaction. "Is there a...problem with that?" "As a matter of...... Yes. Actually, the marquis strictly demanded that I ensure Lady Emilia confers with Lady Crusch as soon as possible. If I fail in this duty, I shall be fired." "Roswaal said that?!" Hearing that truly horrified Emilia. When Emilia stared toward Ram, questioning if it was true, Ram's light-red eyes bore into the side of Wilhelm's face, staring, staring, staring "....................................Yes, that is indeed what Master Roswaal said." "Roswaal, what were you thinking...?!" Ram had sworn fealty to Roswaal; she surely would not lie where her master was concerned. Apparently, he had earnestly worked to check any possible action, knowing that she could not defy him. The evacuation, the alliance Roswaal probably had everything dancing atop the palm of his hand. Seeing Emilia clenching her fists in frustration, Wilhelm breathed a sigh. The old man kept his eyes lowered as he spoke. "Certainly, Lady Emilia, as you stated earlier, evacuating everyone to the royal capital is a difficult undertaking. Given the current situation, let us evacuate half to the capital for the time being." "What about the other half, then?" "Per my proposal, the other half shall evacuate to the Sanctuary. Master Roswaal is already headed there, after all, and that place has sufficient space to shelter them and should be quite safe." "I...I see. You already have it all worked out, then..." They had already thoroughly examined every concern and misgiving Emilia might have. They persevered, slapping down one doubt after another, until Emilia had no room left to lodge any objections. This should have been a good thing, but the current Emilia could not help but feel tortured by an overwhelming sense of powerlessness. They had prepared answers to any question she might have, thought through whatever worries she might have, and if she did as she was told, everything would be taken care of through the goodwill of others "Hey, doesn't this come off as a little strange? Isn't it too good to be true...?" " I beg your pardon!!" Emilia's voice, seemingly bearing the weight of her doubts, was interrupted by the sound of the door violently opening. When she looked over in surprise, a young man had staggered into the entry hall, looking like he'd just kicked the door in. The figure was wearing a white robe with a hood that covered him up to the top of the head. He cut in front of the wide-eyed Emilia and vigorously saluted Wilhelm. "There are signs of strange movements from the group lurking in the forest! We no longer have a moment to lose! If they move with the intent to slaughter, this entire area will become a hellish scene, a sea of blood !" "Mm-hmm, is that so... They seem to be moving quicker than we expected. With this many people entering the village, it was only a matter of time until they noticed, I suppose..." "What shall we do, Captain...er, Sir Wilhelm, the Sword Devil...?!" "Lady Emilia." Once Wilhelm received the young man's reports, punctuated with unnecessarily grandiose gestures, he stared sharply at Emilia. Emilia understood from his razor-like gaze that time was short. Events were already in motion. Things had become urgent enough to make her think that time spent arguing was time wasted. It wasn't as though she suddenly had no doubts about various parts of the conversation so far. But it was a fact that Ram had sensed an ominous presence in the forest, and Wilhelm had given his word as a man under Crusch's banner concerning the incident involving the letter. More than anything, with Roswaal currently absent, the right to make decisions for the well-being of the mansion and the village fell to Emilia. The outcome would alter numerous human fates, and because of that, she had to see it through herself. That role was Emilia's to play at the moment. Duty had to come first. "Understood. I gratefully accept your kindness. As for explaining to the villagers..." As soon as she said that, Ram revealed that the most urgent matter had already been resolved. "Lady Emilia, this has already been taken care of without much issue." Emilia, surprised at this fact, shifted her thoughts to the household. The existence of the final resident of the mansion, Beatrice, tugged at her mind. She had thought that if they were evacuating, then naturally they had to take Beatrice with them. " Beatrice said she was staying behind, and would use the Passage to isolate the archive of forbidden books, so you can evacuate or do whatever else you like on your own." "Puck?!" Upon his sudden return, Puck explained the plans of his protégé, with whom he had already spoken. However, when the kitty landed on her shoulder, Emilia stared at him, shaking her head in disbelief. "How can you just accept that? They said this place is dangerous..." "In Betty's case, she's much safer inside the Archive. Besides, there's the issue of her pact preventing her from leaving the mansion. You understand, don't you?" "...It's really unfair to use that as a reason." Puck groomed his whiskers as he responded to Emilia's dissatisfaction. To Emilia, to Puck, and to Beatrice as well, the word pact bore a great deal of meaning...to the point that it left Emilia unable to find the words for a comeback. "So that's why the girl who's like a cute little sister to me will stay behind at the mansion. It's best if you don't do anything to the mansion, either. Betty may be a sweet, gentle child...but she won't show any mercy." "I shall take your words to heart, Great Spirit." Wilhelm solemnly bowed in response to Puck's warning. Watching this with satisfaction, Puck buried himself in Emilia's hair. Then his voice became a whisper only Emilia could hear. "Do whatever you want to. I'm your ally, and yours alone." " We will evacuate. I do not want to subject the villagers to any danger." At her command, Ram grasped the hem of her skirt and politely curtsied, whereas Wilhelm strongly nodded. Then Emilia turned her back only upon the youth who had brought in the report "That's just the way you are." Emilia did not notice the youth's tiny murmur. 7 By the time Emilia & Co. met up at the village, the residents had already begun preparing to evacuate. The villagers seemed to be politely obeying the expeditionary force, with nary a look of worry or concern on their faces, quite methodically proceeding with the work of loading up the dragon carriages. "Wilhelm and the others are amazing, aren't they?" Emilia was surprised at how, in contrast to her, they had deftly gained the trust of villagers they had never before met. But what surprised her the

most came when she heard how the dragon carriages had been allotted. When she was guided to a dragon carriage for evacuation and was directed to climb aboard " Please give us your best regards, miss." With a conflicted look on her face, Emilia stood opposite a girl with reddish-brown hair who was bowing her head. She'd seen the face of the girl countless times in the village. The children were friendly with Subaru, but she'd seemed particularly fond of him; Emilia believed her name was Petra. Besides Petra, Emilia was surrounded by other children with faces familiar to her. Every last one introduced themselves to Emilia, who was to ride in the dragon carriage with them. "Err, this is strange. Is there some kind of mistake?" As worry crossed Emilia's mind, Ram, standing right beside her, firmly declared, "No, this is the result of an exacting discussion. It cannot be helped. The balance of dragon carriages and numbers of people makes your riding with these children an unavoidable necessity, Lady Emilia." But her reply was so contrary to Emilia's assumptions that it only served to fan her worries further. She would be spending numerous hours with the children in the closed quarters of a dragon carriage. It was less that this worried Emilia than that she thought it lacked consideration for the families of the children riding with her. She wondered if it would simply be hard on both sides. "You can't assign me a different dragon carriage to ride? I mean, the children would be better off that..." "You assume anyone would be disgusted at having to ride with you, I take it?" *** Emilia's breath caught at having her inner thoughts read. It was the young man in the robe, the same one who'd escorted Emilia and Ram all the way to the village, who had made the borderline offensive remark. Emilia, surprised, drew close to the youth, whose voice sounded faintly nervous and worked up. "Have you checked with these children to know? Or did you decide you were hated and detested all on your own?" "I...know that without having to ask. This is for everyone's sake." "One dragon carriage, six children...how will your desires come true if you cannot even handle that?" "How can you possibly " When she began to speak harshly in a plaintive-sounding voice, the youth shifted his gaze away from Emilia to Petra. He got down on one knee before her, met her eyes, and quietly asked her, "How about it, Petra? Is the thought of riding the same dragon carriage as the miss hateful to you?" *** Emilia's cheeks stiffened, her heart pained as the cruel question fell upon her ears. It was a question with a readily apparent answer; his asking it could only be to hurt her. And even if you knew something would hurt, that didn't mean you got used to the pain. Puck had said it. Whatever form a wound might take, the only thing a new wound carried was a fresh helping of pain. Why, in spite of that, had this young man "That's not true at all. I don't think riding with the miss is hateful at all." "...Eh?" But with Emilia frozen stiff, Petra walked over, taking hold of her limp, dangling hand. Hot, her fingertips felt. With Emilia unable to conceal her surprise, Petra smiled bashfully toward her. "Miss, you're the young lady with the potato stamps, right? I saw you coming with Subaru for morning radio aerobics all the time." "That is..." "I could never see your face, but you seemed to be having fun. I know, too, you know? I saw how Subaru had lots of fun talking to you. Subaru, really...... That's why I'm not afraid of you, either, miss." "...Ah." Listening to Petra's words, Emilia felt a pain deep in her nose, raising her voice. Heat welled up from deep within her eyes, too, and her throat suddenly caught. Her cheeks reddened, and her ears were so hot, they seemed to be burning. "Miss, won't you ride with us? Everyone's been saying to leave you alone. But I'll hold your hand, so..." " Mm...mm." "You don't have to feel lonely anymore, 'kay?" "...Mm!" That innocent, pure, genuine gaze, disconnected from malice and irrationality, granted her salvation. To Emilia, estrangement was normal, persecution was inevitable, and discrimination taken for granted, so much so that she had been unable to sense the warmth in Petra's eyes and voice. That fact made her chest ache. "Me too!" "I wanna be with the miss, too!" "Come on, quick!" Other children made a clamor, running around Emilia however they pleased. As they did so, Ram immediately stuffed the children into the dragon carriage, a sight that got a little snort out of Petra. "Miss, let's go, too? The others might be a little loud, though." "...No, that's all right. It's been noisy around me for two months, so I'm used to it by now." She shook her head, and she understood how the smile came over her as if by nature. Holding her hand, Petra led her along. The warmth of her hand made Emilia appreciate the closeness of another person. "Ram, take care of the Sanctuary, please. Protect the villagers well." "As you wish. Be careful along the way yourself, Lady Emilia." Grasping her skirt, Ram curtsied politely, nodding with a wry, pleasant smile on her face. After that, Emilia's gaze searched for the one who had made that exchange come about. "Allow me to express my thanks to you as... Er?" She searched for the young man whose good offices had allowed her to break the ice. However, the white-robed youth was nowhere to be seen, leaving Emilia perplexed. "Where did he run off to?" Of those hearing Emilia's voice, sounding like she'd been left behind, Ram alone sank her shoulders in exasperation. 8 The figure pushed its way through the branches, trampled the grass, and kept its posture low as it mingled with the green of the forest. Concealing himself in the dense, overgrown foliage, "he" suppressed his breathing and aura, blending in with the darkness. The residents of the tiny settlement some three hundred feet or so beyond the forest were being evacuated and led away so that they might escape the trial. It was unforgivable. What threatened to occur was unconscionable. To prevent such a thing, the figure had thrown caution to the wind to observe their activities firsthand. The figure endured feelings of unease as multiple shadowy figures, remaining concealed at "his" command, gathered close with a slight sound of footsteps. Including the figure, they numbered four insufficient to launch a general attack, but plenty to slow them down. It was ahead of schedule, but like everything else, this was for the sake of their exalted aims. "He" put a hand in his pocket and placed the small mirror retrieved from it atop "his" palm. However, its role differed from that of the cosmetic mirrors possessed by girls and women; its role was to "connect" to different mirrors. It was a metia, a magical mirror that allowed the user to converse over a long distance with another via the mirror on the other side. Though metia were scarce by nature, conversation mirrors were numerous among them and comparatively easy to acquire. But even among the disciples, only a few possessed them. This was an honor reserved for the fingers those whose faith had been recognized, and who had been chosen as the Lord Archbishop's confidants. *** Remaining silent, "he" poured magical energy into the conversation mirror, causing the metia to activate. It was a process the figure had undertaken several times in the preceding few hours, sending detailed reports about the resources he'd accompanied so that preparations could be made for the trial that must come. Accordingly, an emergency situation like this absolutely had to be reported. The figure had to communicate with its brethren about the fact that the resources' movements had greatly shifted. They had noticed the movements of "his" brethren, and were nefariously attempting to flee " I see. It was a big mystery how you got in touch with the others, but I guess metia are super convenient. Although I think it's important in communication to show your face to the other party, don't you?" *** Suddenly, one of the brethren crouched alongside peered into the conversation mirror, tossing such words "his" way. The figure hastily looked over, and the next moment, "he" was stricken by a sense of extreme unease. The other party was right next to him, and yet the figure still could not discern the features of the other person's face. It was as if something was stopping his brain from understanding what he was seeing. "You don't distinguish by face, you distinguish by physical nature. When it comes to that, you and I are like girls in a knitting circle wearing the same perfume. Gives me chills, you piece-of-shit bastard." As the "white-robed" brethren spoke, he stood up, practically spitting out the declaration. Then, in front of "him" Kety, the Witch Cultist, frozen stiff in surprise the brethren pulled down his hood, revealing rare black hair and foul-looking eyes with the white of the sclera surrounding three sides of each iris three-whites eyes. "Your sin is grave, y'know getting in the way of my sentimental reunion with Emilia and all that." As the black-haired youth prattled on with frivolity, a taunting, impetuous smile came over his mouth. The next instant, the indecipherable enchantment surrounding the youth fell away. Kety's eyes could now plainly make out the youth's features, bringing his identity to light. The features of the traitor who had led the expeditionary force to their doorstep, making a plan that he would oppose them *** With the most unforgivable of foes before him, Kety reflexively leaped to his feet. There was no need to even look at the two brethren to his sides. They would launch a combined assault on the apostate before them. However The instant he drew the cross-shaped blade on his hip, a lower-tone whisper grazed his ear. " Too slow." The next moment, a silver flash raced into the corner of his field of vision, and the brethren to his right and left gushed blood as they crumbled. Their necks had been slashed; it was obvious the blows had been fatal. And then it was Kety's turn "I recommend that you do not resist. I do not intend to inflict unnecessary pain." His efforts had been completely forestalled by the cold tip of a blade against the back of his neck. Behind him stood a slender knight, and the aged swordsman who had cut down his two brethren. In addition, a cat-eared demihuman stood behind them, all of them brought by the black-haired traitor... "Subaru Natsuki...!" "Ohh, I guess it's obvious, but, like, wow, Witch Cultists really do talk. That's a big help." Shoved against the ground with his arms pinned behind him, Kety glared up at him the traitor, Subaru Natsuki. The youth on the receiving end had an outbreak of cold sweat on his brow. He turned to the other three and spoke. "Well, at least it went without a hitch. Thanks for the assist." "I admit to half doubting you, but having read them properly this far, I cannot but admit you were correct. If they have been made to dance as you expect, our advantage shall only grow greater." "Isn't that pretty much a given, meow? We started evacuating the village so much earlier than expected that it made him try contacting them in a big hurry." As the knight and the demihuman concurred with the youth's words, Kety's head was in chaos, filled with hatred and incomprehension. He didn't understand the meaning of their conversation. It was as if they'd known every last thing in "Your face says you don't get it. Well, that can't be helped. This time we're way too good at running rings around ya. Oh, and thank you

for helping our disinformation efforts...not that you actually realized you were a double spy." *** "The gist is, we totally knew you were a spy. As for how we found you...trade secret. So we went through the trouble of laying a trap for the Witch Cult's scout, in other words, you." Kety was still, eyes wide open, as Subaru Natsuki closed one eye and slowly spelled it out. And then he stated, "Two hours. You reported to your pals that we were two hours behind schedule." Raising up two fingers, he wagged them left and right. Kety's eyes remained wide with shock as Subaru continued. "During that time, we'll get Emilia and the others outta here. During that time, we'll crush the fingers flat. During that time, we'll prepare to squish your precious archbishop flat." At the end of those words, a bold smile came over Subaru Natsuki. And then he issued his declaration of war. "I'm gonna give you a real good taste of the terror of being crushed by someone three steps ahead of you." CHAPTER 2 *** 1 Returning to the time when the expeditionary force continued its moving conference through the use of Nekt... "We finally know there's a spy in our midst. If we can make good use of him and feed him false info, we can give Emilia and the others time to flee to safety. Don't you think so?" *** Subaru spoke thus as he divulged a series of information while on the road toward the Mathers domain. During the time the expeditionary force's thoughts were shared via magic, this opinion sent vigorous arguments flying back and forth. While nodding at their various thoughts, Subaru raised a hand and spoke. "Hey, listen. Just like we talked about, wiping out the fingers is nonnegotiable for kicking the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins' butt. That said, even just taking out those fingers is easier said than done. We have to be smart about this." "Purportedly, making use of your physical condition would allow us to draw out and fight the fingers one by one?" "I can guarantee it. But either way, the fact that they have a spy means whatever we do will get passed on to the enemy. Even if we take out the spy first, they'll know something's up when he misses the regular time to call, so it amounts to the same thing. So I was thinking we flip this around on them and leak intel for him to send them fake intel." As he replied to Julius, Subaru recalled the sight of the village being raided at the end of his last go-around. At the time, every last enemy had launched a combined attack on the village from the forest. Given the numbers of raiders, he was sure he was right in thinking so, and also that Petelgeuse had possessed the finger hiding among the traveling merchants. In other words, the traveling merchant named Kety, the Witch Cultist embedded with them. One way or another, he was in contact with the fingers. Likely, unlike the other Witch Cultists accompanying Petelgeuse, he'd been assigned the duty of gathering intelligence about the surrounding area. "That's why we should turn this back on them. If we fool the spy, we fool the whole Witch Cult." "So that is why you wish to send Rajan and his group to the traveling merchants and tell them the rendezvous will be delayed?" Subaru's roundabout statement seemed to clear up Ricardo's doubts, bringing him to agree. Just like last time around, a small detachment of the Iron Fangs would be sent to greet the traveling merchants cooperating with the evacuation. But this time, those select few would deliver a rendezvous time with Subaru's ruse attached. Before the Witch Cult's spy could rendezvous with the expeditionary force, they'd dispose of a mountain of concerns he wanted dealt with beforehand, making it a race against time. Incidentally, Subaru had recommended the fox-man and his team, casualties from the last time around, for those select few, hoping to keep them far from the fight. "So this is less of a proposal and more an update after the fact. You have such a naughty personality, Subawu." "It's like we're talkin' 'bout the little lady... No peaceful death down that path, y'know?" "Setting Ferris aside, what's with Ricardo's assessment of his employer...?" Ricardo was the one working for her, but his appraisal of Anastasia was harsh. The boisterously laughing thought that followed right after made Subaru assume it was simple lighthearted banter. At any rate, the operation to confuse the spy was already underway. And, accepting this "Then our counterespionage plan is settled. Incidentally, what is the source of this information...?" "How about I say my...nose for the Witch Cult?" " That is a thin basis, but I shall take that as meaning you have one. That is my reply." Julius responded to Subaru's usual vague explanation with his own difficult-to-decipher inner thought. The thoughts he passed through Nekt were opaque compared to those of the others, perhaps because it was his own magic. But there was no room to doubt the truth of his willingness to cooperate. So it would do for the moment. "That's fine, but what about the issue with the letter? Leaving it at just the blank page makes things difficult." "Ehh, why? If it's completely blank, you can write whatever you want on it? Seems convenient to Ouchie!" "Sis, please be quiet." The cat siblings were the next ones to wedge themselves into the telepathic conversation. Actually, behind the telepathic exchange, a torrent of lighthearted thoughts flowed out from Mimi, but everyone was taking that in stride. For his part, TB was paying serious attention to the operation. Subaru drew his chin in during the kitty siblings' exchange, thinking over how to deal with the blank letter. After all, thanks to that problem, Ram had launched a surprise attack on the expeditionary force, costing it precious time. The operation was in part a race against time, so a loss like that was to be avoided at all costs. "What should we do, then?" TB sent over an ashen, nervous thought, wanting to hear a plan to deal with it. Others beside him also turned their minds toward Subaru, waiting for his reply. At the center of that attention, Subaru folded his arms and told them how they would deal with the blank letter. And that method was 2 In the early morning, just as the world began to awaken, Ram lifted her head, sensing an indecipherable presence. She was midway along the road cutting through open fields that stretched from the mansion to Earlham Village. Since Emilia had faced a bad experience with the villagers, Ram had left her back at the mansion on her way to prod and persuade the villagers to evacuate. *** There was a slight rustle in the forest. Ram knotted her shapely brows as she sank into thought for a single moment. Ram was a demon who had lost her horn. By nature, demons were acutely sensitive to changes in the forest and mountains. A sixth sense that differed from the other five informed her of a shift in the wind blowing from the direction of the highway. Her small nose snorted. Ram, confirming that there was no hint of danger in the immediate vicinity, went down on one knee and concentrated on her forehead. She was activating her supernatural ability of Clairvoyance. Clairvoyance was a secret art passed down among the demons that enabled them to synchronize with the vision of others, stealing their vision and seeing through their eyes. Few demons had mastered the art to begin with; currently Ram was probably the only one. While it was activated, her awareness of her own surroundings was greatly diminished, limiting the places she could use it, but it was the crown jewel of reconnaissance abilities. The master to whom Ram had pledged fealty had many enemies. For that reason, too, the supernatural ability was very helpful. *** She disconnected herself from those deep feelings, concentrating the effect of her supernatural ability, and entered the vision of others. Even where there were no people to affect, that was no hindrance so long as there were living creatures with the sense of sight. However, creatures with compatible wavelengths were limited, and in the past few days, she had been unable to grasp anything inside the forest where it mattered most. However, that was not the case this time. She detected multiple compatible wavelengths from the direction of the highway that connected to the village. She entered one of them, seeing through its eyes. *** The creature from which she borrowed that sight was a humanoid riding a giant beast of war a great dog known as a liger. The rider was small in stature, slowly surveying the area with ferocious energy. He was not on guard, but nor was he at ease. It was a power to see through the eyes of others. Naturally, his moving in contrast to Ram's will inflicted motion sickness upon her. Ram immediately shifted to a different set of eyes from the next compatible vision, ascertaining the situation anew. Fortunately, this set of eyes politely stared straight at the road ahead. The height of his gaze matched that of the previous set of eyes, and he too was riding a giant dog. She could scarcely tell the difference. "...What numbers." However, that doubt evaporated when a great throng entered her borrowed field of view. They were a group of forty or fifty people, each and every one armed. They galloped along the highway, tens of minutes away from the village. And she recognized the crest of the lion rampant on the armor of several of the armored men. This was the crest of the House of Karsten, proof they were of the same faction that had declared war via the blank letter the night before. In other words, it was offensive action by a rival in the royal selection "Seizing on Master Roswaal's absence to make their move...!" Ram understood that it was an emergency situation, urgent circumstances demanding an immediate decision. If their goal was to inflict damage upon the Emilia camp, they would surely occupy Earlham Village. She had to strike before that could happen, using every means available to her... And just when Ram gritted her teeth, ready to cut the clairvoyant connection and race to the village "...Huh?" she let out a dumbstruck voice. Her feet, ready to set off in a sprint, stopped, and Ram's face grimaced extensively at the sight she beheld through the Clairvoyance. It was that painful to comprehend just what she was seeing. " Barusu?" A black-haired young man rode a land dragon at the forward tip of the formation, carrying a sign that he turned in every direction as if to ensure it could be seen from front, back, left, and right. Upon that placard was written in large characters: *** 3 Carrying those words in the manner of a white flag, Subaru and the rest of the expeditionary force arrived at Earlham Village without incident. However, when Ram appeared to greet them, she had a sour look on her face, and Subaru awkwardly shrank as he stood before her. Hah! Ram instantly snorted out as she spoke. "First you send a blank letter, and now you appear at the head of an armed band? You do not appear to comprehend exactly whose domain this is." "But you didn't launch a preemptive strike... That means there's room to talk about this, right?" "That sign was a message for me, obviously. I am the only one who would understand such a thing." Ram sighed in visible exasperation as she set eyes on the wooden placard Subaru carried at his side. An apology in huge I-script was written on the sign in white paint. This was the master plan Subaru had developed midmarch for countering

the blank letter of goodwill or rather, he'd responded with the blunt truth. "I should beat you senseless. The characters are so sloppy that I was nearly unable to read them." "Hey, you taught me these characters! Aren't you used to seeing them by now?!" "Unfortunately, I forgot about them as quickly as an ingrate forgets the generosity shown to him." "Unnghhhhh...!" Ram's characteristically harsh statement left Subaru hemming and hawing, unable to give any retort. Watching his reaction, she folded her arms and continued her lecture. "So? According to what I have heard, Barusu, you soured Lady Emilia's mood in grand fashion and she abandoned you in the royal capital... How dare you return to show your face?" "You really have no mercy, do you?! I'm not gonna argue with each and every point, but here I am, daring to return and show my face! Not that I came back empty-handed!" With a hand, he indicated the expeditionary force lined up behind him to put his exploits from the royal capital on display. Subaru's declaration caused Ram to narrow her eyes. As she proceeded to survey the expeditionary force, she spoke. "It is fine to boast, but as your objective is unclear, the humans of the village are on guard. I too am concerned that anything might happen... My songbird heart is nearly ready to burst." "You mean your heart has wings sprouting from it? Doesn't that make it a really strong heart?" "If you make too many wisecracks I shall slice that nose off your face." "Man, it's been a few days and this reunion feels really off-kilt Wait, my nose?!" The savage declaration sent Subaru covering his face and backing off a step as his gaze shifted from Ram to the village behind her. Of course, the ruckus was such that the villagers noticed the expeditionary force immediately, whereupon they turned concerned eyes toward the knights lined up in the village square. However "Hey, at the head of them, that's Master Subaru, isn't it?" "It really is. That's Master Subaru speaking to Miss Ram. He's come back?" "Ahh, it's Subaru! He's back!" The villagers' wariness relented slightly when they realized Subaru was acting as the group's representative. Thanks to that, in their eyes, the group was upgraded from "never before seen" to "under the command of someone we know." "And now we have to upgrade that to 'reliable reinforcements brought by someone we know'..." "That is no simple matter. In the first place, I have not yet accepted all of this. I cannot readily believe that a letter bearing a wax seal was merely in error." "That's part of the enemy's trap... You noticed the jerks hiding in the forest, right?" *** Subaru lowered his voice to a whisper. Ram kept silent with a sober look on her face. It was plain as day that both the Witch Cult lurking in the forest and the blank letter incident had put Ram on guard the last time around. Subaru addressed Ram's concerns as he moved the conversation forward. "Ferris, Wilhelm, over here! Ram, you know both of them, too, right?" Obeying Subaru's call, the pair came over to his side. "Yes," said Ram, looking over Ferris and Wilhelm as they stood side by side; her expression vanished as she straightened her back. The pair from Crusch's camp acknowledged Rem's posture by granting her their respect. "I am called Wilhelm Trias. I have come as Lady Crusch's representative." "I'm Ferris, Lady Crusch's personal knight. Old Man Wil's the captain of the group behind us, so that makes Ferri the vibrant flower, meow." The austere Wilhelm and the flippant-to-the-last Ferris were a shining example of polar opposites. Ram responded to both extremes by politely grasping the hem of her skirt and making a formal curtsy. "I graciously accept your polite greetings. I am called Ram. I am employed here, at the mansion of Marquis Roswaal L. Mathers, in the capacity of senior servant." Ram's cheekiness in naming herself senior servant made Subaru grimace, but he held his tongue. Ram was indisputably in charge of the mansion while Rem was absent. Personally, he would have preferred she call herself acting senior servant, or if not senior for a day, then at least senior servant for the last week, but oh well. "Either way, these two and the people behind us are proof that Crusch is cooperating with us. This is what Roswaal wants, too. No complaints, right?" "If Master Roswaal wills it, Ram shall obey It would seem he accomplished his objective in leaving you behind at the capital. Though I believe he shall have your head for the blank letter, Barusu." "Hey, can you cut it with the violent imagery? Why do you have such a brutal thought process?" He felt like he was back in medieval times, but Ram freshly ignored his complaints. Instead she turned toward the representatives of the reinforcements. "So you have been traveling with my apprentice servant... My condolences." "Though he is prone to exorbitant actions and showing too much of his emotions, Sir Subaru is a person of high promise. Even at my age, he has aided me many times." "Ferri won't go as far as Old Man Wil, but...well, I'll just take Ram's words as they were offered. I'll say, mmm, I think he's brushed up a little, meow." The assessments from Wilhelm and Ferris made Ram sigh with an even more grudging look on her face. Though the topic was a rather uncomfortable one, Subaru scratched his cheek, glossing over how he really felt. Immediately after, he clapped his hands together and started over, explaining the situation to Ram in detail. "Anyway, leave smashing the enemies in the forest to the expeditionary force. I want you to cooperate with that and something in a different direction. Are you willing?" "That depends on the details. I do not wish to make a hasty promise only to have Barusu's filthy, poisonous fangs sink into me." "Hey, the looks I give you aren't that dirty, you know?!" "That's a boy for you, not saying it was zero..." Faced with Ram's poison tongue, Ferris's casual banter, and stern eyes shifted his way, Subaru cleared his throat. From there, having kept them waiting long enough, he elucidated the circumstances required, both in front of and behind the curtain, to make his plan come to fruition. "I want your help in picking where to evacuate the people in the village and to guide them there. I want to make sure not to involve the villagers while we fight the enemies in the forest." "I understand what you are saying. However, we have no means of escape." "I've arranged the legs to carry 'em out on. From here on out, traveling merchants with dragon carriages will be assembling here, bit by bit from every direction. We'll have the villagers get aboard and haul 'em out." "Assembled from all directions...? How?" " Money. We'll just have to eat the costs, okay?" Subaru's "insurance policy" had cost a great deal of money. The treasury paying it was Roswaal's, and on top of that, it was without his having granted permission. Ram sighed deeply when she discerned that from Subaru's manner of speech. "...Understood. I will support your effort. It is an emergency, after all." "Seriously?! Huge help! Worst case, I was gonna have to promise to pay it back when I make it big!" "Only those who are fit to actually rise to prominence may promise such a thing However, Ram's consent is by no means the end of the matter." After giving a stern assessment about his future prospects, Ram shifted an even sterner look over her shoulder. Subaru didn't need to follow her gaze; he knew exactly what Ram was trying to tell him. The people of Earlham Village were behind Ram, still anxious about their situation. Even if Ram was willing to lead them out, convincing them would prove the highest hurdle of all. He had prior experience from the last go-around, but the result of that effort still tasted bitter in his mouth. The closest word he had to describe the emotion summoned by that memory was fear. He'd only scratched the surface of the discrimination and repudiation facing Emilia. *** Time was short precious time gained from feeding false information to the Witch Cult. And yet, Subaru hesitated, wondering what the first words out of his mouth ought to be. "Subawu, if you can't do it, I'll..." " Ferris." When Ferris tried to be considerate to Subaru, offering to speak in his place, Wilhelm called his name. A single glance from the Sword Devil halted Ferris's gesture in its tracks. He turned his eyes toward Subaru and spoke. "Sir Subaru, this is not a duty you may shirk... You understand, yes?" When Wilhelm asked this in a low voice, Subaru winked once and nodded firmly. Subaru gave Ferris a thankful glance for his concern before stepping past Ram and advancing straight into the village square. To the front were the villagers with worried faces; to his back were his comrades in the expeditionary force. He felt the tension from both stab into him. As for the first words out of his mouth, those very important words, he still hadn't decided. But he would begin with the best word for wiping away the villagers' concerns and fears. "Everyo " " Master Subaru. Please, let us drop all pretenses. Everyone in the village understands." However, Subaru couldn't even get that first word out. The one speaking, interrupting Subaru's word-without-a-plan, was the cornerstone of the village a small-statured, white-haired, elderly man. He was the one the villagers called Muraosa, a name in no way related to his occupation as village headman. Normally his demeanor made one suspect he was a senile old man, but at that moment, his voice and gaze held no trace of that whatsoever. Subaru felt overwhelmed by the glint in his eye as the elder touched his beard and continued. "We understand how dire things must be if you have brought such dangerous persons to deal with it. We have already heard from Miss Ram about the...suspicious presence in the forest." "No, that's..." "Stop trying to fool us...! We knew before anyone said a word!!" Following in Muraosa's wake, the leader of the village's young men raised a bitter cry. The last go-around, his plea had been the trigger for the villagers to put their fears and anxieties on display. This time proved no different. "So the ones in the forest, they really are...!" "What's with our lord? Didn't he foresee that this would happen?!" "Why did the lord speak in support of a half-elf...of a half-demon...?" The young man's cry ripped the bandage off, causing the villagers to look at one another and share their fears and worries. It was the sight Subaru had most feared, and had most wanted to avoid. It was the worst of all spectacles, for even with an intervening Return by Death, and so many valiant efforts to deal with so many things, he still hadn't known how to stop things from getting to this point *** He probably couldn't eliminate such a deep-seated discriminatory mind-set in that one moment. When he recalled events from the last time around, he thought that a similar compromise would make things easier. Considering the menace posed by the Witch Cult, the right decision was to kick other issues down the road. If he gained their grudging acceptance, prioritizing the evacuation, then "The girl I know, she acts tough, she's stubborn, hardheaded...and she worries about anyone seeing that she's lonely." *** The words Subaru spoke seemed wholly unrelated to his inner thought process. The villagers gazed in bewilderment, wondering what in the world Subaru was saying. The members of the expeditionary force had similar reactions. However, their expressions of surprise abated as they listened closely. They offered their ears, listening to Subaru's words. "She always chooses to hurt herself for

someone else's sake. Even though she gets hurt so easily, she always picks the path that winds up with her getting hurt. She's gentle and kindhearted to the core, she fusses over things like a little kid, she gets teary-eyed even when she hasn't eaten a green bepper, she makes such a cute face when she smiles..." "What are you talking abo ?" " I'm talking about Emilia, the half-elf up at the mansion." When someone interrupted, Subaru replied with a calm voice. His answer surprised the villagers. The little smile coming over Subaru's lips surprised them even more. Given the circumstances, and their words of distress but a few moments before, his reaction seemed very much out of place. "I understand why you're worried. Also that you think the cause of everything is R...Master Roswaal, your lord, and his support of a half-elf girl in the royal selection that began at the royal capital." *** "That girl's name is Emilia. Really, you all know her already, don't you? She's the girl who's been spending months alongside you." Subaru's exhortation made the villagers exchange glances. From their reactions, there had to be recognition remaining within their memories. Even if, all that time, her face and her identity had been hidden, they'd seen her with Subaru in the village many times, and at the very least, they remembered the time they'd spent with her. "I understand that you're all worried and scared. I also understand that when the chips are down, it feels good to blame things on something that's easy to understand." It was human instinct to protect the mind by slamming the emotions into something nearby. Subaru could not criticize them for that. He, of all people, didn't have the right to do so. But he chastised himself. His heart was tormented because he understood this so well. Once upon a time, Subaru had coped with pain the way the villagers were doing in the present. "I'm sure, though, you all actually understand. Pushing your worries onto someone else won't make things better." *** "That girl is someone who smiled with everyone. That girl is someone who wants to laugh with everyone. I know. She's said so. I want you to stop ignoring that, and stop hurting her." He had no confidence that his own voice lacked worry and sorrow. He wanted to punch himself for having the gall to say such a thing. After all, it was Subaru who had hurt Emilia, ignored her feelings, and trampled upon her heart more than anyone. He'd regretted it at the time. The grief had pierced Subaru's chest ever since. Maybe that was why. He regretted allowing her to make that face. He regretted making her put on that face. He didn't want anyone else to go through that. "Please I'm begging you." Subaru lowered his head toward the villagers as he made his earnest plea. The thing he was asking seemed completely unrelated to their most imminent problems, a waste of precious time. Even though Subaru had to speak to them about evacuating, his words were about something completely different. It was as if he was reconfirming for himself just what terrible things had been said to Emilia over and over. *** Indeed, the villagers looked conflicted, at a loss as to what reaction they ought to have to Subaru's words. Even if it had been the topic they were speaking about, the conclusion clashed with the issue at hand. Mutual bewilderment left them perplexed. However, that was not the only thing born from it. " Petra?" Hearing the sound of small footsteps, Subaru called out the name of the little girl walking to his side. The girl with reddish-brown hair Petra was a village girl Subaru knew well. She responded to Subaru's call with a nod as she reached Subaru's side, turning around as she stood to face the villagers with him. Then her next words proved that she did not only seem to be taking his side she was. "Why won't anyone listen to what Subaru's saying?" It was guileless. It was brutally honest. That was why her chastising tore a hole into their hearts. "Subaru's so worried, he looks about to cry. Why won't anyone help him?" "That's..." "When I was in trouble, when everyone was in trouble, Subaru came through, didn't he? He'll probably come through for us today, too, right? Then why...?" Adults had too many walls up to launch the attack called "innocence" that only children were capable of. With the adults cowed into silence, Petra gazed sadly at them before grasping Subaru's hand. "The older girl at the mansion, that's the girl always wearing white, isn't it? She was the one bringing potato stamps when we did the radio aerobics." "...Yeah, that's right. She was the stamp girl. She wanted to mingle with everyone, but she couldn't just come out and say so. That's just how she is." Subaru grinned as Petra's words brought him back to the peaceful days they'd spent together. It became a ritual. Every day, Emilia would accompany Subaru down to the village and do radio aerobics with the villagers. Emilia was always watching when Subaru gave his stamp of approval with the potato stamps he'd carved himself. These everyday scenes were the tangible bonds Emilia had formed with the villagers. That fact made understanding and hesitation rise upon the adults' faces. But no adult grumbling or hesitation had any traction with children. Other hands rose as different children rushed over to Subaru's side. "I'm okay with Big Sis, too!" "If Petra's fine with her, then I'm fine with her!" "We won't let Big Bro be the only one to act cool!" "Subaru's gonna cry, so we've gotta help him!" "Yeah!!" The children made a ruckus; their voices seemed to blow the previous atmosphere away. Seeing the children lined up against them, the anxiety-ridden adults glanced at each other's faces. They needed one final push. Faced with their indecision, Subaru stepped forward. With both arms, he held on to the children, pulling them in as tightly as he could. "I don't expect everyone to accept her just like that. But I want an opportunity without you rejecting her at the start. I want you to give her a chance." "A chance...?" "A chance to be a girl you can get along with...a chance for you to understand each other." As Subaru elaborated on his words, his hands let go of the children he had held, freeing him to get on his knees and show that his resolve went far beyond bowing. *** Even Ram's eyes widened as murmurs spread. But of all assembled, it was Wilhelm, Ferris, and the other members of the expeditionary force behind Subaru who watched his entreaty in silence. It was enough. Though it was embarrassing, he had no reason to hesitate. "Everyone, there's a lot of things I'd like to say, but right now, this is the only thing I want to ask of you. And one thing more: Let us protect the time needed to make that chance happen." *** "Please... This is why I came back." His voice came to a halt. The villagers were silent. That was to be expected as far as they were concerned, Subaru was their savior, yet there he was, pressing his own forehead to the ground as he made his plea...a plea to "let them" protect. Their positions were completely reversed. But the sight of the Subaru they knew like that was " Oh geez, Master Subaru, there's just no winnin' against you." Speaking those words, and roughly scratching his head in the process, was none other than the leader of the young men who had caused their eruption of worry to begin with. He had a guilty look on his face as he walked over to Subaru and reached out with a hand. A dumbstruck Subaru gazed blankly as that hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled him to his feet. Then, with Subaru having yet to say anything, he spoke. "If you're gonna say you'll protect us and put that much into it...guess it can't be helped." The conflicted young man's statement was as contagious as the initial worry had been. His words were the trigger for the villagers to say with quaking voices: "It is so terrible getting old. I'm driven to tears so easily..." "Goodness, he really is so much trouble. It's blackmail, I tell you." Complain as they might, the warmth and relief in their voices left Subaru agape. Petra thrust a finger against his forehead, still smeared with dirt, and spoke. "Subaru, your face is all dirty!" Petra's words sent the uncontrollable urge to laugh spreading throughout the village. He knew it was a stretch. He thought they'd say it was too far. And yet, they'd accepted his plea anyway. The villagers' smiling faces made Subaru sigh with relief. Truly, the sight was the same as on the days they'd spent to date. "...Thanks, everyone." "That is our line, Master Subaru." This time, the words of Muraosa, representing the consensus of the village, nearly did bring Subaru to tears. 4 And 'twould have been a far prettier tale if the matter had ended there, but... "Am I mistaken, or did you not actually say anything about the most important part?" "A, aa !" Subaru was trying to hide his half-tearful face when Ram's impartial observation snapped him out of it. Reflecting upon her words, he realized that he really hadn't explained any of the most important part at all. He was so focused on the parts relating to Emilia that he'd completely forgotten about the plan to evacuate the villagers. "Oh man, I messed up..." "Just when I thought you had become somewhat useful. It seems Barusu will be Barusu." Feeling Ram's disappointed gaze, Subaru, unable to summon any excuse, immediately turned back around to explain things to the villagers. "It cannot be helped," said Ram to him, shaking her head as she spoke. "I shall explain about the evacuation and accompanying compensation in your place. Barusu, return to your underhanded schemes." "Uh, that's all right? Er, I mean, you'll be all right?" "It is you who are not all right, Barusu. Can you switch to speaking to the village's humans about practical matters in a heartbeat? Your personality is hardly suited to it." "Suppose you're right! It's embarrassing, but I'm counting on you, Older Sis!" *** Ram was basking in his respectful words when she cocked her head with a questioning look. Then she headed toward the villagers. This was Ram, blessed with a great deal of comprehension and insight. Tossing the rest of the explanation to her would doubtlessly turn out all right. This done, the next issue was " Subaru, I would like to finally move the issue forward." Julius said that just as Subaru was switching mental gears. Subaru greeted his words with a nod and headed back to the expeditionary force's ranks. They had to shift to the next phase of the operation. Upon his return, Ferris smiled at Subaru and casually sent a wave his way. "Subawu, you did great with that speech~. You moved even Ferri's heart." "Don't dig it back up! And don't lie! And really don't dig that up! It's embarrassing!" "There is nothing to be ashamed of. You very much said it in your own way, and because of that, you moved the hearts of the villagers to such an ext " "Don't dig it back up! Leave it in the ground! We're talking about the next operation!" Subaru yelled both at Ferris, clearly full of malice, and Julius, clearly devoid of malice, as he dragged the topic back. Events to come would proceed as they'd hammered out in midmarch. Once convincing the villagers was taken care of, they'd rendezvous with the detachment with the traveling merchants and evacuate the civilians. During that time, they needed to deal with feeding false info to the Witch Cult and "...Deceive Lady Emilia with a forked

tongue, and shoo her far, far away with the people of the village, meow." "Watch how you say it! Even if it fits the plan, it sounds way too bad that way!" "Because I can't agree with it, meow. Why do you need to send Lady Emilia far away? Lady Emilia has both a reason to fight, and the power to do so... Am I wrong?" Of the entire plan, this was the only point Ferris saw fit to disagree with. Subaru and Ferris didn't see eye to eye on Emilia's place in the plan. When he thought back, Ferris was the one who'd brought Emilia into battle during the final fight in the village. Ram seemed to have helped convince her, but Ferris's assessment of Emilia's power might have proven correct. At least, as far as Emilia's having the power to slug it out with even Petelgeuse " Even so, I don't want to let Emilia fight the Witch Cult." "Haah, we're talking past each other..." Seeing Ferris slump his shoulders with an exasperated air made Subaru feel bad, but he wouldn't take back his view. It was the one thing he would not budge on. Subaru's selfishness or rather, the deep-rooted bad premonition in his chest made him want Emilia kept away from the Witch Cult, by extreme measures if need be. The premonition was probably founded in the look on the side of Emilia's face when she'd defeated Petelgeuse at the end of the last time around. The madman's death had made tears trickle for reasons even she did not understand. "Ferris. Sir Subaru has his own feelings on the matter. Sir Subaru has his desires where Lady Emilia is concerned, just as you have your expectations for Lady Crusch." "Old Man Wil..." "It is doubtless you prefer some outcomes over others. Surely you can understand his earnest feelings." It was Wilhelm who interjected, having held his peace during the dispute up to that point. The old swordsman's words made Ferris's cheeks tighten; he subconsciously touched the dagger on his hip. "Just as you adore Lady Crusch, Sir Subaru wishes for Lady Emilia's well-being A boy is concerned for the welfare of the girl he loves. It is only nature." "Having it said that bluntly makes me feel a little blushy and pathetic, but..." Subaru scratched his cheek, welcoming Wilhelm's support with a pathetic look. Ferris had a pouting look on his face, but he did not offer any further rebuttal. The knights around them gave Subaru warm looks as well. "Anyway! We're gonna do this just like we worked out! We'll set up the scenario so Emilia listens to reason. Ferris, Wilhelm, I'm counting on you for some really persuasive backup!" "Understood." "Sure thing~!" When the two freshly acknowledged their role as persuaders, Subaru cut the conversation off then and there. If Ram pulled off convincing the villagers, the remaining issues were relatively few. Subaru turned around and spoke. "OK, Julius. About that favor I asked about earlier. How is..." " Do you mean me? I've been listening the whole time." Everyone's breath caught as a third party's voice interjected at that juncture, the very end of the exchange. Subaru, the only one who realized the identity of the speaker, naturally looked up. And then "Heya, long time no see, Puck. How've you been?" He smiled toward Puck the little cat swishing his tail as he floated in the sky. The presence of the suddenly appearing Great Spirit surprised the expeditionary force, putting it extremely on edge. Puck, glancing at their reaction, accepted Subaru's greeting with a stroke of his own whiskers as he spoke. "Mm, I'm in a very good mood. Right now, I can easily dispose of an insect pestering my beloved daughter." "This is an awkward question, but this insect to which you refer..." "Do you really need to ask?" Puck's eyes remained round as a ghastly, overpowering aura poured from his entire body. That sense of antagonism made tension run through not only Subaru, but the entire expeditionary force as well. The knights, sensitive to hostility, immediately put their hands to the hilts of their swords, an understandable reaction. Though he was bathed in their wary stares, Puck's ghastly aura did not relent as he continued, "Subaru, I have a few things to say to you. Do you know what they are?" "...I broke my promise to Emilia. On top of that, I came back against her orders. Those are my sins, and I won't make any excuse for them." *** Subaru's reply made Puck's cheeks twitch. These were Subaru's answers to the questions Puck had tossed his way for once already he had experienced that pop quiz when he drew Puck's ire. At the time, Subaru had been unable to say anything to the enraged Puck. He'd hurt Emilia through his own selfish actions, and as a result had let her die; he couldn't speak a single word. That was why "Of course you're angry at me for all that. If your mind won't be set at ease until you punish me, I'm prepared to accept and face whatever punishment you have to give...but now is not the time." He'd broken his promise, trampled on her pleas, and Subaru had added to those sins by coming back. But he absolutely would not permit the final and worst among them letting her die come to pass. "Danger's nipping at Emilia's heels. I want to do something about it. I want to take her fate of facing terrible things, grind it into sand, and blow it away. Please, work with me so I can do that." "...You sound quite...full of yourself." "Yeah, I'm a man who's full of himself. You didn't know?" When Puck spoke in a low voice, Subaru closed one eye and replied thus. Hearing this, Puck folded his short arms. Then the little cat made a tiny grunt and spoke. "Somehow...you've changed, Subaru, but at the same time, you haven't." "That's 'cause human nature ain't an easy thing to change." "I suppose not. Methods aside, it seems you still treasure Lia in your thoughts." A moment after he spoke the words, the ferocious pressure that had dominated the entire area to that point abated. Freed from the sense of menace, which had made him feel like his entire body was being frozen, Subaru sighed at length. The same went for the expeditionary force, Julius and Wilhelm included. In particular, Ferris exaggeratedly patted his own chest. "W-we're all right now? No one's killing us all of a sudden, meow?" "Relax. We're brothers in kitty ears, yes? Do I look like that mean and scary a spirit to you?" Puck responded lightheartedly to Ferris's gloomy words, visibly puffing his cheeks up. His demeanor until a moment before had seemed like a bad joke, but one way or another, the spirit's anger seemed to have been assuaged. "Well, I wasn't that angry in the first place. I've been quietly eavesdropping on the villagers for a while now, you see." "So that's where you've been?! Then you knew what I was trying to do all along?!" "Mm, it makes a nice story...enough that it almost softened me up before I realized it." "Don't flip this around! Talk seriously, would you?! This whole discussion's for Emilia's sake!" Subaru was happy that they were shooting the breeze like normal, but on the other hand, he was eager to gloss over how much it had gotten under his skin. After that, he looked over his shoulder, grimacing Julius's way. "And you should've mentioned you managed to call Puck over. I was shakin' in my boots." "I did not surprise you intentionally. I knew the Great Spirit was present at the same time the buds made their return... I am relieved that your conversation ended peacefully." "Well...I do feel the same way..." Sharing Julius's relief, Subaru slumped his shoulders in exasperation. Calling Puck to the village was one of the tasks Subaru had asked Julius to do to have him send his quasi-spirits to the mansion and bring Puck back without Emilia's being the wiser. This was to gain his cooperation in the skullduggery required to get Emilia to evacuate. "If Ram, the villagers, and Puck are all on the same page..." "Lia won't be able to really put her foot down, huh? I really must say, though, you've scrupulously prepared." Puck made a strained smile at Subaru's attention to detail. But Subaru shook his head at the little cat. "We're facing the Witch Cult. Nothing's too much where those guys are concerned." "The Witch Cult..." The term made Puck's eyes go slightly distant. It was the reaction of someone who'd encountered them somewhere before. In point of fact, on previous go-arounds, Puck had really hated the Cult. Subaru thought that correlation went even beyond their causing harm to Emilia, but... " So you want to fool Lia into going with you, but how exactly are you going to do this?" "Hey, watch how you say it! Having even you putting it like that gets a guy bent out of shape!" However, before Subaru could inquire about that connection, Puck, back to his normal self, switched the topic. Puck was right to want the details of the plan. Pushing his misgivings down the road and prioritizing the evacuation plan for Emilia and the others was the proper call to make. "You know the plan from all your eavesdropping, don't you? After that...my secret weapon comes into play." "Secret weapon?" Puck cocked his head at the grandiose language. Meanwhile Subaru revealed his trump card: a white robe packed into his bag. Subaru immediately put the robe on; he wasn't built much bigger than its proper owner, so he had no trouble wearing it. "Plus, that faint whiff of sweet perfume is one hell of a motivator for me...!" "I wouldn't really call that a secret weapon, but it seems to be a robe with an odd enchantment on it." "Certainly, one robe's not enough for me to cure Emilia's confidence issues..." The proper owner of the white robe was, in fact, Emilia. Incidentally, Subaru said "Emilia's" because Emilia was an acid burning through his own thoughts. He'd be able to speak with Emilia, touch her, and even savor her lingering aroma. His confidence and emotional stability were both shaky. Either way, the "Emilia's" part was a joke, but the power of the robe itself was no laughing matter. "This robe's convenient goods handcrafted by Roswaal himself, and apparently has a Block Identification enchantment embedded in it. It's Emilia's personal property to begin with...but it's not like I stole it, okay?" He thought back as the details of the abominable time when he'd obtained the object came rushing back. It was the robe that Emilia had thrown at him when she was arguing with him during their breakup at the royal palace. In the time since, Subaru had always kept the robe stuffed in his bag, never letting it out of his grasp. Now it served a crucial role. "Whatever its origins might be, what do you...... Ahh, so that is your plan." "Now I don't have to explain, but that knowing face of yours still annoys me." "One's nature is a troublesome thing. In my opinion, your nature is a rather complex one as well." The words made Subaru feel like Julius was seeing right through him, causing him to demonstrate his dismay with an exaggerated snort. After that, Subaru shifted his gaze toward Puck. "So there you have it. We'll be putting on a play for Emilia. You'll be acting, too, and I'm counting on you to help me explain all this after we settle everything." "I'll put on an act, but make up with her yourself. That, Subaru, is up to you." "Gnnn..." Subaru groaned in frustration at being refused to the bitter end. He couldn't expect any cooperation from Puck in making up with Emilia. It was something he would have to accomplish on his own

power. Then that meant Puck would cooperate with everything else. Namely "So Puck, on that note, I have one favor to ask you." "Mm, what is it?" "Isn't it obvious? Convincing the hermit back at the mansion." Subaru winked to Puck as he spoke the words, broaching the final remaining problem. 5 "Did I think I would ever again have a chance to look upon that stupid face, I wonder?" The instant he entered the room, the girl in charge of the archive greeted him with a sharp voice. Hearing the poisonous greeting to which he was accustomed, Subaru spontaneously broke out in a smile. This was a mysterious room, dominated by countless shelves and the books packed into those shelves. This was an archive that existed nowhere in the world Roswaal's archive of forbidden books, protected by its librarian, Beatrice. Through use of teleportation magic known as the Passage, the archive of forbidden books was connected to doors in the mansion at random. That, Subaru knew already, but what truly surprised him this time around was "I never thought it was connected to doors in the village. You're actually a pretty incredible magic user, aren't you?" "...If all you wanted to do was talk, you asked Puckie to do a favor for nothing." "Right now, I wanted to get a little foothold before moving on to the main subject. Sheesh, no patience at all..." Subaru, receiving an even harsher response than usual, made a very slightly conflicted face as he cocked his head. In contrast to Subaru, the girl in the elegant dress made a weary sigh that was incongruent with her outward appearance. The girl with creamy hair in vertical rolls had a sullen face as she sat upon a wooden footstool. Beatrice that was her name. She was the guardian protecting the archive of forbidden books, though Subaru's image of her as part of his busy mansion life was far stronger. Hence, she too was someone related to Subaru whom it would be unthinkable to leave behind in the mansion. This was the situation engendered by Puck connecting the Archive to a door in the village. More accurately, it was the result of Puck calling and Beatrice employing the Passage to make the connection. At the very least, it gave them a chance to talk. Relieved at that fact, Subaru began to broach the subject. "How much do you know about what's going on outside? I mean, have you heard?" "Have I heard anything from anyone, I wonder? I am not in the habit of casually conversing with the people of the mansion to begin with...but perhaps I understand the gist of it regardless?" "The gist being..." " The Witch Cult." Unlike Subaru, carefully choosing his words, Beatrice spoke the term with disgust from the bottom of her heart. "I am aware that those miscreants are lurking in the mansion's vicinity. Perhaps I even know that you and Puckie intend to sneak that blockhead of a girl out of this place?" "Is that so? Well, if you know that much, it becomes a short conversation. If anything, it's a huge help." He was surprised by her unexpected grasp of the circumstances, but he warmly welcomed the fact that he didn't need to make a long-winded explanation. In particular, not having to explain the menace the Witch Cult posed made things a very different story. After all, the Witch Cult was like a natural disaster, a symbol of malice across the entire world "Anyway, the situation's just as you said. I don't deny I'm sneaking Emilia out, either. I got through to Ram and Puck, so that leaves getting you to come with m " "I am not going with you." "Ah?" Subaru tried to get things in order as quickly as possible, but Beatrice cut him off with a single sentence. Her declaration made Subaru open his eyes wide. Beatrice's eyes slowly narrowed. Then, with eyes lacking any emotion, she continued her words. "Did I say I am not going with you, I wonder? I do not intend to leave this archive of forbidden books, let alone leave the mansion itself. Now that you know this, would you get out already, I wonder?" "Wait a minute! What are you sa...? You're not seeing the situation! Well, I'll explain!" "I do not require an explanation. Betty will stay here. Does she have any intention of debating it, I wonder?" Speaking bluntly, Beatrice let her eyes fall to the book sitting upon her lap. It was the usual sight of her concentrating on an overly large book, making it plain she was serious about not evacuating. "Like I'm gonna back down now. Don't you dare cut off the conversation on your own." "Betty has finished speaking. No matter how much you might arbitrarily continue, Betty's conclusion will not change. Do you have any more time to waste than she does, I wonder?" "Ugh... If you understand that much, give me a hand and behave while I lead you out!" "I refuse. No matter who comes yes, no matter who comes, they shall not enter this archive of forbidden books." Beatrice did not even look Subaru's way as she made the statement, a cold, ghastly aura flowing from her into Subaru. He understood that the feeling creeping up his spine was a side effect of the magical energy pouring out of the girl. *** Beatrice was a powerful magic user. That power was not limited to the Passage alone. Perhaps, in truth, she hid such might that the Witch Cult could not defeat her. Her present poise suggested as much. " ! Even so, I'm bringing you with me anyway." "You are still going on about..." "It's not a question of whether you're strong or not! You're a girl, and little, and that's reason enough! I don't need any other reason not to leave you behind where you'll be in danger, damn it!" Cowed by the feeling of oppression, Subaru shouted and marched across the floor of the archive even so. The sight of him advancing, and the content of his words, made Beatrice's eyes fly wide. Then the girl closed her eyes, her face looking like she was enduring suffering. "...Betty will not go with you. Could you please stop attempting to bewitch me, I wonder?" "I'm not wrong. You're the one who's wrong That's my answer. We're done here." "So obstinate. I hate that about you." As Beatrice made that frail murmur, Subaru walked over, taking her slender arm in his hand. It was the slender arm of a little girl, no matter how powerful a magic user she might be. He didn't want to leave her there alone. It wasn't right. *** Without a word, he pulled on Beatrice's arm, leading her down from the footstool. If he led her through the door of the archive of forbidden books and back to the village, even Beatrice couldn't complain then. "Because no matter how important this place is, it's not worth as much as your life." *** "Beatrice?" With the door right before their eyes, Beatrice's feet suddenly came to a stop. Subaru, suspicious of her reaction, looked back only for his breath to catch at the terrified look on her face. Beatrice looked between the door of the archive of forbidden books and Subaru, back and forth, and finally spoke. "...Can I truly do this, I wonder?" "What do you mean, can you..." "I have a pact. Betty is the guardian of this room, this archive of forbidden books, and will surrender it to no one..." "Talking about pacts again..." The word pact had barred Subaru's path more than once. Not only was Emilia bound by them, but Beatrice, too, hindering Subaru's actions. "I'm sick of hearing about them. You stick to pacts too darn much. You've gotta think outside the box!" " ! Can a human like you comprehend the weight of this pact, I wonder?! Just how important pacts are to Betty, to Puckie...!" "What's this human this, human that... Hey, Beatrice, wait!" With a face ready to break into tears, Beatrice shook her arm loose from Subaru, turning her empty left hand toward him. The gesture was the one she used when driving the pesky Subaru out of the room. Always she unleashed her magical power the next moment. But this time " Keh." For a moment she hesitated. Thus, during that time, Subaru grasped Beatrice's arm once again. "I've got y..." "Aa " That instant, their eyes met. And when Subaru beheld the fear and despair so powerfully displayed by her eyes, the sleeve of her arm slipped through his fingers. A second later, he was enveloped by a shock wave that knocked his feet clear off the archive of forbidden books' floor. "Bea " " Farewell." His vision contorted before he even had a chance to call her name. The spatial distortion swallowed up his flesh, sending him beyond the door that ought not to exist as she forcibly severed the link to the archive of forbidden books. *** He raised his voice. But it did not reach her. His vision was covered in light, rendering him unable to see. Not the door to the archive of forbidden books, not Beatrice's crying face, nothing. " ther." She watched as the door shut before her eyes, and the sight of the youth vanished from her vision. Then the girl hugged herself with her quivering arms, haltingly murmuring to herself. " Mother." That was all Beatrice said in her tiny, tearful voice. Her eyes were dry. Her tears had already vanished. Even so, her expression remained one of grief as she spoke. "How much longer...how much longer, must Betty...?" Carried by mournful steps, Beatrice collapsed upon the footstool at the center of the room. Then her arms stretched far to one side of the stool seizing hold of the book resting upon it, clutching it in her arms. "Mother...Mother, Mother...!" Like a lost little girl trying to cling to her mother, Beatrice continued to clutch the thick book in her arms, calling out over and over in a sobbing, tearful voice. But the black-bound book she clutched in her arms would not give her an answer. 6 His vision contorted, and a shock wave came. The feeling of his back hitting something hard made his breath catch. " Ha." With a short snort, he softened the coming impact. He was now on his back, limbs spread wide, and Subaru's vision was filled by the blue sky; he could feel the ground through his back Abruptly, something blocked the blue sky in his vision. "Though you have surprised me from time to time, this has to be the most extraordinary experience among them." "Is that so? I think your fancy-pants comments annoy me more as time goes on, too." Subaru bounced the comment back at Julius, appearing upside-down from his point of view, with an extra helping of invective. The place was a corner of Earlham Village, a moment after he'd been shot out of the archive of forbidden books apparently, Beatrice had rejected him and teleported him via the Passage, returning him to the village. Understanding that fact, Subaru got up with a great swing of his legs. Then he turned his head around and spoke. "Damn that thickheaded loli. I'm the obstinate one? ...If you're gonna make a face like that, why can't you just come with me? ...Shit. If it's gonna be like this, I'll drag her out if I have " "It might be best to quit while you're ahead." Subaru couldn't pull his mind away from the sad face he'd seen on Beatrice when they'd separated. However, it was Puck, leisurely appearing behind Julius, who poured cold water on his enthusiasm. The little cat spirit touched his own whiskers, looking at Subaru, covered in dirt and fallen leaves, as he spoke. "Covered in grime, huh? Looks like Betty was pretty rough when she threw you out." "I hate to say this, but I was literally one step away.

But I suppose I have to say that went pretty much as I expected. It really would be best if you " "I can't. I cannot persuade Betty. Didn't I mention I have a pact?" "Lately, that's taken the number one spot on my list of words I don't wanna hear." Puck's face showed no ill will, but Subaru grandly scowled toward him as he replied. A pact made Beatrice stay behind, a pact prevented Puck from persuading her, and a pact had been the impetus for his breakup with Emilia. Pact, pact, pact "If you talk, Beatrice'll listen. Even though you know that, it's a no can do?" "Mm, I can't. Besides, even if I say it, Betty still won't listen. I told you the first time she sent you out of the archive of forbidden books, didn't I? I cannot save Betty." *** Puck turned his eyes down slightly as he replied. Subaru closed his mouth, unable to say a word. Staying behind in the archive to persuade Beatrice; at first Subaru had meant to entrust that task to Puck. Considering the daily interaction between girl and kitty, he was sure Puck was the right cat for the job. But when he unveiled the idea, Puck would not acquiesce, sending Subaru in his place. And sure enough, Subaru had failed to persuade her. And yet, Puck looked at Subaru and continued. "Subaru, it is likely that if you can't do it, no one can. This is Betty's answer." "I really don't get what you're trying to tell me..." Subaru couldn't read the emotions hovering in those round eyes whatsoever. The little cat spirit still wouldn't reveal his emotions as his tiny shoulders slumped. "Well, leaving Betty in the archive of forbidden books isn't exactly a bad plan, anyway. I don't think anyone would breach the Passage without Betty knowing it, and she has ways of defending herself if she's inside the mansion. Trust me, it's all right." "So wanting to bring her out of there anyway is just me being selfish, then?" "A selfish thing is something a real man can say and hope to make a reality. How about it, Subaru? Do you think of yourself as a real man?" " Great Spirit." Julius, watching Subaru's cheeks go stiff in the face of Puck's merciless words, interjected with words of his own. When the knight called out to him, Puck curled his long tail around himself and spoke. "Sorry, I'm not trying to be mean. I know you want to save Betty, and I am truly grateful for that." "The Great Spirit's words are strict, but they bear the ring of truth... What now, then?" As Puck apologetically averted his eyes, Subaru knitted his brows at Julius's words. "Whaddaya mean, what now?" "The traveling merchants being led by Rajan should rendezvous with us here at the village anytime now. If your assumptions are correct, the Witch Cult's spy is hidden among them. There is likely no more time available for you to use." The plan was to feed the Witch Cult fake intel and buy time for Emilia & Co. to safely evacuate. Having a spy from the Cult in their group was a situation where any misstep would be fatal. He felt regret about Beatrice, but he'd lost the time needed to bring that girl with him. "Mark my words, Beako. If you'd just come out like a good girl..." "You should save regrets for later. I was opposed to your allowing time to slip even when it would not affect the results... However, in my judgment, this is the dividing line." When Julius pointed that out, Subaru bit his tongue, clutched his head, and stamped his foot. After that, he wrung out an "Arghh!", turning toward the wide-eyed Julius and Puck as he spoke. "...Let's switch to putting that plan in motion. We'll group up with the merchants and evacuate the villagers. We'll talk to Emilia just as we planned. Puck, I'm counting on you, too." "You're sure about this?" "It ain't good. It ain't good one little bit... But there's nothing better we can do." As he gritted his teeth in remorse, Subaru's thoughts shifted toward the mansion the mansion within which Beatrice remained that very moment. She was a hardheaded, know-nothing, I'll-do-it-my-way girl and a girl who had once saved Subaru's heart. "We'll make sure Emilia and the others escape. But we're not letting the Witch Cult lay one finger on that mansion. We're completely shutting 'em down, and then that loli can complain while I drag her out by her curls." That's what the new Subaru would do: save everyone and take his revenge on Beatrice. So Subaru swore in his heart, brushing all hesitation aside as he looked up at Puck. "Puck! Emilia hasn't noticed anything outside for the last close to an hour?" "It's all right, she's been sound...well, she's been asleep. I was worried about her mental fatigue, so I drained a few handfuls of mana out of her and put her to sleep. I mean, if I put Subaru on ice upon his return, it'd be cruel to let Lia see that and go into shock, right?" "Can you stop saying stuff to make my heart skip a beat all of a sudden?!" Unable to tell whether Puck was joking or not, Subaru let it slide and looked back at Julius. The look of determination on Subaru's face made the handsome young man tighten his own refined visage as well. "Ferris, Master Wilhelm, and the villagers are all mentally prepared. They merely await your signal to begin. Of course, the same goes for me." With a strong nod, Subaru shifted his eyes to the center of the village. There he saw the villagers beginning preparations to evacuate according to the plan explained to them by Ram and the expeditionary force assisting in those efforts. Standing at the edge of that scene were Ferris, Wilhelm, and Ram, each awaiting Subaru, each with their own role to fulfill. They were who he would bring to the mansion, pulling the wool over Emilia's eyes. "I won't be able to tell her this was all for her sake. This is totally my own selfishness talking." "I told you, didn't I? If you turn selfishness into reality, it's not selfishness it's hope." When Subaru murmured, Puck sat on his shoulder and spoke thusly. The little cat thrust his paw against Subaru's forehead. Subaru laughed a little at the nostalgic sensation. With many hardships and the operation to deceive a lovely girl lying ahead, he thought himself pretty laid back as he spoke. "Well, let's get this started, shall we? The evil tricks to turn that hope into reality." And so, in high spirits, they sent Emilia away, whereupon they began setting the stage to greet the Witch Cult. CHAPTER 3 *** 1 "May the grace of the spirits be with you." Climbing aboard the dragon carriage for evacuation, those were the words of prayer Emilia left the expeditionary force upon her departure from Earlham Village. To Subaru, that grace was as powerful as any blessing. With only the best intentions, Emilia was deceived via an exaggerated performance for her own sake and sent away from Earlham Village along with the villagers themselves. Time continued onward. It was also after Subaru had made full use of Return by Death to capture Kety the finger from the Witch Cult lurking among the traveling merchants. Subaru watched the horde of dragon carriages run off as his eyes shifted to the formation of knights accompanying them. Ten knights had been selected from among the expeditionary force to escort the evacuating carriages. The chance the Witch Cult would detect the evacuation was low, but they'd sent a detachment just in case. The dragon carriages had two destinations: the royal capital and the Sanctuary. Subaru knew nothing about the latter except the name, but the fact that Ram had given it her stamp of approval was proof enough it was safe. Their safety was no doubt far more assured than that of Subaru and the others facing the decisive battle with the Witch Cult. After all, the greatest combat power in the expeditionary force was escorting Emilia and the others. "Sir Subaru, I pray for your fortune in battle." "Take care yourself, Wilhelm," Subaru said after Wilhelm brought up the rear of the detachment from atop his land dragon. Facing the battle to come without Wilhelm was akin to rolling the dice. However, where the impending decisive battle with Petelgeuse was concerned, the Sword Devil's presence was not an indispensable element for defeating the madman. For that reason, fully aware it was a reckless request, Subaru had insisted on entrusting the defense of Emilia and the other evacuees to Wilhelm, to which he had readily agreed. "Well, Petra and the others did jump at the chance to take care of Emilia..." The children had merrily accepted Emilia aboard their carriage, just as Subaru had asked. The children had led Emilia by the hand, making her relieved that they had not rejected her. Remembering that scene, deep feelings of warmth arose in Subaru's chest and at the same time, pangs of guilt. "Using happy feelings to fool Emilia into going along with the situation and escaping... I've become quite a villain, playing with people's hearts like that. That stuff about me not reading atmospheres or human hearts seems like a lie now." Grimacing in self-derision, Subaru vigorously scratched his own head. It was too easy to dismiss his deceiving her as his hoping for Emilia's safety. Even so, the fact was, it had put her mind at ease. Besides, asking her to ride with the children had been a calculation by itself. "Even if the lie's exposed, as long as someone holds Emilia back..." The gentle Emilia probably couldn't shake off the hands of people concerned for her from the bottom of their hearts. Hence Subaru had intentionally created a situation where the children would bond with Emilia. "She'll look down on me if that part ever comes out, so I'll keep that a secret for life..." Puck, too, had agreed that it was better that way. The spirit, his fellow actor cooperating with the performance or rather coconspirator would not be leaving Emilia's side. Emilia's security was guaranteed like never before at least, he wanted to believe that. "Looks like the village types and the half-demon girl left already. Looks like ya did pretty good, huh?" As Subaru collected his thoughts, he heard hearty Kararagi dialect tossed his way from behind. When he looked back, he saw Ricardo coming over, carrying his great hatchet with him. Subaru glared at the dog-man's dog face and spoke. "Stop calling my pretty Emilia a half-demon, you half-mutt!" "Ohh! Gettin' called a half-mutt is surprisingly humiliatin'! I'll have to remember that one!" He let loose a hearty, sarcastic laugh, and his forbearance drained the bitterness out of Subaru's strained smile. However, Subaru's cheeks soon tensed anew as he walked beside Ricardo and turned toward the forest. "So how'd it go? Got the job done like I asked?" "Hey, we split up to hit them by surprise in places they never expected to be attacked, right? If I screwed that up I'd quit my post. Every last part went great. We kicked their asses all over the map!" Ricardo amiably showed him the blood still stuck to his great hatchet, patting the map on his hip with his palm. "Meaning we were right the places marked on that map were where their hideouts were." "That's what they get for bein' so methodical with their plannin'. You did good, bro." Ricardo bared his fangs. The original owner of the map on his hip was, in fact, Kety the Witch Cultist. Thanks to his capture according to Subaru's scheme, they'd gained both his conversation mirror and his map. The map contained a highly detailed layout of the Mathers domain, and ten places had been marked upon

it. The markers were probably for Witch Cult hideouts and to find out for sure, Subaru had sent Ricardo & Co. to the closest marker on the map. The results had apparently been as expected. As if to prove that information correct, members of the Iron Fangs leaped out of the forest on their ligers, merrily galloping around the village square and by all appearances unscathed. "Yahoo! We slaughtered 'em all!" "Sister, do not say such foul-sounding things! We took proper captives!" The smiling banter between the siblings, smelling of blood, made Subaru pat his chest in relief. He was happy about victory, but also that no one had been lost in the process. No matter how high the odds of victory, the one sending people off to battle always had reason to be concerned. Likely those reasons had been greatly minimized because of that map. "And besides that...luck's really fallin' your way, bro." " ? Whaddaya mean by...?" "The hideout you picked me to hit had this layin' around." As Subaru cocked his head, Ricardo took something out of the cloth tied around his waist and tossed it Subaru's way. Subaru immediately caught it, and his eyes went wide at the light sensation in his palm. This was a mirror indeed, the spitting image of one he had seen very recently. "A conversation mirror...and this has to be on the other end of the one Kety had!" "Accordin' to our info, the Witch Cultist we captured was communicatin' by mirror. Now that we got this from the ones I just mopped up, they won't be tellin' the other Witch Cultists nothin'... Real convenient, bustin' up their communication network like that. Ya couldn't ask for a more promisin' start!" When Subaru's eyes popped wide at results beyond his wildest hopes, Ricardo opened his maw in a great laugh. If his deduction was fact, they certainly had gained even more of an advantage over the Witch Cult. But after the feeling of everything going well had been followed by his tasting heaps of bitterness the last time around... *** "Hey, bro. You don't look very happy." "...No one escaped the hideout you smashed? If even one escaped, it's all for nothing." "Whaddaya think this sharp nose o' mine is for? Of course not. Just..." Ricardo strongly thumped his chest, but suddenly he awkwardly lowered the tone of his voice. "I'm sure no one got away, but it's kind of a problem if there are other mirrors." "I knew it! What? What was it?! Some kind of fatal flaw... There's an issue that's gonna knock out the entire foundation of the operation, isn't there?! Shit! I knew things were going too well!!" "Hey, hey, what's with the fantasies of damage?! Ya can't be a general and be a worrywart like that! Besides, there's no guarantee somethin' bad happened, so stop assumin'!" As a pale Subaru clung to him, Ricardo retorted with an overly intimidating face. Then the dog-man wrapped an arm around Subaru's head, choosing his words to rectify the latter's stubborn paranoia. "Look here, see? It's not like anything bad's happened. Just we can't celebrate till the Witch Cult's smashed flat... Ahh, seeing's faster than talkin' anyway. Hey, bring in that guy from earlier!" As Subaru grimaced, his head still in Ricardo's grasp, Ricardo indicated for his men to bring something over. When Subaru saw what they carried, his expression shifted first to worry, then to disbelief. Atop a liger, a single human being was being carried in, his entire body bound by rope. *** When the person noticed Subaru and Ricardo, he wrung out a muffled wail. Perhaps it was an objection to the impropriety of his treatment, or perhaps a plea to spare his life "We found 'im in the middle of the Witch Cult roost. I think he just got captured by 'em out of bad luck, but... Hey, what's with ya?" In the middle of his explanation, Ricardo found it odd that Subaru's eyes were nailed to the wrapped-up person. But this was surely the natural reaction for him to have. After all, the bound man wriggling around there was none other than "Pfft." Unable to contain himself, Subaru let out a small sound. He pointed to the young man bound hand, foot, and even torso, and burst out laughing. "So you got yourself captured! I thought I was never gonna see your face here, Otto!" And so Subaru called out the last name in the dramatis personae, excess misfortune having thus far denied him the stage. 2 After letting quite a few laughs fly at his expense, Subaru freed Otto from his bonds. "Though I am...not particularly inclined to simply say, 'Thank you very much for aiding me...'" "Hey, is that how you talk to the group that saved your life? You wouldn't want nasty rumors to spread, would you?" "What kind of base villain are you?! What a person! Oh, fine, thank you very much! Thanks to you my life has been spared! Not that living brings any great comfort, damn it all!" Half in desperation, Otto spoke his thanks to Subaru, who was bullying him with full knowledge of his precarious circumstances. Otto had been discovered when Ricardo & Co. raided a Witch Cult stronghold. Apparently he'd been affixed to a cross in a cave in the mountains, and he had been rescued on the verge of becoming a human sacrifice. "Well, we can't rule out the possibility he's a Witch Cultist, so we should bring him back tied for now..." "We're treasuring him, almost like, 'Let's keep him around just in case. It's nice to have a human sacrifice on hand when you need one'?" "What kind of appraisal is that for someone you just met?! I haven't done anything to you, you know?!" Red faced and bound, Otto moved his limbs around and wailed at Subaru's overly harsh words. "Well, setting that aside," said Subaru, brushing away Otto's frustration. "So how did you wind up captured? If there's something behind it, go ahead and tell us." "That is, ah...something I truly do not wish to divulge for reasons of personal convenience..." "If you don't want to say it, that's fine Incidentally, changing the subject, most of the traveling merchants gathered in this domain right now are heading toward the mansion of Marquis Mathers to make a little money." "That's not changing the subject, though! I heard that so I know already, you know?! Ahh, that's right! I am the fool who leaped at the fortuitous talk of profit, first in line charging down this treacherous road and captured through his own ill fortune! Go ahead, laugh!" "That so... Glad you're all right, then. Tch, you're making me break into tears..." "What is with those hollow tears?! Is not grasping at a fishy story explanation enough for you?!!" Subaru pitied Otto and his wistful, energetic confession, warmly taking in the sight of him lamenting the inhumanity of it all. Apparently, his merchant nature had spurred him into some rather impulsive actions. Subaru was relieved that the impression he'd received from their previous encounters hadn't changed at all. Subaru's mischievous demeanor led Otto to let out a sigh of unbridled dejection. "Goodness...what a person, after I properly thanked him for saving my life and everything..." "Wha I did save your life, you just don't want me to rub it in? You owe me one!" "To be frank, I feel like this 'one' is a particularly large debt, so one I feel little desire to acknowledge!" Otto's face scowled grandly when Subaru raised his index finger and declared him to be indebted. Afterward Subaru smiled as Otto kept repeating, "Debt, debt..." as he took it in with a look most sour. Yet at the same time, his actions established to Subaru that there was nothing suspicious about him, relieving him of the need for extra prudence. *** It went the same for Ricardo, on guard as he watched the two conversing from the side. The mere fact that he'd been brought from an enemy stronghold made Otto's position delicate to the extreme. Considering that Kety, positioned as leader of the traveling merchants, was a spy, Subaru couldn't help but give Otto, who had gotten along well with Kety during previous go-arounds, the strictest of scrutiny. After all, carelessly trusting him only to be betrayed would render Subaru's efforts to date all for naught... "...Man, I've turned into a pretty disagreeable guy." "What are you saying?" "I'm saying I'm glad you're all right. Hey, Mimi, that's great, huh?" "Mm? Ahh, okay! I'm happy and super thrilled you're all right, Mister Half-Bawling-My-Eyes-Out!" When Subaru bounced the conversation Mimi's way, she divulged the circumstances of Otto's rescue. After Mimi voiced that truth, she cocked her head and said, "Isn't that right?" as Otto collapsed then and there. "Ahh, it's no wonder you half bawled your eyes out. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. This is between you, me, Mimi, Ricardo, and after that, the Iron Fangs and everyone in the expeditionary force..." "Does that not make it an open secret...?" "Anyway, there's no worry about the Witch Cult attacking this village, so you can cool your heels here. Also, my condolences over half bawling your eyes out, and my condolences about the moneymaking talk, too." "Your condolences...? Surely you cannot mean...?!" Otto looked around the village in shock, looking like his world had come to an end. "Do not tell me that everyone has already been..." "The fact that you're alive after being captured by the Witch Cult means you've been blessed by heaven... Er, no, the fact that you got captured to begin with means heaven has abandoned you. Well, live strong!" "If you are going to console me, won't you look after me till the bitter end?!" With Otto breaking into tears, Subaru gave him a pat on the shoulder and looked at Ricardo. As he did so, the dog-man wrinkled his snout and tilted his head up. Apparently, even his veteran mercenary's eyes judged Otto to be an utterly harmless object of pity. Subaru thought of that as the silver lining in the cloud. "So from here on, this'll be the front line against the Witch Cult. We've got a lot to do...but I can't think of anything you can do to help with that. Maybe you could sort out the list of the freight the other traveling merchants left behind?" "Will you pay me a fee for that?!" "Man, even I'm surprised. You're even more desperate than I thought. Yeah, yeah, I'll pay. Someone here tag along with Otto?" With suspicions about him lifted, Subaru gave Otto a job to do and moved that concern to the back of the line for the moment. Instead, Subaru headed to the expeditionary force, just finished reorganizing its ranks with Julius at its head. "You reunited with a familiar face, yes? Is that really enough warmth toward an old acquaintance?" Julius, noticing Subaru's approach, turned toward him before he could say anything. Subaru grimaced at his words, pointing over his shoulder toward Otto, now standing facing the pile of freight. "Behind the stupid laughs and the stupid conversation, I was suspecting he was up to something the whole time. My personality's gotten so rotten I'm starting to hate myself." "Thanks to that rotten personality, we have come this far unscathed. I believe you should take pride in that rotten personality though perhaps you should not express it in those exact terms." "Your personality is pretty rotten, too. I guarantee it." "Yes, yes, have you two rotten personalities finished speaking yet?" The exchange between Subaru and Julius made Ferris cock his little head and smile mischievously. In a vengeful mood, Subaru grandly curled his lips and spoke. "What is it, rotten personality kitty ears?" "My, what a way to speak to me, meow. And Ferri tries and tries his hawdest for everyone's sake, meow!" "And your earnest efforts have always been of great

aid. So what have you learned?" "Mm. I've managed to learn a few things about the fingers from the captured Witch Cultists." When Julius prompted, Ferris's smile vanished as he pointed to a cabin they'd commandeered. Ferris must have been directly checking inside the body of Kety, the captured Witch Cultist held within. During the previous go-around, Ferris had suffered repeated anguish from being unable to stop the Witch Cultists from committing suicide. For that reason Subaru had been somewhat anxious about the examination of Kety's body, but "First, the cultists seem to have a magic stone embedded into them that turns into powerful poison for suicide purposes. But the fingers seem to get special treatment... Instead of poison, there's an explosion ritual embedded into them, so that when they kill themselves, they take everyone nearby with them." "Sounds like it's not so much meant for stopping information from leaking out as for the archbishop's Possession, huh? If he needs to die so he can body swap, it's a given he'd counter being knocked out and tied up by killing himself." "For suicide... But surely it is likely a method of external activation exists. What about that case?" "I was worried about that, too, so I nullified the ritual and ripped the whole thing out~~!" Ferris had a simple answer to Julius's concern. But judging from Julius's wide-eyed reaction, that had been no easy feat. Ferris continued. "Also, about the characteristics of the fingers that Subawu was so concerned about... It's not so much stagnant Gates as having weird clumps of mana. I think the presence or absence of this sets the fingers apart from the regular cultists, and that the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins can only transfer into the ones with this planted in them." "So the condition for Possession is the difference between the general members and the premium members of the club. What happened to that clump of mana?" "I melted it and scrambled it all up. So we can't really call him a finger anymore." "You managed all that?! That's huge!" Subaru, his voice leaping at Ferris's report, grabbed his slender hand and vigorously shook it up and down. He had nothing but praise for Ferris's skill in checking so much in such a short time. "Meow meow!! Well, it's what you should expect of Ferri, meow? But it's also thanks to your figuring out that the fingers committed suicide a different way, Subawu." "No, all the credit for this goes to you. You would've had a ton of regrets if it didn't work out..." "What the...? Ferri would never regret anything where people like that are concerned!" Ferris stuck his tongue out and pried his hand loose from Subaru's shake. Subaru made a pained smile at Ferris's teasing demeanor. Ferris would never know it, but Subaru was congratulating him for winning the rematch from the last time around. Besides, thanks to Ferris's valiant efforts, he'd largely managed to piece together a hypothesis. "Besides, if you neutralized the conditions for Possession, that prisoner won't die, right?" "However vile his tongue, the Gate inside his body has been set straight... We should bring him back to the royal capital and treat him as a precious source of information. He fainted from the pain of pulling the ritual out, and he's still out cold~~!" Ferris closed one eye and guaranteed that Kety's life was safe, if nothing else. Subaru couldn't conceive of the pain of having the ritual ripped out of him. And then "We've finally managed to take a single proper prisoner. There's no need to take more risks. You see what I'm getting at?" "What, you think at this point I'm gonna go soft weighing those guys against the people important to me...?" When Ferris's eyes questioned his resolve, Subaru nodded to them without showing even a moment's pause. To bring down the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins of Sloth, the Witch Cultists had to be wiped out, fingers included. That meant a literal battle of annihilation. And it was none other than Subaru Natsuki who would sound the signal for that battle to begin. "...Hmm. You really have straightened yourself out, Subawu." As Subaru clenched a fist, Ferris narrowed his eyes, murmuring as he gazed at the side of Subaru's face. The contents of that murmur brought a pained smile over Subaru as he slumped his shoulders. "Hey, now, don't put it like that. It doesn't sound like much of a compliment." "I'm not complimenting you. You've gone from bad to normal. Don't get carried away with yourself, meow." With an adorable face, Ferris laid into Subaru until the bitter end. He'd probably been the person to judge Subaru the most harshly of all since they'd departed the royal capital. That was probably because they both lacked the power to do battle by themselves those who can't fight alone are stuck together, for better or worse. While Ferris's appraisal of Subaru's weakness was harsh, it was fair at the same time, and Subaru hated that. "Don't like that, huh? Right now, you've climbed up to normal. Understand?" "Normal, huh? Gotcha. But it makes me kinda glad." " People don't want to have their beliefs twisted out of shape, you see. Subawu, you must not hesitate or go astray. So don't let anything shake your resolve." Ferris responded to Subaru's lighthearted words with a statement in a firm voice. It thrust deep into Subaru's slightly relaxed chest, driving home just what was the source of his so-called resolve. No, Ferris didn't have to say it. It was something he had to realize and face by himself. "Preparations are completely in order Subaru, we may begin anytime." Having put the expeditionary force in order, Julius addressed Subaru to create an opportunity for him. It was not just he everyone from the ranks of the expeditionary force and the Iron Fangs awaited Subaru's voice as one. Their morale was high before the climactic battle, their spirits beginning to soar above the battlefield centered upon the village square. *** Subaru felt that fighting spirit as he slightly tipped his head back, looking up at the sky. He couldn't remove all uncertain elements. Even so, he'd sent Emilia and the others off, entrusting them to Wilhelm, and thanks to Ferris, they'd grasped the true nature of the fingers. Julius was awaiting his signal. He'd done his utmost to put human affairs in order. All he could do now was smile, reel it all in, and await the verdict of heaven. " Let's do this. Everyone, start just like we arranged." He lowered his gaze from the sky, turning it straight toward the members of the expeditionary force standing before him. At his urging, the warriors mounted their beasts of war without a word, acting in accordance with Subaru's words. *** "Yeah. Thanks, Patlash." The jet-black land dragon had been standing close to Subaru's side the whole time, eagerly awaiting her turn. Subaru stroked her hard hide with his palm before mounting up like the others. Julius's and Ricardo's mounts were to their sides, sandwiching Subaru between them. Ferris, left on the ground by himself, nodded to Subaru with a serious look as Subaru took his place in the vanguard. Then he heralded the start of the final battle. "Now, this time we'll settle this Sloth, Sir Fate, I ain't goin' easy on ya." 3 Subaru had inferred several things about Petelgeuse's Possession. First, it was the power to shift into the bodies of others, stealing them for himself. Second, Petelgeuse's so-called fingers were retainers for him to transfer into, so as a precondition of defeating Petelgeuse, all the fingers had to be destroyed. Third, if Petelgeuse lost all his fingers, he would transfer to a different body instead. Subaru's body was the leading candidate. The parasite of the mind was so powerful, it was virtually impossible to resist by one's own devices The end. "Now that I'm writing these down, this is like, kills-you-as-soon-as-he-sees-you-level stuff. Plus he even has Unseen Hands, so you can't just laugh and say, 'Nah, nothing's that evil.'" The Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins had two powers. Subaru was confident that if you didn't know them, you could challenge him a hundred times and be killed every time. In the course of repeating while keeping his memory, searching over and over for a plan to beat him, Subaru finally saw with clarity the fearsomeness of his foe. Small wonder the Witch Cult had had such influence on the world over the course of four centuries. Such was the scale of Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti, the madman specializing in killing at first sight. "Well, that's what I'm here for." The best thing for taking on a kill-at-first-sight enemy was someone for whom it wasn't first sight. Thus it was Subaru Natsuki, he who had Returned by Death, who was Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti's mortal foe. Once again, Subaru cut through the gloomy forest of overgrown trees as his feet carried him to the wall of rock. Green covered the landscape at every turn, a world where even directional sense seemed suspect. However, Subaru's steps were certain. His senses, his feet, the experiences carved into his memory all these things guided Subaru forward. "Let's get this show on the road." Smiling bitterly at the quickening of his heartbeats, Subaru murmured thus as he gave his chest two light slaps. Then he headed forward. The place had come into view. Until that moment, Subaru had never approached that place with the resolve to fight in his heart. The last time around, he'd been buying time as a decoy; before that he'd been drowning in the bloodlust of others and the yearning for suicide. But this time was different. At minimum, this time was different from the others. Subaru had come to that place with the resolve to fight hardened in his heart, all so he could bring a long, long string of karma, a battle repeated over and over, to a final end. " It is good that you have come, disciple of love." Subaru shuddered with joy when suddenly the forest opened and he was greeted with warm words of welcome. When he slipped out of the woods, a sheer cliff spread straight ahead of him, rising high into his field of vision. A slender man was standing in front of the rock face with both arms spread wide. His eyes welcomed Subaru with a fiery glow. Was it now four times he had been greeted by this sight? No matter who it was, when you saw someone's face repeatedly, you let the person into your heart to a certain extent but it seemed that was impossible so far as this man was concerned. "I AM the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins of the Witch Cult charged with Sloth " The madman stretched out his hand, bloodied from self-inflicted wounds, as his trademark line lit the spark. With his eyes drenched in madness, the man arched back, stuck out his tongue, snapping his eyes wide as he said " Petelgeuse...Romanée-CONTI!!" With a flutter of his black habit, the madman loudly proclaimed his name with a clap of his bloody hands. Petelgeuse proceeded to stamp the ground, breaking into a happy little dance as he laughed with delight. "It is A fine day, A splendid day! To think that this day, the day of the trial, I would BE greeting a new adherent of love! I AM moved, greatly moved, moved to tears, my chest is on the verge of bursting!!" The madman let spittle fly as he embraced his own body of skin and bones. Subaru harbored disgust for his eccentricities, but he was accustomed enough to smooth over his facial expressions in the man's presence. On top of that, Subaru executed the operation just as agreed upon beforehand. Namely "Lord Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins! It is a pleasure to meet you for the first time!" These words spoken, Subaru rushed over and knelt

at the madman's feet. He touched his left hand to his chest, raising his right aloft as he bowed his head with utmost respect and spoke. "I am truly embarrassed to have made it to you on the very eve of this trial! Lord Archbishop, by all means, please use this body, this soul, to fill any vacancy among the faithful, and add me to your fingers with all haste!" Thus, with an excess of bombast, did Subaru speak bald-faced lies. He proclaimed his prepared lines with a high-pitched voice, infused his face with maximum reverence that went only skin deep, and silently awaited the madman's reaction. *** Petelgeuse made no response to Subaru's earnest plea. He said nothing. He did not move. The disquieting silence made Subaru swallow his saliva as he increased his caution and alertness concerning Petelgeuse's next move. The silence continued for about ten more seconds before it was abruptly broken by "OOOH! Such, such fervent zeal from the very first meeting?!" Petelgeuse gazed up, extending both hands to the heavens. His voice and his entire body were shaking; he had been moved to tears. "What a disciple love has called! In all my time cursed as Sloth, I cannot recall one with such clear eyes! YOU! YOU, a pious adherent of love! How unworthy I must be to have overlooked you all this time! I ASK you to forgive my slothfulness !" Petelgeuse cast his limbs aside as he practically leaped onto the ground in front of the fragile-hearted Subaru. Without hesitation the madman prostrated himself on the rocky ground, banging his head against the surface several times. The merciless self-punishment made his forehead bleed, but he had such a great tendency to inflict self-harm that he probably did this much every day before breakfast. Now that Subaru knew it was someone else's body, the disgust he felt when seeing Petelgeuse act that way was stronger than ever before. Either way, it would not do for him to self-punish to the point of dying. Behind the scenes, the operation was quietly proceeding messing up by letting Petelgeuse switch bodies would waste everything. "Please stop, Lord Archbishop! Such actions bring no joy to the Witch Cult!" "Ahh, but! Butbutbutbutbuuuuut! My very own sloth! My sin! The ugly fact ONE such as I have not repaid Her love! I possess no other way to REPENT!!" "That is not so! The Witch Cult would rather its cherished followers repay her favor than see them hurt themselves! It is the will to carry out the trial that will surely bring it joy!" Petelgeuse was continuing to thrust his head against the ground when Subaru used rambling speech to stop him. But suddenly the words brought Petelgeuse to a halt; he stared at Subaru, eyes wide open. With those parched eyes upon him, Subaru strongly nodded, not that it meant anything to special to Subaru. When he did so, Petelgeuse's obsession seemed to fall away. A single tear trickled down his face as he spoke. "Yes, it is just as you SAY." *** He said it in an uncharacteristically gentle way. The next moment, Subaru found Petelgeuse strongly embracing him. Subaru's throat caught as powerful, instinctive repugnance hit him, but the madman paid his reaction no heed. Petelgeuse grandly wept, wiping away neither his flowing tears nor the blood on his forehead. "Ahh, I am wrong, I am deeply mistaken! Yes! The trial! What I require is not to punish, judge, or slay myself, but the trial! What terrible slothfulness, forgetting that while wallowing in the joy of my own wounds! I thank you! I thank YOU!!" When Subaru turned in Petelgeuse's arms, he faced upward as Petelgeuse showered him with one-sided gratitude. Petelgeuse wiped the blood off his brow and thrust his right hand's fingers into his mouth, the same mouth that bespoke the foolishness of self-injury, crushing the thumb, index, and middle fingers one by one. "I am worthless if I am slothful! Diligence is the most valuable thing in this world, and in this world, sloth is the worst vice that I must abhor! Ahh, AHH, ahh, I must repay Her love!" He was in a precarious, incoherent state in which word and deed were no longer aligned. He reflected upon self-harm as he crushed his own fingers, only to lament his rash actions the next moment. Subaru, feeling the need to bring his mad, nigh-unbearable nature to a quick end, put his hand in his pocket. However, his palm was not greeted by the hoped-for reaction. More time was needed for the operation to proceed. "Lord Archbishop may I speak to you about the trial?" Fearful of an ugly silence taking hold, Subaru took a deep breath, concealed his inner thoughts, and spoke those words. The last time around, he had failed to get anything out of Petelgeuse regarding the trial, so he was still in the dark about the particulars. A trial meant a test of some sort. The Witch Cult was subjecting Emilia to some kind of test in accordance with its dogma. If fate bound Emilia to the Witch Cult going forward, he wanted to dig up something... "Lord Archbishop, now that I have joined you, I would truly like to ask you about the trial." "The trial..." When the words haltingly trickled from Petelgeuse, his expression suddenly lost all emotion. Perhaps his mania from before had vanished into thin air; as the madman gazed at Subaru with hollow eyes, he put the remaining fingers the ring finger and the little finger of his already-bloody right hand into his mouth, crushing them with his teeth. And then "Yes, the trial! The TRIAL!! THE trial! We must carry out the trial and test her! We cannot fail to test this half-demon, and learn if she is a suitable vessel for the descent of the Witch!" Subaru was bathed in a strange, shrill voice and stinky breath as Petelgeuse broke into a little dance. Subaru grimaced in shock and disgust as the madman's declaration sank in. "A vessel for the Witch's...descent...?" "If she passes, embrace her! If she fails, eliminate her! We must test the half-demon's capacity to accept life, whether she is suitable for the Witch, whether the Witch's love can be sealed within! And the TRIAL is how we determine this!" The madman responded to Subaru's doubt-instilled voice with his own mad voice, raising his hands above his head in the process. The words struck Subaru like a revelation; he was horrified by the comprehension he had gained. Vessel. Witch. Descend If he could take the meanings of those words at face value, then... "If the trial determines she's a suitable vessel for the Witch, the Witch will descend into her body..." "Someday that fateful day shall arrive when the Witch is resurrected into this world ! We exist to bear witness to that moment! And for this purpose I, and my fingers, shall exhaust all efforts... This is MY love!" Petelgeuse was moved to tears, for in his world, it was the most blessed occasion conceivable. The sight of the madman before him made Subaru sick to his stomach. Based on all that, all the acts of savagery Petelgeuse had engaged in, all the slaughter he had perpetrated, and his pushing Subaru's heart to the breaking point had been because " You people don't see any value in Emilia herself, do you?" To them, "Emilia" was nothing more than a box into which they could stuff the soul of the Witch. They were after a container. Their great objective the revival of the Witch loomed large before them. The girl's aspirations, how gentle her heart was, how hardworking she was...these things simply didn't matter. This was at once bottomless contempt for Emilia as an individual girl and, to Subaru, whose heart was greatly swayed by her existence, a humiliation difficult to endure. " Monster." Petelgeuse did not notice that for a single moment, a single word, Subaru let his true feelings slip. He did not think of burning a village to the ground as excessive in the slightest if it was for the sake of his villainous goals. He could casually dismiss the life story of each and every person he laid hands upon, brushing their dreams and futures aside. That was why Petelgeuse and the Witch Cult were Subaru Natsuki's enemies. "...Lord Archbishop, I have humbly heard your esteemed views. Hearing the ideals of the Witch Cult, and your determination to win, I am truly, deeply impressed. Let's make certain this trial succeeds." "Ohhhh! You are indeed splendid! Yes! We shall become as one, and wholeheartedly hurl ourselves toward my long-cherished desire! Since the day I accepted Her favor, my entire being, my entire spirit became rubbish devoted solely to repaying Her love... Ahhh, Satella! I BELONG to you!" Petelgeuse approved of Subaru's superficial praise, accepting it with great delight rather than doubt. "It is YOU, an ideal disciple, who should truly be exalted! With the favor so rich within you, should you intend to join the fingers. I shall bestow the Factor upon you without DELAY!" "Then by all means, please make me one of your fingers!" "I am truly delighted by your unexpected offer! BUT, BUT...the numbers of my fingers have already been filled. There must be something more suitable for the likes of you... Yes, that is IT!" Petelgeuse was counting on his bloodied fingers when he put a hand into his habit like he'd just remembered something. What he took out of his pocket was a single black book his Gospel. The madman lovingly touched its cover; his breath went ragged as his eyes perused its contents. "The words recorded in the Gospel, its entire tale of love, is what guides MY future! Accordingly, all that I am...all that I ever shall be, is recorded WITHIN!" Froth came into the corners of Petelgeuse's mouth as he browsed the pages with a laugh. Subaru, who had once stolen that Gospel from him, knew that the strange contents of the black book were indecipherable. But to its owner, Petelgeuse, the characters constituted a legible tale. And his actions were in accordance with its passages. If that was true, Subaru's real enemy was whoever had written that Gospel's passages to begin with. "Present thy Gospel." Petelgeuse, audibly closing his Gospel, spoke that single phrase. The madman cocked his neck at a ninety-degree angle, twisted his hips to the same extent, and stared at Subaru with a neutral expression. These were the words Subaru feared most. According to previous experience, even if a conversation had gone well up to that point, that question served to sever the flow. If someone was a Witch Cultist, they had a Gospel no exceptions. The black books, their origin and method of creation unknown, served as proof of identity among members of the Witch Cult. Accordingly, Petelgeuse was asking Subaru to show his ID. Whatever answer he might come up with would greatly influence the course of circumstances, but "What is THE matter?" In contrast to the silent Subaru, Petelgeuse left his head bent at that angle, his long tongue drooping out. All he had to do was show off his Gospel. A disturbing air began to waft around Petelgeuse as Subaru failed to prove himself even to that extent. Amid that bone-chilling aura, Subaru slowly put his hand into his pocket. Then he thrust what he had taken out before Petelgeuse's eyes. But "What...is this?" "As you can see, it's a metia, Lord Archbishop." Petelgeuse's eyes were wide in surprise, for that which had been thrust before him was a mirror a conversation mirror, to be specific. There was no doubt that the madman recognized it; after all, it had been in the possession of one of the madman's very own fingers. The fact that Subaru had it was throwing the madman off. But his surprise did not end there. Before his eyes, the surface of the mirror began to faintly glow. "Ah, it's turning on. Wow,

your face is scarier than I heard!" The adorable voice they heard over the mirror was very much out of place in the current situation. Subaru couldn't see the mirror's surface, but Petelgeuse was no doubt seeing the speaker, a certain kitty-eared knight. It was like playing a really bad joke but this constituted the signal for the operation. "What have YOU... No! What have YOU people done!!" "Now, then. Ahem. Tora-tora-tora!" *** Ferris suddenly stated those words to an uncomprehending, angry Petelgeuse. The madman did not know the meaning of the words. Accordingly, Subaru explained them. "It means, 'The surprise raid was a success' " Subaru pointed to the mirror in his hand, laughing at the wide-eyed Petelgeuse. This was not the made-up smiling face from earlier, but the real Subaru smiling like a little punk. "Wh-wha ?" "You don't look like you'll understand no matter how many times I say it. Well, don't worry about it." With Petelgeuse thrown for a loop, Subaru continued his full, beaming smile as he raised a hand above his head. And then "I can't understand what the hell you're saying, either!" "What a ?!" Subaru spoke fighting words as he snapped his raised fingertips. Responding to the aggression, Petelgeuse instantly shifted to a combat posture. But the movements of the sprinting figure rushing in from the side proved quicker. "Ga, haa " Raising a shriek, the madman was sent flying head over heels, crashing and rolling over the rocky ground. *** Watching this, the pitch-black land dragon neighed, as if to spurn the madman for having made her wait for so long. The dragon judged the unproductive conversation to be at an end. Her roar echoed across the forest sky. 4 He felt heat from the conversation mirror as he returned it to his pocket. The operation was proceeding to its second phase. That fact spurred Subaru to harden his resolve once more, raising a middle finger toward the madman's astonished eyes. "As for everything we were discussing, my answer is no." "Wh-wh-wh...?" "If you don't get it, I'll say it so it's easier to understand: After careful consideration of your offer, there is an insurmountable clash of organizational culture between us. Therefore, though this is highly arbitrary of me, I am removing myself from consideration. I pray for your continued activity and growth hereafter...and stuff." Subaru indicated that talks had broken off with a kind and careful explanation that was even harder to understand. With Patlash close by his side, he proceeded to gallantly mount her, taking the reins as he looked down at the madman. Petelgeuse, confused as he looked up, belatedly came to understand, whereupon he became filled with anger at Subaru's act of violence and shouted, "Do you comprehend what you are doing?! I am an Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins! An Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins granted the grace of the Witch! I have received Her favor, the same as y " "Sorry, but I'm tired of hearing about all that. The Witch can go eat shit, Petelgeuse." "Why! Why, I ASK! Why, do you refuse Her love?! The favor of the Witch! What is YOUR reason for rejecting Her grace? I, who have abandoned all things for Her, cannot compreHEND!!" Petelgeuse tore at his head, letting spit fly as he spoke with intense emotion. He actually seemed intent on convincing Subaru with those desperate cries. If so, exchanging words with Petelgeuse truly lacked even a single shred of worth. "When I look at you, I sympathize with you a bit, too. But let me tell you this." Subaru paid the madman's delusions little heed as he recalled the intricacies and rampages that had arisen from his own heart. He'd professed that he was right, asserted that everyone around him was wrong, and had spent his time wailing and engaging in temper tantrums like a child. I see. It really is unbearable to watch. This is like the horrible example everyone should learn from. "Right now, you're the one who's crazy, and I'm the one who's right It ends here, Petelgeuse!" And so he bade farewell to his own mistakes. There had been nothing tying Subaru and Petelgeuse together in the first place. The madman, too, instantly understood that it had all been a performance and a fraud. The next moment, his decision was cruel and severe "Violence, heresy! You shall pay for this I shall rend YOU limb from limb and offer your soul to the Witch!!" Petelgeuse's laments cut off in an instant. His shadow seemed to explode, spreading and swelling as it became a multitude of pitch-black arms. These objects of overwhelming density cascaded toward Subaru like a waterfall to rip him limb from limb, wring his neck, and violate his soul, just as Petelgeuse had declared. But "Why ?!" "Hey, I was playing tag, you're it with demon beasts in these parts just two months ago!" Patlash surmised Subaru's intentions through his unskilled use of the reins, moving more than she had been commanded. The wise dragon's movements deftly evaded the evil hands pursuing them as she leaped, escaping beyond the area of effect. The distance between them widened. Petelgeuse could not conceal his shock at his perfect opening attack being foiled. His eyes and mouth opened wide, so much that they nearly tore, and he wailed, "Just now! Those movements! You evaded! The Favor granted unto me?! Impossible, insufferable! Why can you see my authority?!" "Who knows? The Witch left her scent on my body, so go ask her. Oh, did I mention that unlike you, the Witch gave me a meet-me-anytime permission slip?" " ! What do you mean by... You blaspheme the Witch, Satella, by feigning closeness to Her!" "Hey, we're so close she reaches out and grabs me by the heart literally." Subaru added a wink, taunting Petelgeuse with a maximum of ridicule. That moment, the madman's tolerance instantly reached the boiling point; his face went red with rage as he bit his own fingers to the core. A dull sound rang out as his teeth snapped the fingers, crushing nail, flesh, and bone alike. Responding to his intense emotions, the shadows swirling around the madman increased in density. Their total number increased, and even for Subaru, able to see the invisible evil hands, the difficulty level had just been jacked up. However, the one most surprised by the increase in the evil hands' numbers was Petelgeuse himself. "The Factor granted to my fingers has returned...?! Why?! What has happened to my...?!" "As the Witch Factor you handed out comes back, the number of hands you can control increases. Well, the answer's obvious, isn't it? Hey, do the math, Lord Archbishop! Or maybe you're just too lazy!" *** Petelgeuse was at the mercy of consternation and rage when Subaru redoubled his taunt. When it came to getting under other people's skin, Subaru Natsuki came second to none but an opponent like this, with zero resistance against instigation, was practically dancing on the palm of his hand. Exactly as planned, Petelgeuse was so angry that his face was dark red, thrusting his bloodlust-infused fist toward Subaru and sending the arms to bluntly smash him flat and rip his very life out. "Patlash !" The land dragon grasped Subaru's intent, continuing to evade the carpet bombing–like Unseen Hands offensive with frightening accuracy. She was so dependable that Subaru truly couldn't bow his head enough to her. Subaru judged that they could continue to hold out against the first wave of attacks. "Operation Stage Three, let's go!" "Just how many petty games do you intend to play...! Against my diligence, this is all futile... Aa?!" Petelgeuse readied himself for a counterattack, but the next moment, Subaru's action made his words choke in his throat. "Turning your back to me... Just how much do you intend to mock me?!" "Sorry! But your stinky breath is making my eyes burn, so I have no choice!" With a command to Patlash, Subaru moved away from the rocky area and made a beeline for the forest. Patlash violently trampled the grass, blowing open a makeshift road like the wind itself as they distanced themselves from their foe. "Do not think that! I shall allow you! To ESCAPE!!" Petelgeuse shouted, but in contrast to his words, he crouched down then and there. The instant after he did so, he sat holding his knees like a gym student as a shadow grabbed hold of him, hurling the madman toward the heavens. As if in a twisted game of catch, his body sailed with ease until another evil hand caught him. Catch, throw, catch, throw repeating this over and over, Petelgeuse was hot on Subaru's and Patlash's heels as they fled. It was nightmarish pursuit, and it was not only he who pursued the pair. "Now, now, now, come forth! He mocks and scorns the exalted Witch, violates Her trial and Her favor! Rend his flesh into tiny pieces and offer him to the Witch! When Petelgeuse's command fell from the sky, Witch Cultists hidden in the cave under the cliff appeared in the forest without a sound. They had not attended Subaru and Petelgeuse's conversation, but now that they knew Subaru was their foe, they had no reason to hesitate. Their steps seemed to glide along the ground as they pursued Subaru and the land dragon. Petelgeuse was above the treetops, and at their backs, the Witch Cultists were ferociously chasing them "Here they come here they come here they come! Patlash, hang in there!" *** At Subaru's highly imprecise command, Patlash dealt with the crisis using her own judgment. She opted for speed, crashing through the slender trees that impeded her large frame. She trampled upon roots, vaulted over a depression, and snapped leafy branches apart as she charged straight forward, heading for their destination by the shortest possible route. "Futile! Meaningless! I shall catch up to you! Even that diligent land dragon's resistance shall be blotted out, overridden by diligence of my OWN!!" From afar, mad shouts poured down upon them, and the tyrannical evil hands poured down like a waterfall. They aimed at the sprinting Patlash, each landing in the forest with all the force of a cannonball. Huge trees were broken at the trunk and sent flying, with dust clouds swirling up from the ground being pulverized over and over. But, despite that waterfall, the dust cloud, and the madman's hatred pouring down, the land dragon ferociously burst through. *** Patlash, neighing loudly, was not unscathed. Even so, the land dragon had slipped through the attacks, protecting Subaru and herself. She had faithfully seen all Subaru's clumsy commands through. "Sorry for leaning on you this hard... You're the best, Patlash!" "Howeverhoweverhoweveeeer! It ends HERE!" Petelgeuse's cackling, laughing voice interrupted Subaru's praise for his favorite dragon's valiant efforts. Pointing beneath him, the madman was not speaking of Unseen Hands. Rather, he indicated the group of black figures chasing them. *** With cross-patterned swords in hand, the Witch Cultists pursued the land dragon with unthinkable speed. The menace they posed far exceeded that of Petelgeuse's clumsy attacks. At that rate, the Witch Cult's blades would slice apart the land dragon's scales, whittling her life away. But a moment before that could happen "Wah !" "Ha !!" A high-pitched double roar made the air tremble, becoming a shock wave that bore through the world. These very particular voices formed a roar wave that enveloped large trees and boulders in a straight line, rocking the atmosphere as it slammed into the Witch Cultists. Bloody mist danced in the air where the shock wave had slammed into the group. So far as Subaru knew, only three people in that world were capable of using such voices. "Whoaaa! You were in a super-tight spot, mister! You were totally gonna die just now!" "You were in danger of slightly missing the rendezvous point. This is thanks to Sister's intuition." With a great and silly laugh, the beast people siblings, Mimi and TB, lined up alongside

Subaru riding their large dogs. Their roar wave having rescued him from peril, Subaru looked over to them and raised a fist. "Hey, I was going all out back there! But thanks, I thought I was gonna bite it!" "Ohh, thank you! You are very welcome! Yaay!" "I understand your feelings of confusion... The man above is an Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins, correct?" Ignoring Subaru and Mimi's banter, TB glared up at the sky and inquired in a tense voice. The little cat's monocle-covered eye caught sight of the madman, his habit flapping in the wind, and narrowed. "What's that, that's amazing! That old man's all balled up and flying! Amazing!" "I have never before seen such a creepy method of flight." "Ohh, right! That's what it looks like to you two!" Subaru, able to see Unseen Hands, and Mimi and TB were viewing reality differently. To the two of them, Petelgeuse, balled up like a gymnast, must have seemed to be flying all on his own, but Subaru beheld the nightmarish sight of tentacle-like evil hands throwing him again and again well, both were awful sights, really. "Either way, I'll deal with that one! Take care of the rear just as planned, 'kay?" "Understood. Let us go, Sister!" "Oh yeah! Ah! Mister, mister!" Subaru would continue his dramatic escape from Petelgeuse while leaving subsequent Witch Cultists to the two of them. But just before changing course and departing, Mimi raised her hand to Subaru "If you win, it'll be really cool!" "Yeah! Leave it to me!" At Mimi's words, Subaru gave the little cats a thumbs-up as he leaped forward, praying they would have good fortunes in battle. Split apart by the roar wave they'd eaten, the Witch Cultists bore down on the pair, weapons in hand. At that point other members of the Iron Fangs Rajan and company leaped in from all directions, whereupon general combat began. Subaru turned his back on the clashing of swords and pointed tauntingly at Petelgeuse high overhead. "Come on, Lord Archbishop! If you get distracted by kitties and lose track of me, you'll never live it down!" " You, you, how far, how far will you go, how, why?!" Naturally, even Petelgeuse's cheeks stiffened as his attacks were thwarted over and over. Having arrived in the current situation from having lost himself to rage, the madman finally realized that he was in a disadvantageous circumstance. His fingers lurking in the forest had been destroyed one by one, his Unseen Hands, in which he'd held absolute confidence, had been seen by another, and that very moment, his disciples had been ambushed and split apart, and Petelgeuse was alone. Did that situation not mean he had been dancing on Subaru's palm in every way? "That cannot be! There is nothing! Nothing recorded of this in my Gospel! What are you, then?! YOU receive favor, and yet you belittle the Witch! You resist, you obstruct the trial I conduct, thwart my PLANS...!" In midair, Petelgeuse clutched his Gospel, holding it high as he shouted. His fingers had been taken away, and his authority was ineffective. He did not know it yet, but Emilia and the others had already been evacuated, so his vile acts to bring about the trial had failed before they had begun. Perhaps, to Petelgeuse, this was what a nightmare looked like. "What...what are you...?!" Petelgeuse screamed at the absurdity of it all, froth rising to the corners of his mouth. Subaru calmly replied, "I'm doing this for the fourth time when it comes to nightmares, I've seen enough to kill me." He didn't care about Petelgeuse's confusion or his laments. Deny it all he could, it was useless. The instant before his eyes was the future he'd crossed multiple nightmares to reach "You truly, trulytrulytrulytrulyyyy! You are Pride " "My name is Subaru Natsuki." When Petelgeuse shouted tenaciously, teeth creaking, Subaru invoked his own name. "Knight of the silver-haired half-elf, Emilia." *** "I don't know about this Pride business, but that's the only title I need. The rest can go to hell!" He silenced Petelgeuse with a point of his finger and his caustic words. The next moment, the forest opened all at once. Ahead, another rocky place appeared but this was not the rocky place where Subaru and Petelgeuse had faced off earlier. That said, it was not Subaru's first visit to the spot. There, once upon a time, Subaru had lost his life. "What is this place...?!" "Earlier I came to an end here. So this is the place that'll be your end It's that kind of spot." Arriving at their destination, Subaru commanded Patlash to slow her pace. Chasing them through the sky, the change in scenery, and Subaru's statement made the madman wary, causing his vile visage to contort. *** Petelgeuse released himself from the evil hand grasping him, carrying him through the air, and fell to the ground. The madman landed, slowly lifting his face as he stood opposite the precipice, straight toward Subaru. "If it was YOUR goal to invite me to this place...what is it you have prepared?" "That goes without saying. A mortal enemy yours and mine alike." When Petelgeuse asked in a low voice, Subaru dropped from his land dragon and declared as such. His words made the madman grimace. Subaru closed one eye. When he did so " Mortal enemy? Once again, it is quite something, the ways that you address me." The interrupting voice of a third party made Petelgeuse's head practically bounce as it swiveled around. Petelgeuse already realized that he had been lured. On guard against a surprise attack, the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins stuck a finger into his mouth, strongly biting it as he surveyed the area. But his caution against a surprise attack was utterly meaningless. "I did not believe I would ever have another opportunity to hear such words again." Saying this, the speaker leaped straight down from the top of the precipice to the rocky ground below. A surprise attack seemed unthinkable to him as he landed lightly, using a finger to set his handsome hair, askew from the wind, in order. *** Petelgeuse stifled his voice as his eyes widened, gazing at the handsome figure. However, the handsome man merely stood at Subaru's side, saying nothing of the madman's threatening gaze. Subaru glared at the side of his calm, collected face, grimacing in pronounced annoyance. "What, you've got a problem with my announcement?" "No, I was concerned that you might be recalling previous events of which you could not be unashamed... It seems you are truly audacious. I am impressed that you would say such a thing in front of me, even now." "How about I repeat it in your sleep so you see it in your dreams, hmm?" "I shall pass. Once is quite enough. Should I hear such a statement a second time, it shall be difficult to sear from my memory." Drawing his slender sword, the knight answered Subaru's biting sarcasm with sarcasm of his own. Subaru couldn't even remember how often the sight of his perfectly kempt royal guardsman uniform and his purple hair swaying in the wind had annoyed him. It burned him that that abominable sight was so dependable that moment. "Julius Eucleus, assigned to the Knights of the Royal Guard of the Kingdom of Lugunica." Identifying himself, Julius poised his drawn knight's sword, pointing its tip toward the madman. The next instant, lights of six different colors rose up and swirled around Julius, demonstrating their power to the wide-eyed Petelgeuse. " I am the sword of the kingdom, the sword that shall strike you down." "A spirit knight, IS it...? Just how far, truly, just how far will you..." Petelgeuse's teeth clenched as he received those spoken words. His anger was not so much directed toward Julius for joining to battle as toward the quasi-spirits nestling close to him. On top of that, the madman glared at Subaru and spoke. "So this, too, is YOUR doing...! Never before have I been so humiliated...!" "That so? Well, do enjoy this is your just deserts, y'see." Subaru replied to Petelgeuse, in whom so much hatred seethed that he clenched his teeth hard enough to split them. Then Subaru patted Patlash on the head, commanding her to depart from the battlefield. "You've been a big help this far. We'll settle the rest." *** Patlash rubbed Subaru's head with her nose in apparent concern before slowly shifting from the rocky place to the forest. Seeing her go, Subaru took a deep breath. "Let's do this, Julius." "You're fine with this?" Julius inquired. Subaru threw his shoulders back at the question. Unshakable determination rested in Subaru's eyes as he opened his mouth and spoke. "I won't retreat, I won't bend, I won't lose. I don't wanna lose anyone else." "I am the man who beat you terribly. Though I swear even now that I had significant reason for doing so, that is no more than self-righteousness so far as you are concerned." Julius answered Subaru's resolve by speaking of the unforgettable karma that existed between them. Those words suddenly stirred bitter, out-of-place memories. The humiliation and anguish of that time came vividly rushing back, as if something sharp bit deep into his chest. "I am not digging up the past in the hopes of washing away the shame. Your resolve is weighty, formed by each decision and action you have taken along the road to this point. Accordingly, I ask you: At this juncture, can you carry out your long-cherished desire with me at your side, not dispirited in any way?" *** "Can you trust in me?" Julius's question was extremely vague, coming off as out of place and even vaguely immature. But his meandering drew Subaru's attention to the barbs continuing to assert themselves in the deepest parts of him a necessary ritual, so that he might turn and face them. At the royal selection conference, Subaru had put on a disgraceful display; at the training ground, his good name was not restored, but rather smashed all too perfectly at Julius's hand, his infamy redoubled. The devotion of one girl had continued to motivate Subaru, enabling him to rise to his feet again. And now that he stood and faced forward, there was a different girl he wished to support. Guided by these twin lights, he struggled against fate. He wondered, how could he put the feelings from back then into words now? What kind of passion did he hold, what fierce emotions scorched within him, what colors of light burned bright within Subaru at that time, in that moment? "I really hate you." "Yes, I know." "That graceful air you give off annoys me, the way you talk sounds stupid and shady, and on top of that you clearly look down at me, and now that I think about it, you kissed Emilia's hand the first time I set eyes on you. When someday I'm lavishing kisses over Emilia-tan's entire body, what, that's gonna be an indirect kiss with you? Gimme a break!" When he thought back, he'd hated Julius even before they had exchanged words for the first time. The entire sequence of events leading to Emilia's treating him cruelly began with Subaru's antagonism toward Julius. At the royal selection conference, it grew significantly; at the training ground, it exploded; and the ashes continued to smolder thereafter. Even that very instant, they remained very hot, never ceasing to scorch Subaru's breast. "You broke my hands and feet, cracked my skull, you even chipped my permanent teeth. Even if they all got healed up, you'd expect the trauma to be real for anyone. Do you even know what holding back is?" "I would like to point out that was still a great deal of restraint." "Seriously, that's 'holding back' for you? I really do hate you the most." Subaru, the self-declared knight, had known repeated shame for his powerlessness, ignorance, and recklessness. Julius had beaten Subaru to

demonstrate what a knight was, fulfilling his role with capability and force. Subaru couldn't help but pity himself for playing the role of comic relief, but if he set that aside, the man remained, well and truly, the knight Subaru had always wanted to be. "I really hate you, 'Finest of Knights.'" *** "Because of my shame, I know that you're one hell of a knight. That's why I trust you." More than anyone in that place, more than anyone in that place in the past, Subaru intimately knew Julius's sword. Hence, it was him to whom Subaru entrusted his fate. For at that time, Subaru had come to know the weight behind his sword. "I'm counting on you, Julius everything I have, I give to you." *** Subaru spoke those words to Julius from close enough for two people to shake hands. Upon hearing those words, Julius closed his eyes. He slowly opened them a few brief seconds later. Julius beheld Subaru in his yellow eyes, nodding strongly toward him. "Then I shall answer that shame with all my spirit." When his sword rose, pointing to the heavens, the quasi-spirits granted their blessing to Julius's decision. The vibrantly colored quasi-spirits seemed to revolve around the sword as they danced in the sky. Among them, the two quasi-spirits colored white and black emitted the strongest light and this increased still, strengthening and rising until Subaru's vision was practically burned away. Then, when the light shining on the battlefield with the precipice at its back finally relented, the madman moved. "...Has your farce finally reached its END?" Petelgeuse, who had kept his silence while watching the exchange between Subaru and Julius, inclined his head. His eyes were bloodshot as he pointed two bloody fingers toward the pair, creating countless vile, pitch-black hands in the process. "And just what can you do with the addition of a single spirit knight to the fray? It is absurd that any mere spirit could hinder ME, MY path, MY love, MY diligence! You shall fall! I shall tear the others to pieces! I need only commence the trial anew! For my diligence knows no slothful surrender, nor demise!" *** "Ahh, AHH, ahh, Sloth, Slothslothslothslothslothslothslothsloth !!" His tongue stretched so far that his throat seemed unable to contain it. Petelgeuse dug wounds into himself deep enough to reach bone as he shouted his premonition of death, sending his Unseen Hands to smash the pair flat in one blow. The evil hands rushing toward them exceeded a hundred, resembling a tsunami capable of covering the whole world, one that would swallow Subaru and Julius up like two pieces of driftwood, crushing them and tearing them into a thousand pieces " Al Clarista." A rainbow-colored glimmer flashed forth, mowing the onrushing Unseen Hands down in an instant. The aurora borealis danced wildly, reflecting light at seemingly random angles to create blades tracing shimmering arcs. Bathed in that glimmer, the black phantasms dispersed like mist down to their roots, and the savagery they were to wreak was permanently halted. "...What?" "You should not act so surprised." Julius, who had swung his rainbow-imbued blade, elegantly replied to Petelgeuse's dumbfounded utterance. "If they can touch us, we can touch them. If mutual interference is possible, a rainbow aura imbued with the six elements can cut it." The six types of quasi-spirits contracted with Julius all rested within the cavalier's sword, giving off rainbow hues. The glimmering aurora of his blade turned it into a beautiful and frighteningly powerful enchanted blade. However, that wasn't what was bothering Petelgeuse. The madman resentfully shook his head, his feelings of consternation causing bloody tears to flow as he pointed at Julius and spoke. "You, YOU cannot see them. Surely you cannot. That exceeds the fact that my Unseen Hands have been cut...! That is the problem! You, you cannot, you cannot possibly see them, and yet...beyond me, they are seen by T-TWO!!" The fact that after Subaru, Julius could also keep his Unseen Hands at bay made his teeth shake down to the molars, his face stricken less by anger and confusion than by deep, powerful fear. It was the fear of having his final refuge, the very foundation of his faith, ripped away from him. For the first time, the sight of Petelgeuse like that made Subaru feel sympathy toward him as a human being but this was overridden by a sense of accomplishment. Take that, will you? He truly, finally, had found an edge. "A base villain like you who knows not the favor of the Witch cannot possibly see the grace granted unto me alone...!!" Visibly spitting blood as he screamed, Petelgeuse was denying the reality before his eyes. Accordingly, Subaru taught him just what was happening, further pounding that reality home. "I'm the one who sees them, Petelgeuse." "...! What?!" "I'm the one who sees your Unseen Hands. Julius is just seeing what I see. It feels even ickier than I expected, though." This was the quintessence of Nekt, the magic to share one's thoughts. Normally the magic was used to link together the minds of human beings within Nekt's area of effect, enabling simple telepathic conversations. However, it required careful use, as befitted high-ranking magic. Once Julius had explained the dangers thus: "If the empathy level is too high, the boundaries between the self and others become blurred, and beings become mixed with one another." If you mixed two minds together enough, in other words, synchronized the senses, raising the effectiveness to its highest extreme "It is possible to mentally maintain two persons' senses joined as one though I had certain doubts about your sanity when you first made this proposal." "But we pulled it off, didn't we? When you put men and courage together, they can do anything." Through the power of Nekt, Subaru's and Julius's senses were completely synchronized on a deep level. That moment, through Subaru's sense of sight, Julius had to be seeing it, too the sway of Petelgeuse's countless Unseen Hands seemingly dyeing the forest black. Subaru was also aware of the mana coursing through Julius's entire body, and of the warm pulses imparted by the quasi-spirits that flowed into him. The input from the five senses was doubled in the process, creating the incredibly discordant feeling of having ten senses. "Just to get this out of the way, I don't think we can keep this thing going for all that long." "I completely agree. Even if you beg, I shall never do this for you again." As Subaru twisted his lips, Julius gave his words an ironic laugh as he poised his blade. With the aura-imbued cavalier's sword, even Unseen Hands, Petelgeuse's trump card, could be opposed head-on, but neither of them had any room to send a shred of pity or mercy the madman's way. "Why you...why you, why you, whyyouwhyyouwhyyouwhyyou whyyouyouyouyouuuuuuuu!!" Petelgeuse wailed as his unfocused bloodlust made the shadows explode. Evil hands beyond count scattered and flew in all directions, forgetting even to aim as forest, ground, and boulder were destroyed, shorn, and sent flying. The shameful sight of the madman surrendering to his basest impulses was so repulsive, it made one want to turn away, but Subaru clenched his fist tighter, not averting his eyes in the slightest. He absolutely could not avert his eyes for the remainder of the battle. From the opening to the conclusion, Subaru had to burn the battle into his eyes for both their sakes. "Doesn't feel too good to have my fate and yours be one and the same Let's get this over with." "Yes, so we shall." The knight sliced away the pitch-black evil hands pouring down upon them; with a horizontal slash, he neatly sliced one onrushing hand in two. Julius watched as the arms thus burned away turned into black specks, scattering only to be swallowed by the wind and carried away. He laughed and said, "With your eyes, I shall strike him down, Subaru Natsuki my friend." CHAPTER 4 *** 1 The black, overwhelmingly violent torrent bore down on them head-on, but the rainbow aurora slashed it apart. *** The sword's wielder lashed out, slicing down the oncoming evil black hands one after another. The process repeated dozens of times over. Julius's rainbow-gleaming sword was an enchanted, certain-death blade imbued with the magic of the six elements. It could even rend Petelgeuse's Unseen Hands asunder; dispersed into mist, the shadows dissipated and vanished. Subaru didn't understand the principles at work. But perhaps it was difficult to reconstitute Unseen Hands severed by the rainbow, for the shadows grew thinner as the sword blows swept away the evil hands; Petelgeuse's rage grew thicker in their stead. "This is not amusing. This is not a joke. This is something that cannot be! For such a method, a ploy, a child's trick! To impugn! My love! My devotion...!!" "Not a very nice way to recruit someone...and your organizational culture looks pretty awful to me." The madman frothed at the corners of his mouth as his inexhaustible shadow arms pounded away. However, Julius countered the evil hands with his rainbow or evaded with his movements alone. With elegant steps the knight danced across the rocky ground, performing a sword dance as he dominated the battlefield. Even so, the evil hands knew no limits, over ten constantly bearing down upon him, pounding their malice upon him. A single sword swing could not defend against them all. Naturally, Julius's limbs took glancing hits, and a number of lacerations were carved into him. "Ngg " Though he was willingly on that battlefield, Subaru's shoulders leaped several times at the sharp pain. The graze of a black finger made the pain of his thigh splitting burn into his brain. For a moment he nearly let out a cry of pain, but he bit into the flesh of his cheek and endured. He strongly clenched a fist in response to the burn of his shoulder splitting. At that time, Subaru and Julius's five senses were completely synchronized via the magical sharing of their thoughts. Accordingly, Julius was able to see Unseen Hands through Subaru's vision; for his part, Subaru had become able to trust in the might of the magic sword in Julius's grasp. *** However, putting that goodwill aside, the makeshift partnership was extremely precarious. Thanks to their synchronization, both had been seeing double. When partnered as such, their vision would be constantly blurry, as if the left eye and the right eye were looking at completely separate scenes. And, as touch was included in the shared senses, not only were Julius's fighting ardor and exhilaration of battle acutely engraved into Subaru, but the pain he felt as well. There was the sight of the wind grazing his skin, the touch of his leather soles trampling the soil, the taste of blood and saliva mixed together inside his mouth, the ear-ringing sound transmitted to his brain, the smell of risking his life to the utmost, living on the edge between life and death. The numbers didn't add up. If both were bathed in the experiences of two people nonstop, it simply meant the burden was double. Taste, smell, hearing, pain, touch, sight right then, they were all a chore. The dilemma was like having an itch in a place your hand simply could not reach. Perhaps it was better described as having an itch on the back of someone else's head. "To tell you the blunt truth, I really wanna end this right here, right now...," Subaru murmured, as his body pleaded for an end to the ill feeling and he wet his tongue. The dryness from the prior moments had probably been passed on to Julius. He couldn't let other physiological responses rear their ugly heads. It was hard to endure the awful feeling, even though he'd been the one to propose the plan. To think blurring the border between yourself and another meant randomly clawing away at the core of your humanity to such an extent. But

he did not plead for mercy. It was impermissible. And it was no one and none other than Subaru who refused to permit it. After all... "It seems you have grown somewhat accustomed, Subaru. Shall I increase the pace?" "Yeah, don't worry, I'm with you all the way!" Countless evil hands leaped at Julius before Subaru could even reply. With a posture so low you'd think his chin would chafe against the ground, he slipped under the hands, and with a lash of his rainbow mowed all the shadows away. As those became mist, the madman sent evil hands threading the dispersing shadows, headed for Julius. But even these fell to the blow of the leaping knight's sword, beautifully blasting them apart. *** Julius elegantly proceeded through the battle, but his brilliant movements slightly faltered. Of course they did. As the handsome man flung away the remnants of the shadow coiled around his cavalier's sword, the eyes of his gallant face were closed; they had actually been closed while he was engaged in battle, unlike before combat had begun. This was to narrow the sets of vision from two to one, to achieve victory through Subaru's eyes alone. If they'd kept sharing their synchronized vision, the world's contours would have become vaguer and vaguer. Accordingly, Julius had closed his own eyes, entrusting Subaru with all visual information. Julius had made that judgment without consultation. Subaru understood that his judgment was correct. But at the same time, the true motive behind that action left Subaru indignant. "Crazy, crazy, you've gotta be kidding me! You really are a disagreeable bastard!!" Abandoning his own vision and making Subaru his eyes on the battlefield was putting his own life on the line, proving that he trusted Subaru not to avert his eyes from the battle. On top of that, inserting Subaru's vision into his nervous system was not nearly as simple as it sounded. One way of putting it was that it was like a third-person shooter, fighting on TV while watching himself from behind. "This isn't a game, and it's lunatic difficulty, one hit and it's game over! Putting your life on the line like this, gotta be nuts... You and me both!" "I do not believe you have the time to flap your lips!" As Subaru kept his eyes wide open, Julius kicked off the rock wall, leaping back to rejoin the boy right at his side. With a swing and a thrust, he prevented damage not only to himself, the main target, but from the stray evil hands headed for Subaru. During that time, all Subaru could do was sit tight, not averting his eyes, and gasp at the vivid display of skill. A wry smile came over Julius, eyes still closed, at Subaru's state. "You are quite a bit of trouble. I understand you are desperately trying, but perhaps you could defend yourself a little more? I cannot face the enemy head-on like this." "I'll take those words and throw 'em right back in your face! I can barely watch you cutting it that close! Or did you miss the desperate knight I was seein' through my own eyes?!" "I see a fine young man sad at having to keep his eyes closed. He appears to be handsome and of good upbringing." "I'm starting to suspect you and I aren't looking at the same world here!!" The two exchanged banter as they leaped away from the evil hands rushing upon them the next moment. Subaru's feet clumsily slipped, whereas Julius split the wave of shadow with his sword, elegantly slipping through the gap to advance upon the madman once more. "Amazing." Rising up after falling on his backside, Subaru spontaneously voiced his admiration at the sight of Julius in battle. Midbattle, Julius had grown acclimated to the unnatural physical sensations with frightening speed, raising the accuracy and sureness of his sword to new heights. It was not a feat that knack alone could achieve. This was the experience he had gained through the pain of ferocious training, cruelly using his body to its utmost limits. This was the end result of clashing with swords and lives in the midst of battle, honing his own skill and conviction to a fine edge. Hence, without the slightest fear or doubt, he could swing his sword confident in himself. *** Unable to avert his eyes, Subaru stared at the battle, clenching a fist in fierce regret. He felt remorse at his incomparable powerlessness in that place, and at having spent day after day in idleness. That feeling joined the pile of regrets that were the difference between Subaru Natsuki then and Subaru Natsuki as he had become. It was because he was ashamed, because it burned him so, that Subaru could not avert his eyes. " I'll be going now." "Yeah, get goin'." It was not that he heard the whisper. But Subaru responded to Julius's words nonetheless. Grazes from the hands sent pain from the gouge in Julius's back, from his thigh, and from his dislocated shoulder slamming into Subaru's brain. Subaru gritted his teeth enough they nearly broke, for he could not avert his eyes. Rush, leap, slide, slice back, step, jump, advance, slip under, stop on a dime, glide past, circle inward, leap sideways, twist and evade, turn around, charge in, leap up, kick, leap about refined motions all. "Impossible..." Slice away, slice down, charge in, slice up, kick away, gliding slice, slam, sweeping slice, thrust, cleave, lash, swing down, knock down, slice away, charging slice, slice in with repeated sword blows and slices, the Unseen Hands turned to dust. "Impossible, impossibleimpossibleimpossibleimpossible...!" Eerie black covered the whole of the sky, yet the sight of the knight carrying on his aurora-shrouded sword dance was so beautiful, Subaru lost track of reality. The scene was so surreal that it could make you forget this was a deadly duel. That was probably because the thoughts of the quasi-spirits passed through Julius and were conducted to Subaru as well. Those girls loved Julius and in contrast, they hated the madman. They found the madman intolerable to such an extent that they could never accept him as one of their own. "This cannot be! It cannot possibly be so! Why is it! How can this be?! MY Authority...! I am loved, I know I am loved, I am assuredly loved! And yet, to this extent, I AM being !" "You persist in illogical thoughts and actions. The fitness of your so-called Authority has diminished. More importantly, I have become sufficiently accustomed to this manner of fighting through Subaru's eyes." As Petelgeuse vented his fury, Julius thrust his sword forward, eyes still closed. "It is finally time to cut you down in earnest. Here, I shall strike you down with my blade, and bring the long-standing menace Sloth has posed to the kingdom nay, the world to an end!" "As if you can! As if I will let you! I...I am! ONE such as I who has been bathed in the Witch's grace! Four hundred years! Striving diligently to make Her will a reality! Do you really think a fool like you and your fledgling spirit flunkies can defeat me...!" Petelgeuse bared his blood-tinged teeth as he raged at Julius's words. But the madman's very rage gave Subaru conviction that the final piece needed for his anti-Sloth strategy had fallen into place. Petelgeuse's abnormal hatred toward spirits rivaled his infatuation with the Witch in fact, Subaru was counting on it. "Julius !" "Understood! Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins, prepare yourself!!" Julius stepped forward, advancing with the speed of an arrow. Petelgeuse opened his mouth, deploying his Unseen Hands with an incoherent shout. The evil hands spread through the sky, along the earth, through the forest, as they enveloped Julius to impale him from all directions " Al Clauzeria!!" Circling around the chanting Julius, a swirling vortex of rainbow-hued light erased all the pitch-black evil hands from existence. The aurora burned through the world for only a second but that second was enough. In an instant, like the blink of an eye, the encircling net Petelgeuse had wrought had completely vanished. And, in so doing, opened an unobstructed path between Julius and the madman... "Bahaa!" Petelgeuse, struck by vestiges of the aurora and caught in the explosions of his shadows, tumbled to the earth. His crushed fingers clawed at a boulder, and the madman looked like he was about to spit up blood as he rose to his feet. Right before his eyes, Julius drew near, unleashing a sharp thrust aimed straight at the madman's breast. "I shall...not...let YOU! Ul Doona!" Petelgeuse spread his arms wide, intoning a spell as he took a counterattack posture. The next moment, the earth burst upward, and stone walls, a mix of boulder fragments and black soil, enclosed the madman on four sides. The sword bounced off the rock wall. Mad laughter welled up from the other side, and Petelgeuse let Unseen Hands fly over it, slamming from Julius's blind side to deliver a serious pummeling. *** Dealing with the evil hands meant giving Petelgeuse, on the other side of the wall, an opportunity to escape. However, if he pursued Petelgeuse, he would be slain by the Authority. Either way, Julius's sword could not reach him. That is, if Julius had been waging that battle alone. "Blaze, fighting spirit! Howl, demon ball! I've got fifty pounds of will, right here!!" Twisting his body, raising a leg, taking a great step forward, shoulder rotating in a full swing with a speed not exactly that of a fastball, Subaru hurled the crimson magic crystal in his hand. The youth was no baseball prodigy. But he had once had a burning craving for strikeouts at the nearest batting center. His pitch control, at least, amounted to second rate. When this was combined with his concentration ability in his state of extreme observation, hitting the center of the rock wall with the magic crystal was downright easy. "What IS...?!" The crimson magic stone imbued with destructive energies sailed past Julius and crashed into the wall of stone and exploded in a flash of light and great heat, burying Petelgeuse's field of vision with the vermillion flames from the detonation. "It cannot be that this, too, was your plan from the..." "Scorning him as powerless is the cause of your defeat!" As Petelgeuse froze in shock, Julius's voice reached him from the other side of the flames. The next instant, Julius broke through the flames in a flying leap, burying the tip of his sword in the immobile madman. "...aa " His breast thus run through, the inside of Petelgeuse's entire body was charred by the rainbow aurora. Slammed into the rock wall behind him, impaled against it, Petelgeuse flailed his limbs. The madman spit out bloody froth, wept, and bared his teeth, as if unable to believe it. "Ab...surd. Absurd, absurd, absurd...! This cannot...be happening...to ME...!" "The rainbow aurora has bitten into your very soul. No matter whose body you reside in, the wicked soul within shall find no escape Now, fall to pieces at the rainbow's end!" At Julius's voice, the glow of the cavalier's sword increased. Bathed in that light, Petelgeuse could not unleash Unseen Hands; he could only groan in agony and writhe in the unsightly manner of an insect on the brink of death. However, as Petelgeuse struggled, the madness in his eyes was undiminished. He had not given up on living. "It ends not here! It cannot! It shall NOT!! My efforts are diligent! I shall not permit any thoughts of surrendering to laziness or sinking into SLOTH! That's why, by any means necessary...!" The madman wailed, struggled, wriggled, and opened his tattered mouth wide as he tried to escape from the sword. Julius gazed in wonder at his implacable tenacity while twisting his sword, pouring destructive energy into the heart of his foe. If his heart was destroyed, death was inescapable Before that point, Petelgeuse made his decision. "Having lost all my fingers,

my destruction is inescapable...BUT...BUT! BUT! There is still, one vessel, that remains for me...!" They'd gone all over the place and preemptively taken out Petelgeuse's fingers the spare physical bodies he had brought with him. Consequently, he had to select a replacement on-site. *** His madness-suffused eyes opened wide and moved around. He looked past Julius and caught sight of Subaru. A chill ran down Subaru's spine. Simultaneously, Petelgeuse's mad laughter grew louder, deeper "Ahh my brain...is shaking." The moment after his murmur, Petelgeuse's Julius-impaled body crumpled like a marionette with its strings cut. Light faded from its eyes, and its limbs drooped, all signs of life falling from them. The time had come. Subaru thrust a hand into his pocket and shouted to Julius. "Julius! Release!" "Acknowledged!" Responding to Subaru's call, Julius released Nekt just as they had arranged. As a result, Subaru was instantly freed from the ill feeling of two layers of five senses but didn't even have time to breathe. For next, in place of Julius's five senses, came a foreign existence, overwriting the impudent Subaru. Stuffed into his chest, the invisible entity robbed him of his right to control his own body and its shrill, earsplitting laughter echoed inside Subaru's own skull. Subaru proceeded to bend exaggeratedly backward, opening his eyes and mouth to their utmost in acclamation. "I. Knew. It! This flesh is a vessel with the capacity to hold ME! And with no way to stop ME! No way to impede my path! AHH, ahh, you, were LAZY!" Petelgeuse's existence felt so close, it was as if they were sitting side by side in the same brain. This was the final stage of Possession with his fingers lost, Petelgeuse had moved to take over Subaru's body. Subaru had no way to resist that savage blow. He'd lost the freedom of his body as the madman consumed his mind. "Now this is the body of YOUR friend, yes! Can a knight aspiring to noble virtues bring himself to cut it down?!" Having taken Subaru as a hostage, Petelgeuse licked Subaru's face with his own tongue. The words caused Julius, looking ready to rush over, to halt his feet as he spoke. "Certainly, I cannot bring myself to cut him down." "Then !!" "Accordingly..." As Julius spun the quiet word, he showed the madman his own left hand. He held a glowing conversation mirror in the hand opposite to that gripping his cavalier's sword. Subaru had passed Julius the mirror in his pocket the instant Subaru was being possessed. Its glowing surface displayed a cat-eared knight who had been observing the battle since the outset. "Now it is your turn, Ferris!" "Subawu, you big fat idiot for making me do this! I'm going to rip you to pieces later!" When Julius addressed Ferris through the conversation mirror, the latter's voice sharpened to a point. The ill omen made Subaru/Petelgeuse's eyes open wide, and in accordance with that premonition, Ferris carried out the attack. However, with his actions having been read through Return by Death, there was nothing he could do "Unseen......?! GaAaaaaaH?!" The instant he tried to unleash the Authority, Subaru/Petelgeuse screamed so much, it seemed his throat would burst. The cause was an explosion inside the body that released a torrent of unfathomably vast heat and anguish. With a wobble, Subaru's body lost its strength and, still feeling hot all over, collapsed onto the ground. His skull felt like a sauna within which his brain was boiling, with his scalded mind cutting in and out over and over. And Petelgeuse, sharing his flesh, had shared that very bitter taste. "A...ga...haa... What...what...happ...?" Having experienced the novel anguish of having his brain sterilized through boiling, Petelgeuse moaned, his confusion plain. Subaru, clawing together his mental strength, stuck his tongue out at the abominable soul that was his roommate as he answered. "If the body you take over ain't...in good shape, you can't...do a thing, can you?" "It cannot be...it c?a?n?n?o?t?c?a?n?n?o?t?c?a?n?n?o?t?c?a?n?n?o?t?c?a?n?n?n?o?o?o?o?o?o?t?t?t?t?t?t?t?tt...be! YOU, you expected ME to shift to your body?!" You bet! Subaru grandly stated as Petelgeuse expressed shock inside his brain. They were two minds in one body. It felt odd for Subaru's declaration to leave Subaru speechless. On the inside, Subaru apologized over the conversation mirror to Ferris for foisting such a distasteful task upon him. For it was Ferris, on the other side of the conversation mirror, whose spell had robbed Subaru's body of its freedom. For the purpose of healing, Ferris had interfered with Subaru's Gate, making it possible for him to make the mana inside Subaru's body go berserk through use of water magic. Indeed, it was he who had delivered fatal damage to Subaru the last time around when Petelgeuse had possessed Subaru's body. He'd made Ferris, proud of his power as a healer, use that power to take a human life. And yet, Subaru had asked him to use that power in such a fashion once more, so as to lay the final trap. "So thanks to that last request, this body's no good, either... So ready to give up yet?" "Give up? Give in? As if I would surrender! At this rate, I will rob your flesh, and it will be me, by me, for me, only me me, me, ME?!" Beyond his normal madness and fury, Petelgeuse, in a true sense, had begun to go insane. To so great an extent his moves had been read in advance, his plans thwarted, yet even so, Petelgeuse wailed while tenaciously clinging to his delusions; and Subaru, even as he tasted the suffering of his blood boiling within his body, hardened his resolve. "At this rate, I'll die...and that'll be traumatic for Ferris... I don't wanna die, either, so I'm gonna settle things with you. We're just gonna do it my way..." "What, are...more, unto me! What more, DO you seek from me?!" Petelgeuse's voice shook; he was aghast at Subaru's words, words that foretold what was coming. That moment, with Petelgeuse sitting right next to him in his brain, he knew. The madman was closer to him than he needed to be, conveying his fear and denial so much that it hurt. The same went for him. Hence, he knew that Subaru's resolve was the real deal. "Are you scared? Now, after all the things that you've done?" "All unto love! All to repay Her favor! What do you know about ME?! All YOU have done is interfere and obstruct my path! What is it with YOU?!" Petelgeuse knew not Subaru's true identity. He was simply afraid. The madman did not understand whence sprung the hatred Subaru bore toward him. Subaru and Petelgeuse's lives had never crossed, not even once. At the very least, that was true as far as he was concerned. "Your actions are simply out of irrational resentment...misplaced to the EXTREME!!" "...There's no point talking to you anymore. Even among human beings, there are people you can't have a frank conversation with. That goes double if you're not even a human being." *** Subaru's voice, tinged with disappointment and understanding, sent Petelgeuse into shock. The madman's reaction was raw, for Subaru's declaration had penetrated his stupor to strike at the truth. "What. Are. You... Are you saying...you know about ME?!" "The fact I lured you to this rocky place should've made you imagine a nut being cracked It's a place only for proper spirit mages and this is flattering myself people qualified to become 'em." This was the final condition for Possession that the conversation between Subaru and Julius had uncovered "Forcing a pact onto a human being qualified to be a spirit mage and takin' over their bodies. That's the truth behind your Possession, Archbishop of...no, spirit, Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti!" "You dare !!" When his true nature was exposed in a loud, brash voice, Petelgeuse, lurking inside Subaru, forgot his fear and shouted back. Subaru had realized Petelgeuse's true nature when in thought in the middle of the Possession incident the last time around. The real tip-off was Ia, the quasi-spirit. Last time around, Ia ought to have been residing in Subaru's body, but the instant Petelgeuse possessed him, she was shot out of Subaru. That unnatural occurrence led him to broaden his speculation. It was for this reason Subaru began to suspect that his hatred of spirits and of the spirit mages employing them was hatred of his own kind. Petelgeuse's Possession was an irregular pact, the effect of Petelgeuse himself being an evil spirit. Accordingly, he saw spirit mages, which already had formal pacts with spirits, as his enemies. Even if he could hijack a provisional pact, he could not do so to a formal one. That was why spirit mages were his mortal enemies. It was because of Julius's sword, and the power resting within it, that Subaru had selected him for the decisive battle "Wow, getting ticked at me hitting the bull's-eye. Maybe while possessing people their humanity rubbed off on you?" "Silence! Do not! Do not compare ME to spirits! Do not put me together with such lowly beings! I am a being beyond that of spirits! I am a chosen being surpassing mere spirits, abandoning vague self-consciousness and granted an objective through Her favor! What do YOU know about me?!!" Petelgeuse vented, forgetting all about the flesh he had taken over as his rage and hatred exceeded all limits. Ironically, the contents of his words only bolstered Subaru's deductions, and the more he denied it, the deeper he dug his own grave. "Love has changed ME! Love has given me will, a reason to exist! This, and everything, is by the grace of the Witch! The Witch's favor! Thus! Thusthusthusthusthusthus! I must offer this body, this soul, everything to the WITCH!" "You can save the sermon, Lord Archbishop I'll grant you an audience, then...just for you." "What?! With whom?! Of what do you speak?!" "Why, the great Witch you've been waiting for." Root and branch, Subaru's statement blew Petelgeuse's fierce emotions away. What remained was shock and bewilderment, and for the first time, Subaru had a glimpse of the underside of Petelgeuse's madness. As the mad thoughts went blank, Subaru turned toward them, choosing that moment to be the one to draw near. " I've Returned by Death..." The instant he spoke the forbidden words, the world lost its color, and all motion came to a stop. And then it came for Subaru. 2 The world that greeted him was dominated by darkness, and darkness alone. It was a hazy space, a world of nothing, an empty vacuum where even his own body did not exist. Whether his body existed or not was unimportant; it was a world where existence or nonexistence held no meaning, a world where you knew not if you even had a soul. There was a sense of oblivion alone, and there was a blissful, familiar feel to that oblivion. If he could feel anything at all in that place, he could somehow make out his own existence. Within that darkness, where even his mind was hazy, there suddenly came a change, and the world's ambiance shifted. *** In that world without light, there was a pitch-black figure blotting out even that darkness. It was a woman. He could grasp that at least. Her face and the contours of her body were so uncertain, he could not be sure of anything about them. And yet his heart seethed. This chance meeting with her no, not a chance meeting; this was a reunion. This was blessing, this was grace, this was gospel this was true love. His lack of fingers irritated him. He wanted to walk over and take her hand that very instant. His lack of a mouth irritated him. He wanted to lavish words upon her to express his feelings. His lack of a body irritated him. If she so desired, he would offer her blood, bone, flesh all of it. His being only a soul irritated him, for he had but that single thing to offer her. *** As before, she continued

to hold her silence. But her mind had certainly shifted in his direction. That was enough. Being in a world where she paid heed to his existence felt as good as if he had ascended to heaven. And his soul, yearning for love for so long, would be hers, forever " This is wrong." The voice was tinged with disappointment and despondency. He had prepared to receive her first words with supreme bliss, whatever they might be. Yet the instant he heard her voice, it created a shadow of worry that made his entire being tremble. Why did it feel like this? Here, in the place that would surely grant the love that he sought... " You are not him." Her disappointment deepened, her ardor dissipated, and finally her despondency changed into another emotion anger. "Why is someone not him here, in our place ?" The voice shook with anger. The angry, hateful, accursed words rejected the soul, ripping it into pieces. Unable to grasp the reason for her pushing him away...unable to accept the reality that she truly detested him, and that his love could never reach her...he desperately sought words of sadness and lament, a voice that he could exhaust to assuage her heart. But he had no mouth to use to form such words, nor fingers nor a body to act out his will. All he had in that place was his soul and she had rejected him, not permitting him to offer even that. " Begone." The bewilderment, consternation, and grief of his thoughts never reached her. They were meaningless, for to her he was worthless, meaningless, and idle. Bathed in rejection and repudiation, he accepted his despair; the misery shattered his soul. Torn away from the framework of the world, his mind was cut from it; and so he sank far, far away, the reunion he had so yearned for...severed. The sight of her grew distant. She, whom he had so much, so greatly, so earnestly yearned for, vanished into the ether. But she no longer cared about such laments. She merely gazed silently, earnestly, into the pitch blackness "I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you " It was not to anyone present, but someone elsewhere, to whom she continued innocently whispering her love. 3 " Aaagaah! I'm baaack!!" Liberated from the agony he'd thought would last forever, Subaru's mind caught up to the speed of reality. The pain of his heart's being mercilessly squeezed was the strict penalty for speaking that which was taboo. The hands wrought from black shadow they greatly resembled Petelgeuse's Authority, a fact likely related to the Witch. Return by Death probably had something to do with some fated connection between Subaru and the Witch of Jealousy. Or perhaps it had something to do with Subaru's being summoned to another world in the first place. "Either way, I'll find an explanation someday... But right now...!" Brushing his misgivings aside, Subaru moved his cramping limbs and rose to his feet. He vigorously used a sleeve to rub grimy drool off his cheek, practically gluing himself to the boulder right next to him as he climbed upward. Then, as the foreign element purportedly in him vanished, he shifted his eyes toward the rock face. "...How...can...this...BE...?!" Subaru saw Petelgeuse there, crawling in a pool of blood. Having returned to his own corpselike body, Petelgeuse dragged it forward as he wept, leaving a trail of blood in its wake. He had abandoned Possession of Subaru, breaking the forced pact, his mind returning to his own body. Having shared Subaru's body, he had to have suffered the same penalty from divulging Return by Death. In a possessed state, pain was shared, too. Subaru had identified his comparative endurance as his final trump card against Petelgeuse. "Worst case, I was ready to do that over and over till you tapped out...but you gave up after just once. No guts, huh?" Wheezing while boasting of victory, the bluffing Subaru felt strength drain from his legs. But he used a branch behind him to support his tottering body, giving a snort toward the side of the face of the man standing beside him. The knight Julius gave a pained smile at his demeanor, swinging his sword and turning it toward Petelgeuse. "This time, we finish this." There was a pale glow along the blade of his bloodied cavalier's sword as the quasi-spirits shrouded the edge in a rainbow aurora once more. With the rainbow sword, able to cut all things, resting in his hand, Julius stared straight at Petelgeuse. "I love...love, my love... My love is..." Mumbling words over and over, now lacking the strength even to crawl, Petelgeuse did not notice Julius. Even if he had, it surely would not have changed anything. Blood did not stop coming out of the wound where his chest had been impaled, and the ashen-pale look over his face was that of despair and death. *** Finally, in front of the sheer cliff, the madman set his back against a boulder and turned his head. Having lost the willpower to even act disturbed, Petelgeuse looked at Julius with a dumbfounded expression. His gaze proceeded to lower, shifting toward Subaru, standing behind the knight whereupon he suddenly exploded into emotion. "Why, why...WHY?!!" Tears flowed from his wide-open eyes. The hot droplets drenched his cheeks. These were not the tears of joy Subaru had seen from him several times; they simply reflected the extent of the rage and remorse pouring out of him. They were proof of an unsalvageable delusion proof that the madman's dream had been shattered. Petelgeuse wept, looked up to the heavens, tried to clench something that could not be seen, and shouted "O Witch...O Witch! O Witch!! I have given this much to YOU! I have done so much for You! Why, why have You forsaken ME?! Why?! Why is it?! O Witch! If it is so, then MY love... Your favor...?!" "What you offered her wasn't your own love or faith, or even your own body. You were just offering up the people who happened to be passing by you." Petelgeuse lamented as if clinging on, searching for salvation, when Subaru's words cut him down. It wasn't worth listening to a word from him. Petelgeuse was just a self-righteous creep indulging in unrequited love. Wilhelm had said as much that it was absurd to call this love. Shiii ! Julius sprinted, his sword homing in on Petelgeuse's slender frame. The only things Petelgeuse turned toward the swinging, rising sword were teary, misty, wistful eyes. A rainbow-colored sword blow struck his chest for the second time, and the torrent of light burst within him. The accumulation of mana that was the true body of Petelgeuse the evil spirit grafting itself to the bodies of others, feasting upon their Odo was scorched to the core by the brilliantly colored glow. When the cavalier's sword came out, Petelgeuse looked down, dazed, as hot blood poured out of his chest. Then, he trained his unfocused eyes overhead, stretching a hand toward the heavens. " My brain...trem...bles." From his slender shadow, he unleashed a single Unseen Hand toward the heavens above. It stretched farther and farther, as if aiming for the dazzling sun above. However, that hand grasped nothing, heading for thin air before finally leaving a large gouge in the sheer cliff, sending large cracks running along the rock face. He probably hadn't done it on purpose. To Petelgeuse, it was a meaningless act. It was an impulse driven by one final delusion. *** A rock slide occurred above Petelgeuse's head. Giant fragments of the gouged rock face split off and fell. Directly below was Petelgeuse, seeking the heavens, and in the end unable to grasp anything "She never loved m " The mass of rock crushed his flesh, and there was a grand sound of flesh and bone being squished. There was a string of rumbles as dust was blown upward from the impact, and in an instant Petelgeuse was crushed, buried by his own hand under the rubble that would serve as his tombstone. Having escaped from the peril of the rock slide, Julius walked over to where Petelgeuse surely lay. At the end of his gaze, a large quantity of blood was pouring out from under the boulders. Upon seeing this, he shook his head, returning the cavalier sword in his hand to its scabbard. *** Subaru too walked forward, not speaking a single word. Then, when Subaru stood in front of the tombstone, he made a small sigh. It was not a sigh of admiration, or a sense of achievement, or satisfaction. He knew that the only thing spreading within his chest was a deep sense of emptiness. Subaru would not sully that time and place by speaking of crude concepts such as victory and defeat. But he did voice the words that came to the back of his numbed brain. "Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti." That single phrase would serve as the marker for the end of that battle. Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti, Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins of the Witch Cult, charged with Sloth. He who had battled Julius Eucleus, "The Finest of Knights," and Subaru Natsuki, the Self-Declared Knight. Before the rubble that was his tombstone, Subaru exhaled a little, and said this: "Man, you were lazy." CHAPTER 5 *** 1 Having tossed his final words toward the tombstone, Subaru turned his back upon the madman. When he turned around, he saw Julius, one eye closed, and Patlash, standing beside him with a composed expression. Both were wounded all over, but their considerable mental strength meant they didn't let it show. That said, their mental and physical depletion was severe, and that sense of fatigue was beyond their capacity to conceal. "Well, not like I'm one to talk. Even if it was for just a second, I let him get in my body and all." The side effects of Possession by Petelgeuse the evil spirit were utterly unclear. He dearly hoped he wouldn't suddenly wake up covered in blood from subconsciously self-inflicted wounds. In contrast to such absurd thoughts, Subaru was surprised at the oddly despondent feeling within himself. This was Petelgeuse, the most fearsome foe he'd faced since being summoned to another world. Even with him defeated, the sense of loss inside Subaru's chest outweighed any sense of accomplishment. "This has to be just burnout. I don't feel sad for him biting the dust one little bit... Stupid, stupid." After those words to himself, he slapped his own cheek, using the pain to switch gears away from such soft thoughts. They had defeated Petelgeuse. However, Subaru's goals did not end there. The largest task remained: patching up his relationship with Emilia. Starting with the breakup in the royal capital, he'd allied them with the Crusch camp, defeated the White Whale, battled the Witch Cult, and used a white lie to get Emilia and the others to evacuate once he finished all the follow-up, including explaining after the fact, only then would this string of affairs be concluded. Beyond his overusing his body, the various events had left him mentally depleted. "But no one's been maimed, no one's been killed. This is way better. You realize for the first time how precious peaceful days are when you lose... Nah, I thought that from the start, actually." Even Subaru, who thought peace and security came first, could not escape irrationality's ire. That said, the turbulent times had largely calmed. When Subaru turned his head, he shifted it from Julius and Patlash toward Petelgeuse and then his feet stopped in midstride. The reason: a single

book resting atop the blood trail Petelgeuse had left while crawling. " His Gospel, huh?" He must have dropped it in his dying moments, for the pages of the Gospel were sullied by blood and grime. Subaru picked it up and flipped through the pages to be sure. Just like before, the contents looked like a bunch of hieroglyphics to Subaru's eyes. The latter half was filled with blank pages, and at any rate, there was no way to ask Petelgeuse about the contents now that he was dead. "Best to just grab it and talk to Crusch and Roswaal about it later, huh?" Furthermore, his goodwill toward Roswaal was insufficient to give him the first crack at it. His current absence spoke volumes, so in spite of Roswaal's being an ally, Subaru's trust in him was at its nadir. He wanted to hope Roswaal would make up for it later. " Subaru." As the boy contemplated how to deal with the Gospel, Julius approached him. When Subaru lifted his face at the voice, Julius's brows were knotted with a grave expression. It was an ill omen. And, as if to bolster Subaru's premonition, Julius straightened up and spoke. "I know we just settled things here, but let us return to the village immediately. A problem has arisen." "...I've got one hell of a bad feeling about this. What happened?" "I have received word from Ferris." As he spoke, he lifted up the glowing conversation mirror. The mirror's surface was connected to Ferris on the other end. Julius glanced at it, wariness evident in his handsome yellow eyes as he spoke. "There is apparently something disturbing about cargo aboard the dragon carriages used to evacuate Lady Emilia is in danger." And thus, he spoke the explosive words that turned every presumption on its head. 2 When Subaru and Julius arrived back at Earlham Village, the returning expeditionary force had already assembled inside the village. They noticed the approaching pair, thanking them for the feat of striking down the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins. However, even as they grandly lifted their fists in celebration, thick tension remained in the air around them. "Not exactly the mood for a victory party to celebrate the mission's success. If something happened, tell us already!" "Yes, yes, of course. But first, I need to check both of your wounds." Responding to Subaru's search for an explanation, Ferris slipped past the ring of gathered men. Ferris was smiling, but there was sweat on his forehead, and his Royal Guardsman uniform was terribly stained with blood. When his attire took Subaru by surprise, Ferris said, "Ahh..." and nodded as he explained, "It's all right, it's not Ferri's blood. It just got messy during healing. Besides, no one here's as badly wounded as he looks. We had wounded, but no fatalities." "That's good news... Anyway, leave me for later! Do Julius first." "I can handle your wounds with one hand, meow. Looks like I need to take Julius's seriously, though." Asserting that Subaru's wounds were light, Ferris waved a hand over them and activated his healing magic. With a ticklish feeling, the wounds were healed, and even the pain taken away, in the span of a mere ten seconds, the sort of feat expected of him. "Okay, we're done, Subawu. As for Julius... Oh my, that looks painful. Come on, strip off your coat." "Please be gentle." Julius's reply was crisp, but his wounds appeared deep. It was clear from the grimace on Ferris's face as he examined the wounds that convalescence would take a fair bit of time. "Your job's finished. Be a good boy and rest... Anyway, Ferris, the other thing. What happened with that cargo...?" Subaru glanced at the start of Julius's treatment, his feelings distant as he changed the subject. Ferris, receiving the question as he employed his healing magic, straightened up. "Mm, I know. But I think it's best you speak to the one who noticed first... Oh, Otto!" Subaru's eyes went wide at Ferris's mention of the unexpected name as the crowd parted in front of him. A young, ashen-haired man practically fell forward as he leaped, slipping through the gap between the knights... "Otto?" "Mr. Natsuki! I have been awaiting your return!" Otto rushed over, his breath labored. He seemed rather agitated as he looked between Subaru and Julius, patting his chest in relief that both were safe. "First, it is good that you are safe. To be frank, I believed fighting a Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins to be nothing short of suicide, but... Ah! More importantly, there is something I must speak with you about!" "Calm down! Take your time and explain. But keep it to a brief summary of the main points." "Such difficult conditions...! Anyway, this is about the cargo. Actually, I found something odd when checking the list." "List, you mean of the traveling merchant freight that was left in the village? What was odd about it?" Otto lowered his voice as he hastily unfolded the list of trade goods he was holding against his chest. Then he flipped to a certain page and spoke. "Sir Kety...I do not know if that is his real name, but the traveling merchant, Kety Muttat. It would appear he was captured as a spy for the Witch Cult, but..." "Yeah, I know about him I see, you knew him personally, didn't you?" Subaru knew from previous go-arounds that Kety and Otto had come into contact with each other any number of times. Otto had to be in shock that someone he knew had been in the Witch Cult. But Otto did not linger on that part; rather, he moved forward, drawing even closer to Subaru. "Sir Kety being a Witch Cultist surprised me, and it is most unfortunate. But that is not the issue You used his dragon carriage to evacuate the villagers, yes?" " ? Yeah, I used it. Owner aside, the dragon carriage did no wrong. I didn't have the luxury of leaving a usable dragon carriage behind, so I had to use it to get everyone out." "And the cargo unloaded from the dragon carriage is as I see recorded on this list, yes?" "It should be..." Subaru nodded as misgivings crept in about why Otto was so focused on the minutiae. "I thought so," said Otto, certainty on his face as he continued to speak to the nervous Subaru, his voice hardening. "When I compared the list to the freight, there is something missing that ought to be in the village." "Missing?" "A large quantity of fire magic crystals Sir Kety's dragon carriage was hauling is missing a quantity sufficient to blow seven or eight dragon carriages apart cannot simply vanish into thin air." 3 Kety's dragon carriage was headed to the Sanctuary. Rather, it was being used by the evacuation group taking Emilia and others to the royal capital. When Subaru confirmed the distribution of dragon carriages after his talk with Otto, he came to a conclusion. There had been three Witch Cultists hidden among the traveling merchants. Once they'd lost their owners, expeditionary force members had taken their carriages; Subaru distinctly remembered that the carriage Emilia had boarded was one of those three. "Those magic crystals on the list...they were really loaded aboard? I just have to say, relying on a list from a Witch Cultist is a little..." "The frightening thing about Witch Cultists is that they melt into everyday life only to become poison when you least expect it. They act as is appropriate for their false identities... You are merely closing your eyes because you do not wish to see, Subaru." "Even here you whip out the logical...... I know. I'm in the wrong." Julius sternly thrust reality into the nervous Subaru's face. Ferris glanced at Subaru as he prudently abandoned a reflexive retort, turning his eyes toward Otto as he spoke. "It was Otto who noticed the discrepancy between the list and the freight...but he had another reason, too." "Yes. All the other freight matches except for the magic crystals, after all...and actually, I have seen the crystals myself." "You saw that there were magic crystals loaded aboard?! When?!" When Otto named himself as a witness, Subaru pointed a finger at him in disbelief. "It was...back when dragon carriages were being recruited for the evacuation. I was with Sir Kety when I heard the offer. Then everyone was in a great hurry to be the first out of the gate, and as they made predeparture plans for the journey......I sneaked a peek at what he was carrying." "Man, can't take my eyes off you for a second... You really had it coming, didn't you?" "Isn't that a little too mean?! Anyway, I saw them with my very own eyes. As for the quality...because they are absent, I am the only one who can attest to the menace they pose, but..." As the explanation came to a conclusion, Subaru grimaced as he looked at Julius and Ferris. However, even their expressions were grave; in particular, Julius's anger toward himself was evident. Subaru, too, understood well the anger he bore. "Shit, I missed it! This is what I get for being a cheapskate and using whatever I can lay my hands on!" "I checked to make sure they had no trigger via enchantment...but I overlooked that a physical trigger might have been left in the dragon carriage itself. I am sorry, this is my mistake." "It's not your fault...it's mine for not realizing." Julius's caution regarding magical traps was no doubt impeccable. If he was taking care of that end, Subaru had to be the one to realize there was a physical trigger. But what hurt more than anything was that Subaru had personally experienced that dragon carriage's explosion the last time around. Back then, Kety's true identity came out when Petelgeuse used Possession on him, and Subaru and Ferris were caught in the explosion. After, when he learned that the fingers had an explosion enchantment embedded in them for killing themselves, he'd assumed that the explosion had been that enchantment at work "That explosion wasn't an enchantment, it was the dragon carriage's trigger...and this time, it's a dragon carriage used in the evacuation." Rigging his dragon carriage with magic crystals was a highly effective emergency measure in case Kety was exposed as a Witch Cultist. He'd be able to inflict great damage on the expeditionary force, turning the tide of battle in his allies' favor. Considering the monomaniacal malice of the Witch Cult, it was a scenario that was easy to accept. "Ferris! If we rush over by land dragon, can we catch up to the evacuation group heading for the capital?!" "That might be difficult. It's been an hour and a half since Lady Emilia and the others left... To ensure the Witch Cult wouldn't spot them, they didn't kick up a storm, but they're not moving at a leisurely pace, either." Of the two evacuation groups, the one making a run for the Liphas Highway was relying on speed. Once that group left the Mathers domain and reached the highway, it would be even harder to catch up to it. But if they didn't do anything about the booby trap, Emilia and the children would pay the price "It's still not enough? After all this, and I still can't..." Would the fates of people precious to him be decided in a place beyond his reach? No matter how much effort Subaru exhausted against Fate, snares were laid by this hand or that hand. It was as if all the paths for Subaru to walk had been meticulously paved with thorns. But just as Subaru felt himself entwined by the irrationalities of Fate "May I speak to you for a moment, Mr. Natsuki?" With a serious look on his face, Otto raised a hand and interrupted Subaru's unease. Determination rested in his eyes; the frail words of before seemed to have come

from a completely different person. But Subaru remembered that look on his face. On a previous go-around, when in a true sense he had met Otto for the first time, and Subaru had brought the thoroughly plastered Otto a business offer, he'd put on his merchant face just as he was doing now. In other words "This means you want to make some kind of deal with me, Otto?" "What a perceptive man, something I do not mind at all. Mr. Natsuki, right now I am on the edge of a considerable precipice. The cargo on my dragon carriage is now worth less than dirt! And tragically, the opportunity to turn it all around has slipped through my fingers! To be blunt, I cannot laugh off a deal upon which I wager my life." From what Subaru had heard, the disastrous circumstances afflicting Otto were more comedy than tragedy, but he had no time to poke fun at them. Subaru nodded, prodding Otto to continue. Subaru's demeanor made Otto close his eyes for a single moment; then he made his proposal. "Let us make a deal. If you accede to my conditions, I promise to exhaust all my spirit to get you to your destination and catch up to the dragon carriage at issue." "You can catch up to them if we leave right now?! How?!" "Before we speak of that, I want your firm pledge that you will accept my conditions. What I am offering is my trump card, so I cannot easily speak of it...even under duress." "Just say what your conditions are! If they're in my power I'll do whatever you want!" After Otto carefully selected his words, Subaru grasped his shoulders, demanding to hear further. He'd already repeated that world four times over. He'd struck down the White Whale, dispatched the Witch Cult, cleared most of the conditions for getting what he was after; having come this far, he refused to let it all go to waste. If it was only one more step, he'd overcome it with a pinch of guts and grit. "You decide quickly. I do not mind this, either." Cold sweat broke out on Otto's brow as he formed a smile at Subaru's immediate decision. The negotiations taking place that instant were a seminal event that would determine the course of his life. Subaru's snap decision after the briefest of pauses surprised Otto, but he immediately tossed his conflicted feelings aside. And then "As my reward, I want you to arrange an audience between me and Marquis Mathers. Also, you will purchase all the oil I am carrying...and I shall name my price. How about it?" Narrowing his eyes, Otto put on his merchant's face as he spoke, seemingly testing Subaru. Coming out with your maximum demand at the outset and haggling down from there was Negotiation 101. Taking advantage of exigent circumstances was playing the merchant by the book. From there, Subaru and Otto began their fierce battle of negotiation "You're still hung up on that?! All right, I'll buy all your oil or whatever, and if you wanna meet that perverted clown, I'll do whatever it takes! It's a deal!" "Eh?! What the ? You're scaring me!" The negotiations began on the same note as the previous time around, and ended the same way as well once more, Subaru fully accepted the terms of the deal upon which Otto had wagered their fates. Whether he would think of an unearned win through the opponent's resignation as something to be proud of was another matter entirely. 4 "I shall have Ia accompany you. She should be able to locate the magic crystals the dragon carriage is rigged with." With those words, Julius once again handed his red quasi-spirit companion to Subaru. Just like before, the faintly glowing quasi-spirit synchronized with Subaru's Gate and vanished from sight. "That's a big help, but won't she get angry at your lending her out that easily?" "It appears that Ia is quite fond of you. Besides, I wish to avoid any regrets from sending only one as ill-versed as you. I really would like to go myself, but..." There, Julius's words cut off as his refined face bore an air of regret. But Ferris, right beside him, puffed up his cheeks in exasperation as he continued casting healing magic. "Sit tight and stop saying stupid things. You're completely out of mana, so you're useless anyway!" "This is what I get for borrowing the buds' power. I can only rue the limits of my abilities." "Coming from you, that's just sarcasm. Anyway, I'm grateful you lent me the spirit. Beyond that..." Having accepted the spirit on loan, Subaru thrust a finger at Julius, fully immersed in the last of his treatment. "After all this is done, we're having a banquet to celebrate busting the White Whale and the Witch Cult. You're invited, so don't go dying on me." "So if I am murdered here, you and Ferris are the culprits. It is an easy-to-understand situation, then." "Well aren't you two getting along, meow. Hey, get going and catch up to Lady Emilia already!" Glaring at the lighthearted exchange, Ferris pointed toward the entrance to the village. Taking the hint from the pair, Subaru gave a thumbs-up and set off running. "I expect your utmost efforts." "Just watch out, okay? I can heal you if you don't die, but if you bite the dust there's nothing I can do." Subaru waved a hand toward the voices of support and met up with Otto at the village entrance. Otto was preparing for the pursuit by hitching Patlash and his favorite dragon to his own dragon carriage. It'd be a midsize dragon carriage with a canopied wagon with two heads drawing it that was how they'd catch up to Emilia and the others who'd left first. "You have not forgotten anything? Time is precious, so let us set off." "Yeah. I'm counting on you for route navigation and all the other little stuff, Otto!" The two nodded to each other and climbed into the driver's seat together. In front, there was a fair bit of a size difference between the two land dragons drawing the carriage. Subaru was concerned about the slender Patlash's inferior size, but... "Land dragons have the wind repel blessing, so a certain difference in size is not a hindrance. They are also both females, and I have not heard any particular friction between them." Seeing the doubts on the side of Subaru's face, Otto explained thus as he took the reins. The way he used the word heard made Subaru let out a little "Hmmm." "What is it?" "Ah, nothing, I just thought that blessings are amazing things. I was thinking of them kinda like talents, but I was surprised there was a Dr. Doolittle one, too." "A veterinarian? I see what you are saying, but blessing bearers go through considerable difficulties of their own. In particular, I could not control my language blessing very well when I was at a young age." When Subaru voiced his admiration, Otto made something of a pained smile as he spoke of his own blessing. The language blessing essentially allowed a person capable of conversing with any living thing. He would employ the power of his blessing to catch up with Emilia and the others that was his end of the deal. "At first, I was wondering how the heck you'd use this blessing to catch up with them, but..." "I will speak to the birds and insects along the way to determine the shortest route. It will be hard on Fulfew, my land dragon, but we will charge through, be it game trails, poor roads, cliffs, or swamps." Otto had reached the Mathers domain ahead of other merchants by plowing through paths that were not paths. As he was extremely short on luck, this had resulted in his becoming a prisoner of the Witch Cult. Regardless, borrowing the power of his blessing "We'll catch up to Emilia and the rest up on ahead. Easy win." "No, I would not deem it an easy victory...... It is quite possible we will catch up. In the first place, there is actually nothing in the terms agreed to earlier that guarantees we will catch up to..." "We'll catch up to Emilia and the rest up on ahead. Easy win !" "It really puts me a bind if you say it with a smiling face like that, you know?!" Though Otto shouted under the weight of that trust, nothing was served by weak musings at that point. Subaru's smile vanished as he bowed his head to Otto with a serious expression. "I'm counting on you, Otto. You're the only one I can rely on." "...Those truly sound like last words, damn it." Faced with Subaru's meek demeanor, Otto spoke with chagrin and sighed with an air of resignation. Then he gripped the reins and strongly issued a command toward the two land dragons. They picked up speed. "Oh, fine, I'll do it, I'll do it! I'm making money from this, so if I work myself to the bone, I owe you that much !" In accordance with the desperate Otto, the dragon carriage ran at extraordinary speed, onward and onward. Subaru, strongly sensing that speed, began to hallucinate, seeing Emilia and the others on the road ahead. It was their backs he was racing to catch up to. But then "Er ?!" With a sudden start, the dragon carriage left the road, plunging into the forest down a game trail. The ride was so bumpy that even the wind repel blessing could not wholly protect him. Subaru stared at the trail as the dragon carriage barreled down it, beginning to take a series of literal shortcuts. Afterward, Subaru resigned himself to death numerous times as they ran along bad road after bad road. Having already died ten-odd times since being summoned to another world, Subaru knew, without a single speck of exaggeration, his rocky ride with Otto was reckless, grazing past death at every turn. They engaged in the thoroughly suicidal behavior of running down a nearly vertical cliff, charged across an old rope bridge that seemed on the verge of falling at any moment (which, in fact, fell just after they had crossed), and when barreling through a demon beast habitat zone were pursued by a particularly fierce pack of ferocious beasts; Subaru had no time to count the number of times they'd wagered their lives. "I'm a goner... This is finally gonna kill me for sure... End of the road...!" "What is it? We are moving at an incredible pace. To be honest, even I did not think I could come this far... So this is the latent power of a human being with no tomorrow...!" Beside Subaru, who was clinging to the driver's seat with a blue face, Otto was completely in a trance. His statement sounded rather precarious, but Subaru said nothing, fearful of an unnecessary question breaking his concentration. "Besides, setting the process aside, we're making awesome time." Punching out of the forest, they at long last leaped back onto something that resembled an actual road. There was a sign right at the edge of Subaru's vision marking the border between the Mathers domain and the highway. It had taken them half the normal time to arrive their repeated travails had brought tangible results. Not that he ever wanted to do it again... "The highway... Rather, cutting through the grove to the left is faster, isn't it?! That is the shortest route!" "By grove, don't you mean forest?! Is that way really all right?! It doesn't look like there's even a game trail...!" *** "Hey, answer me!!" Otto did not respond to Subaru's shout as he sent the dragon carriage charging headfirst through the entrance to the forest. With the die cast, all Subaru could do was hold on with both hands and pray no accident would befall them as they headed into the forest.

The dragon carriage leaped as it rolled over tree roots; Subaru clenched his molars as they headed down an atrocious path once more. The whole of his vision was buried in thick trees; one false move and they would be crashing headfirst. But the way Otto was delighted in contrast to the pallid Subaru made the latter reassess his view of peddlers. "Is being a traveling merchant this dangerous?! Making a name for yourself in the capital's market is a lot saf " "Mr. Natsuki!" Subaru was trying to distract himself with small talk when Otto suddenly interjected with a shout. The voice, infused with a sense of urgency, made Subaru look over, wondering what was up. As he did so, Otto put a hand to his ear, surveying the area around them as his cheeks stiffened. "The forest is astir... No. The birds and insects have left in a great panic! Even Fulfew is tense... Something...something is coming!" Otto's wary voice made Subaru gasp and look around the area. But atop a rocking dragon carriage traveling through the forest at such speed, he'd never make out anything even halfway bizarre. Yes, if it had been halfway bizarre "Ugh, time is precious, but we should take measures for safety. Mr. Natsuki, please watch over the rea " "Nah, ain't no need for that." As Otto tried to switch policies, Subaru spoke in a ridiculously calm voice. Subaru's gaze was trained behind the dragon carriage, glaring at the forest scene they were leaving behind. As it grew more distant, the forest seemed to vanish from his vision, as if "it" was swallowing the forest whole. *** Trees were snapped and sent dancing in the sky, brutally devastating the forest's foliage. Just after the destruction arose, the dragon carriage raced up an incline, but it was ferociously heading straight toward them, heedless of the damage to the surrounding area. "Let her fly, Otto do not let him catch us!!" "Mr. Natsuki?!" When Otto started to look over, Subaru checked him with a hand as he transferred from the driver's seat to the wagon. Then he stood as the guardian of the wagon, baring his teeth as it pursued, right behind them. "Why you Just how stubborn are ya gonna be, you shitty bastard!!" Subaru let out an angry shout as pitch-black shadows swelled and wriggled before his eyes. The evil black hands stretched and erupted from a corpse, no longer a person, but a collection of delusions. The remains of Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti consumed the forest as it pursued the carriage from behind. 5 It was repulsive. It was hair-raising. It was sinister beyond measure. The body had been crushed under a rock slide; its right arm and the right side of its torso were both gone. Hair and scalp had been torn from its skull, leaving it dyed red, and the lower body being dragged along had nothing under both shins. Its limbs drooped, their vitality meager; this was already a mere corpse. But the corpse had not ceased its morbid defiance, drowning in delusion as it continued its pursuit of Subaru. "Giiiiive...thaaaat...boooody...baaaaack!" "Man, you're stubborn. Don't you remember the rough time you had inside me...?!" Petelgeuse's shout was like a voice from the grave, chilling Subaru to the bottom of his heart. With the body he had possessed already dead, Petelgeuse's own "death" lay right before his eyes. However, appearances aside, the use of Unseen Hands imbued the madman's movements with explosiveness. If he was left to his own devices, they'd probably collapse on their own, dissipating far away, but "Not easy to just wait for time to run out, huh...? Damn it all!" Subaru gritted his teeth and glared as the madman pressed closer to the rocking wagon. The dragon carriage was already hurtling at nonsensical speed, but Petelgeuse moved even faster. Like a lit candle on the verge of burning out, he was radiating his final, wicked delusions. "This is a spirit? How? Aren't spirits supposed to look more holy or something?" "Mr. Natsuki! What is going on back there?!" Subaru's lament was overshadowed by Otto's shout. He could not see the nightmare behind them, for it was located directly behind the carriage leaving Otto the better for it. "We're just being chased by a slightly huge dark monster. I think we probably ran over its tail halfway through the forest. It makes a lot of noise and its face is scary, so I recommend you don't look." "That makes not seeing it really trouble me?! And that description was full of troubling details!!" "Just let 'er rip! Next time you snap at me I'm taking a bite outta you!" "Whaaa ?! How terrifying!" Otto handled the reins as Subaru intimidated him and made him focus on the horrid path. But the speed of a land dragon had limits. They were done for if, God forbid, they smashed into even a single tree; consequently, the land dragons could not be hastened any farther inside the forest. In other words "The job of slowing you down falls to me. It's time to put on a grand finale... How many grand finales are you gonna have, anyway?! What about you makes you Sloth? You're a freaking workaholic!!" "Wiiitch SATELLA! Give me me her love, love, loooooooove!!" "She doesn't love either one of us!! There's no romantic comedy where you crush the heart of the person you like! With a heroine like that, no thank you!" Petelgeuse lifted up his head and screamed, looking like his eyeballs were about to fall out of his skull. He had been betrayed, turned into a dead body, yet even so, Petelgeuse continued to shout his "love" toward the Witch. For the first time, Subaru genuinely saw him as pitiful. He tenaciously yearned for a body, deluding himself with his lust for "love" from the Witch and behind it all, he was a spirit without a body of his own, with a craving for affection and physical contact that could never be fulfilled. Gradually rotting away from a craving that could never be sated, Petelgeuse's mind fell into madness. No one would ever accept a being like him in the first place. "I don't have a special attack or a super spell, but I'm taking you on anyway. I ain't letting you get past me, and no way am I letting you get to the one behind me...!" "Mr. Natsuki, I didn't know you cared...!" "Will you shut up a second?! I'm trying to act cool here!" Whether Otto was flippant or serious, Subaru shut him up and turned back to face the madman. Thanks to the amount Julius's sword had burned away, the total number of Unseen Hands was barely enough to propel his own scamper. The number of arms waving above his head, available for attack, was seven the exact amount he'd started with. Petelgeuse savagely clawed at the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust as he drew nearer to the dragon carriage. The evil hands swung upward, making tree limbs fly, and pounded down from the sky above, each blow splitting the earth. Black fingertips lightly grazed the rearmost parts of the wagon, digging deep wherever they touched regardless of their strength. Subaru calculated the range was such that the next blow would land for certain. If a direct blow of identical force landed in the center of the wagon, the dragon carriage would roll onto its side, killing Subaru and Otto both. The next move would decide the match. "Mr. Natsuki, we are coming out of the forest !" At the same time Otto spoke, Subaru's field of vision, covered by green, suddenly brightened. The dragon carriage flew out of the forest as if punching through a wall and slid down a grassy incline. Petelgeuse chased them out, clawing the ground as the mass of shadow seemed to swallow rocks and fallen trees, all becoming a twisted spirit set to consume the rear of the dragon carriage as well. They cut through the forest and onto the highway. Emilia and the others they were chasing were not far beyond. Subaru couldn't lead Petelgeuse before them before Emilia. The Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins couldn't appreciate his goal, but he would not permit Emilia's heart to be wounded. Therefore, accordingly, Subaru Natsuki would set his life ablaze then and there "We're out of the forest no more holding back!" "LOVE! LOVE! Love is everythiiing !!" Tears of blood streamed out as Petelgeuse opened his toothless mouth, laughing maniacally. Subaru listened to his cackling voice as he sprung loose the cargo inside the wagon. He dragged one of the heavy, lined-up containers forward as the pungent scent of the liquid within clogged up his nose. He wrapped his arms around it and picked it up. Then he hurled it at the mad, bloody laughter. "Burn in hell, Petelgeuse!" *** Simultaneously, the Unseen Hands stretched into the sky swung downward in a cascade of destruction. But Subaru moved faster, before the evil hands could reach. As the vile laughter floated in the air, Subaru hurled the pot he carried the oil pot toward the madman. The ceramic vessel crashed and shattered, the contents within spectacularly smearing the madman's corpse. The preparations were complete. The pitch-black, evil hands were falling to blow the dragon carriage asunder, and Subaru with it. Heedless of that, Subaru stretched his right arm straight forward, pointing with his fingers arranged like a pistol. At the end of his fingertip was a red light for it was there that the red quasi-spirit he had borrowed from Julius resided. "Gonna borrow your power, Julius Juukulius." "Whyyyyy YOUUUU !" "Rental Goa !!" It was an incomplete chant by a novice magic user to an uncontracted quasi-spirit, two incomplete things piled upon one another but his will was focused upon that single point, granting the incantation strength. And for it to interact with the world around him, only a spark was needed. His mana, like a gas tank running on fumes, connected to the power of the quasi-spirit, sending a tiny spark of minimal destructiveness rushing toward Petelgeuse. And then his wicked mouth, covered in blood and oil, opened wide. "AaaaaaAAAAA!!" That instant, Subaru's vision was enveloped by vivid, soaring flames. Petelgeuse's entire body was bathed in ignited oil that burned with incredible heat. Billowing waves of flame scorched the inside of his flesh, and Petelgeuse's wordless scream clawed at the air around them. Against the spirit that was Petelgeuse, Subaru had inflicted the greatest blow possible. The elements were Otto's cargo of oil pots and Julius's quasi-spirit, granted as a safety net. All of it was borrowed he'd simply patched them together for a very Subaru Natsuki–like attack. "It's over for Gahh!" A moment after he saw the end of the match, Subaru noticed the existence of a pitch-black, evil hand lashing above his head. The evil hand was being swung like a grim reaper's scythe, its course reckless and its target undefined. However, the arm collided with the wagon, instantly sending it flying, grazing Subaru in the process. The dragon carriage violently bounced from the impact, and the wagon that had taken the direct hit was wide open, looking like some beast had taken a bite out of it. With the carriage gouged, Subaru was among flying pieces of wood as he tumbled deeper into the wagon. His calf was torn in the process, making him clench his teeth as the pain felt like it was setting his brain on fire. " Gahh! Shit, that hurts! Aw, damn it!" Subaru's voice went ragged as he pressed a hand on the bleeding wound. But Subaru had the time neither to bandage it nor to curse his misfortune. The reason was simple: Black fingertips were grasping the rear end of the wagon that very moment "Giiiive MEEE, haaand it OVERRR..." The dragon carriage heavily rocked as the fiendish, burning face of Petelgeuse crawled up into the wagon. *** The thing that climbed into the wagon had abandoned a complete human form. The missing parts the lost right

half and torn-off lower extremities had been replaced by wriggling black hands. Of his original body, only his head was not charred red and black. Though the fire had spread to even his habit, he somehow managed to hold his body in one piece, but even so, the sheer ugliness of the being shone through... Almost as if to assert beyond all doubt that this was a repulsive monster wearing the skin of a human being. "You look awful...not that I'm really one to talk, I suppose." Grimacing from the spasm-like pain, Subaru bore it and rose to his feet. The bleeding of his leg had not stopped, but the opponent was far closer to the brink of death than he. Petelgeuse's entire body had been decaying even before being set on fire; he was already at death's door. He wasn't seeking a war of attrition, either. The next instant would settle it for both of them. Subaru did not have many trump cards to play; indeed, they were few. All that Subaru had left for a weapon was cunning. "Bo...dy CANNOT vanish... Cannot...allow...to vanishhh..." "Hey, I told you already, come into mine and you'll have a really bad time! Who cares about the Witch?! She's just taking us for a ride, you and me both!!" Petelgeuse spoke with difficulty, craving Subaru's body as he repulsively crawled forward. As he raised his voice, refusing to give in, Subaru tried to break the madman's spirit. But Petelgeuse showed a reaction to that shouting voice that he had not shown to that point. " Witch, Satella..." Suddenly Petelgeuse murmured with lucidity as he lifted up his face. His visage was half-destroyed, his cheekbones raw and exposed, yet reason returned to the madman's eyes. His disjointed eyes wavered, and one caught sight of Subaru, then the other. Together they blinked with madness. "You are...dangerous. Danger, danger, dangerdangerdangerdanger dangerdangerouuuuss !" "Aaah?!" "YOU receive, receive ceive ve her Favor, yet deny her love! And YOU have driven me, me, me, meeee! This close to the point of death, death, deathdeathdeathdeathdeathdeaaaath!" Petelgeuse's head swayed and trembled as he ranted incoherently. But behind that fury, the power of the evil hands steadily spread, consuming the wagon and stealing Subaru's foundation out from under him. If the evil hands were unleashed with nowhere to run, Subaru had no chance of victory. The madman's intelligence had returned; he was chasing Subaru out of intellect, not instinct. With the cards stacked against him, Subaru inched away, and at the same time, a single possibility came to mind. And then "The Witch, Witch, Satella...SATELLLAAA! Love, love, looove! I was loved! I WAS loved!! Satella, me Satella loved me! I shall not forget, for even an instant! Even if YOU forget, I shall not!!" Tears flowed. These were not tears of blood, but real tears. Truly, since their first chance meeting, this was the first time Petelgeuse had shouted about love while sane. Be it affection or passion, it had dragged Petelgeuse from the brink of madness back to reality. Petelgeuse's stagnant eyes shone with the firmness of will as they glared at Subaru. "You are dangerous! You shall someday pose a threat to the entire Witch Cult! Before that! Before your hand can reach Satella! Here! Now! By my hand! By my diligence! To sunder myself from Sloth, and repay Her love...YOU shaaall DIE!!" Petelgeuse shouted, and his body, unable to withstand the unleashing of the power of the evil hands, burst open and broke apart. But Petelgeuse was no longer bent on taking Subaru's body, but rather, on killing Subaru, so that a threat to the Witch Cult would not be left to fester and thus protecting the Witch he worshipped. These were the actions of a beast, but performed with will, with intellect... "I'd probably have lost if you'd stayed a monster, you know." When Petelgeuse saw what Subaru had taken out of his pocket and held in his hand, his eyes went wide. His reaction made something in Subaru's heart cry out. But he bit back the sentiment that momentarily reared itself, hoisting his arm aloft. Swinging his arm high, he flung the small, black book the Gospel at the tip of Petelgeuse's arm. "Ahhh...Satella!" In a daze, Petelgeuse let a low, quiet voice trickle from his mouth. It was a voice immersed in tranquility, calling out the name of someone lovely beyond measure. Desiring the heavens, Petelgeuse raised his left and only remaining arm toward the sky. Obeying his will, the evil hands stretched toward the Gospel, the black fingertips reaching for the book dancing in the air and the next moment, it came. He caught the Gospel just as it was enveloped by wind, just on the verge of blowing away. It was affected by the wind. Meaning it was beyond the blessing. In other words *** As Petelgeuse grasped the book, his body heavily bent back, bathed in ferocious winds. His feet were dragged, splitting the already gouged-out floor of the wagon; half his body was cast beyond the dragon carriage. And, as a result of being cast beyond the wind repel blessing, he was wholly immersed in turbulence. Once upon a time, Subaru had fallen into a similar circumstance during horseplay on the way to the capital. Without the wind repel blessing, he was taking all the wind and shaking of a dragon carriage running at full speed over horrid footing. He couldn't possibly have held out. " Aaah, AAAAAAH!!" Subaru let out a great shout and put his foot down the instant Petelgeuse's balance greatly faltered. He forgot the pain of his torn leg and leaped, bouncing into the air. He had no tremendous power to turn the tide of a battle that's why he had to make his move when it counted most. *** Petelgeuse shouted something as Subaru rushed over. Subaru couldn't hear a thing. He threw caution to the wind, lowering his head for a charge, and leaped toward Petelgeuse's flank. Unseen Hands shot out. The speed of the hands thrust out had slackened; with Subaru's concentration at its zenith, they might as well have been standing still. As he cocked his head and violently swerved his body, a fingertip grazed Subaru's cheek as he closed with his foe. The sense of oppression from the powerful evil hands was such that Subaru almost unwittingly shut his eyes. "Wilhelm taught me two things." Hands grazed him. Pain ran through part of the skin of his neck, cheeks, and ears, which felt like they'd been touched by hot steel. The bursting heat scalded his thoughts, and he bit down a painful cry that threatened to tear through the inside of his throat. He dodged. He breathed. He wasn't done yet. "That I don't have one smidgen of talent with a sword..." The pain was scorching, but he became relaxed, at ease. These twin elements intruded upon Subaru's mind as he looked straight before him. On the other side of the hand Subaru had dodged was another hand, snapping toward his face "...and the courage not to shut my eyes when I'm being smacked!!" He shouted and ducked his head. The hair on the back of his neck got a shave as he evaded by a hairbreadth. Dead ahead, Petelgeuse's face stiffened in shock, and into the side of that face, Subaru slammed his fist. *** The haymaker struck Petelgeuse's cheek, causing him to greatly snap backward. His body lost its footing, and Petelgeuse was hurled out of the dragon carriage. And then "Oooooo !!" Petelgeuse hung upside down in the air before being dragged back to the dragon carriage. A piece of his habit had snagged on the wagon, and his body, connected to the dragon carriage, was being dragged along the ground. Blood scattered. Flesh exploded. As the damage piled up, even the Unseen Hands came unmoored as the being known as Petelgeuse was undone. Even so, Petelgeuse raised his decaying face and glared at Subaru, his inverted gaze brimming with hatred. "It is not o-ov-over it is not...o-overrrr?!" "Nah, this is as far as you go." As Subaru spoke to the excessively tenacious Petelgeuse, he revealed the Gospel he held in his hand that which Petelgeuse had dropped when Subaru struck him, and the last thing the madman's heart clung to. Subaru flipped to the latter, blank half of the tome, pressing his finger against it. He had touched the finger to a wound, covering it in blood. With this, he placed his imprint upon the Gospel. "Your end is right here!" In red I-script, Subaru wrote the word END on the open, blank page. When Petelgeuse beheld the sight, his tongue trembled from the blow. The fierce emotions spreading like a wave through his eyes were so complex that Subaru could no longer read any of them. And then, before he could put his emotions into words, the end came. *** The dragon carriage bounced high up, and Petelgeuse, dragged by the wagon by the sleeve of his habit, came loose... Then the tattered habit was caught by a wheel of the dragon carriage, turning at high speed. Pulled in by the snagged habit, Petelgeuse's body, stripped of limbs and blood, was pulled straight toward the wheel. The end was in sight. Mixed with the sound of a habit tearing, flesh and blood bursting, in his last moment, Petelgeuse looked up at his foe and shouted. " Subaru Natsukiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!" His scream echoed and became his death cry. Petelgeuse shouted Subaru's name as body and voice were swallowed by the wheel; and thus ensnared, they were pulverized, with bits of blood, flesh, and bone scattering out as his life was trampled away. With the loss of its body, the essence of the evil spirit dwelling within was drawn in until it, too, dissipated. *** One last, final Unseen Hand stretched toward the tip of Subaru's nose Just on the verge of grasping Subaru's head, the hand stopped; from the tips of its fingers, it fell apart and vanished. This fact revealed that Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti well and truly was no more. "This time, rest in peace forever...Petelgeuse." It was over. Certain of that, Subaru flopped onto the wagon. Instantly, the pain he had been ignoring to that point came rushing back, and Subaru moaned as he rolled around in the wagon. "Oww, this is bad, it's so bad, I'm gonna die. Oww, this is bad, this is bad...!" Tears welled up, and the sharp pain would not relent. His bleeding wounds throbbed, and he felt like needles had been thrust inside his body. Only the physical pain of his wounds racked his chest. He did not pity Petelgeuse. Madman, evil spirit, Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins there was no point on which he could sympathize with Petelgeuse, aka Sloth. He'd run amok all on his own, and this was the result. He'd shouted delusions of love, arbitrarily imposed them on others, and ended up secluded and alone. No one needed to nurse pity for a man such as Petelgeuse meeting his end. No one, save Subaru, needed to be tormented by such sentiments. "No one was ever gonna understand you. Of course you're dead. You had it coming. No one no one will forgive you That's why...I feel for you...that much, at least." He was understood by none...unloved by the one he loved...a lonely monster. This time, Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti was truly no more. Nothing left of him remained in anyone's chest, anyone's heart. ...None, save the nail called "pity" driven into Subaru's chest nonetheless. 6 "Mr. Natsuki, are you all right? You are wounded to no small extent." "Hell no, I'm not all right. I used to bawl my eyes out when the anesthesia ran out after dental work." Subaru moved from the half-destroyed wagon to the driver's seat, mumbling thus as he smeared salve on his wounds. Bandages and homemade salves seemed to be necessities of travel; he'd helped himself to what the dragon carriage held. As Subaru, done treating his wounds with teary eyes, handed the salve back to Otto, he

pointed to the dragon carriage's wagon and spoke. "I'll put the word in to have Roswaal pay for dragon carriage repairs, too... So how much time have we lost?" "None whatsoever. If anything, we have gained time, thanks to having two land dragons earnestly fleeing... Something really came after us?" "Yeah, a sloth. Never heard of 'em? They're animals with long hands that make funny noises." When Subaru played dumb, replying with a deep sigh, Otto abandoned pursuing the matter further. Subaru shrugged at the sight; then he glared at the Liphas Highway's horizon. What Subaru yearned for was beyond that horizon, its silhouette not yet within sight, but "I'll catch up to you. This time, I'll save you." "You think we will make it in time?" "We'll make it!" It sounded like Otto asked not out of concern, but to gauge what Subaru's resolve was made of. Hence Subaru put on a smile, baring his teeth as he replied with a hearty voice. "Besides, I have to finally bring Rem some good news. A man has to live up to expectations." "That is the name of a woman you've fallen for?" "It's the name of the girl who's fallen for me!" Subaru said it not with ardor or a blush, but simply as a matter of fact. For a brief moment, Otto was taken aback by Subaru's reply, but that expression immediately crumbled. "Ahh, then we cannot fail to look good for her, can we?!" With a joyful shout, Otto snapped the reins, and that sharp sound made the land dragons increase their running speed. They ran, they ran, and the dragon carriage went, seemingly flying, down the highway Almost as if to reel in something precious over the horizon as it threatened to pull away. All Subaru Natsuki could do was pin his hopes on the future. 7 The dragon carriage's speed increased, and the sounds of the wind and terrible rocking echoed inside the wagon. "Wah !" "It's okay. Hang on tight. There's no need to be scared." As the children huddled in a clump to endure the shaking, Emilia sent a strong smile their way. Seeing her smile, the anxious children muttered, "Yeah" and nodded several times over. Such strong children, thought Emilia in admiration. Any child had worries in its chest, yet these desperately clenched their teeth, continuing to fight against fear with nary a whimper. It was enough to make Emilia think, I can't put on a shameful display in front of them. By rights, a dragon carriage was protected by a wind repel blessing. But currently, the blessing of their dragon carriage was not functioning. There were various conditions that might cause the effects of blessings to lapse, but for the wind repel blessing, it was very simple: either the land dragon's legs had come to a halt or it had gone outside the area affected by the blessing In this case it was the former. Once stopped, it took time for a dragon carriage's blessing to be restored. And currently time was what they lacked. *** As the wagon ferociously rocked, Emilia braced herself, strongly grasping them with her hands as she shut her eyes. She focused her ears beyond the dragon carriage's curtain-covered rear, listening to the fierce swordplay in the distance. About two hours had passed since they'd left the village, evacuating because of a criminal group said to be lurking in the environs of the village. Midway, they'd split from the group Rem was leading to the Sanctuary, and Emilia's group was set to make good time evacuating to the capital but the situation had rapidly changed a short time ago. "...Lady Emilia, may I have a few minutes of your time?" From beside the dragon carriage, then taking a short break, Emilia heard the voice of the aged swordsman guarding them speaking to her. The individual calling himself Wilhelm Trias was a retainer of Crusch's, and even Emilia could tell that he was a man of exceptional swordsmanship behind his gentle demeanor. The fighting spirit Emilia sensed from his hushed voice was all it took to make her brows buckle with concern. "Has something happened?" "It is of minor concern. Accordingly, I wish to take several men with me and eliminate that concern. I ask that you forgive my rudeness in leaving your side." "...It's all right. What's wrong?" "It is only driving off wild dogs, a trifling matter. We shall catch back up with you soon enough." When Wilhelm made that statement with a polite bow, Emilia sensed that something was off. Immediately after, she realized that he had been speaking out of consideration for the children all around her. Considering Wilhelm's duties, she could guess what he was trying not to say, and what these "wild dogs" amounted to. "Am I not needed?" *** She knew that the question she posed was an impolite way to repay Wilhelm's considerate words. Wilhelm narrowed his eyes when, even so, Emilia could not refrain from asking. I've gotten on his bad side, thought Emilia. However, unexpectedly, the old man's lips formed a smile. "Lady Emilia, please continue evacuating in the dragon carriage. Please take good care of the children." The emotion contained in the smile was neither disappointment nor disdain. He clearly longed for something dear to him. To Emilia, perplexed and unable to understand the meaning of what she saw, Wilhelm quietly turned his back. "With a lapsed blessing, I expect the dragon carriage shall rock rather fiercely. Make sure not to let go of the children." "Sir Wilhelm, I..." "Lord and retainer truly are alike your eyes are just like his." Wilhelm parted with that deeply felt murmur, breaking off from the dragon carriage column with other guards. Emilia did not know the true intent behind the murmur. But she had no time to pursue the matter. Immediately, at the instructions of a different knight, the dragon carriage convoy resumed its evacuation. And with the blessing no longer functional, the dragon carriage set out, its rocking robbing Emilia of the luxury of immersing herself in thought. And so, back inside the ferociously rocking carriage... The children huddled with Emilia in the canopied wagon of the dragon carriage. She tossed several blankets over the children, held their trembling hands, and continued to pay attention to the situation outside, ready to act immediately no matter what was coming. And explaining the situation outside to Emilia was "That old man and the others are clashing with someone behind us. A battle is breaking out." a voice, reverberating in Emilia's head as it relayed the tactical situation outside. Somehow, Puck sounded very laid back, floating unseen as he watched the situation unfold. "Do you know how many there are?" "Twice as many as we have, but...mm, it's completely all right. That old man is incredibly strong, so there's nothing for you and me to do, Lia. Wow, he cut another one down..." Emilia kept her fighting spirit and kept the tension off her face, nodding at her telepathic exchange with Puck. As a spirit, Puck had ways to know what was happening outside even without materializing. Emilia was using a minute amount of power to listen to his words and keep apprised of the situation. "It would be no laughing matter if I materialized for no reason and was out of energy when you really need me. Besides, if I come out now, I'll end up a toy for the children." "I think that'd be a good thing. Your cuteness would make them forget all their worries." "Hey, don't say such scary things, daughter of mine. Anyway, that's how it looks outside." Even as they exchanged lighthearted telepathic banter, Emilia was a bit grateful to hear Puck's report. But the corners of her lips rose stiffly as she painfully rued her own powerlessness. Puck had guaranteed Wilhelm's strength with the sword, but Emilia had power to fight with, too. Wilhelm had declined Emilia's aid out of consideration for her position. Even though she understood that, Emilia was still chagrined over merely being protected by others. She was unable to bring about the results demanded by her station. Her authority was a paper tiger; she was seen as a figurehead candidate from inside and outside the kingdom, and no one would claim her capabilities were up to the task, even as fiction. And in spite of that, she was shackled to her position, her authority placed in a yoke, the decision to wave her power around denied to her. Then what in the world was she there for? "...Subaru." When, in a small voice, her lips invoked the name of the black-haired youth, Emilia shook her head at her own weakness. She had no right to call that name, almost like she was pleading for aid. If, that moment, she was calling out his name, it was not for want of power. It was "Hey, everyone, don't worry! No matter what happens, your big sister will protect you!" It was for want of courage, so that Emilia might do what Subaru would in her place. When Emilia spoke those words to them, the huddled, curled-up children lifted their faces. Her words sent the children, shoulder to shoulder with tears in their eyes, looking at one another's faces, and their voices came all at once. "W-we're all right!" "Don't you worry about anything, Big Sis!" "W-we promised, so it's okay! We're not letting go, so...!" It was instantly obvious the children were putting on a brave front as they clung to Emilia's arms and legs. They wrapped around both arms, both legs, and even her hips and shoulders; Emilia's body went rigid from the heat from being touched by others. But it was by no means a disagreeable sensation. It was just that, at the same time, something felt off about their words. "Promised... Who did you make a promise with? To do what?" "He said not to let go of Big Sis." "He said you'd do reckless stuff if he's not with you, so...!" "He said he's worried if no one's watching out for you!" As each reply came in turn, Emilia was shocked by her own reaction. Emilia felt like it was extremely overprotective, and even that she was being looked down upon...but she felt strong consideration pouring out of the words. *** That way of speaking sounds like... Emilia felt a throb in her chest the instant she had the thought. Once she noticed it, she could ignore the throb in her chest no longer. Its assertion grew stronger at an ever-increasing pace, and Emilia's eyes wavered with bewilderment as it gently clawed against her heart. Led by that throbbing, Emilia opened her mouth to ask, "Who said...he's worried about me?" "Ah, no, that's...!" The question immediately made the color of Petra's face change. Her adorable cheeks reddened as she shouted, interjecting with a desperate voice, but she was not in time. "Subaru!" "Subaru said it!" "He was worried you'd feel lonely!" "Subaru said... Ah, right, we weren't supposed to say that..." The children scrambled to be the first to say his name, but the last speech resulted in a hand going to the mouth. Then they all realized they had misspoken. "Oops," Petra said quietly, clutching her head. But as Emilia blinked her eyes, she didn't even notice the looks on the children's faces. "Suba...ru...?" She'd had a feeling. Emilia could sense him from the words out of the children's lips. But it can't be, said her feelings of denial, and they had won out. After all, Emilia had hurt him, speaking terrible words and leaving him in the capital, far away. There, where Subaru's greatest desire was to reach out and offer Emilia his hand, she had turned her back on him. That had to have been a great betrayal. Why, when Emilia yearned for someone to save her, had Subaru's name come out? It couldn't be. It wasn't possible. Emilia