CHAPTER 1
SELF-CONSCIOUS FEELINGS
1
The first thing that flew into his eyes as they blinked open was an artificial sense of dazzling white. Beyond the light, a broad ceiling spread before him, with crystals attached to it providing flickering light that illuminated the room's interior.
Confirming in his head that he was waking up, Subaru's mind immediately grasped how good his wake-up felt.
"…The pillow feels different, huh. Smells better, too… Definitely higher class than usual."
Subaru savored the feel of the blanket and the other fine scents as he sat up in bed.
At a glance, he knew it was a room for the upper class. Subaru had slept in a king-size bed that could fit five people to spare; the room was about ninety square feet, oddly spacious with only a bed in it.
"The quality of the painting on the wall is so high it makes the room feel lonelier, huh. A guest room, then?"
Subaru, now completely awake, gently swung his legs over the side of the bed and checked his physical condition. He made sure he could rotate his legs and shoulders, finally pulling up his clothes and gingerly touching his belly.
"Abdominal wound…totally gone. No bruises, of course no scar, either… This world's medical tech is pretty awesome to not leave sewing marks. Assuming my big scene wasn't all just in my imagination, anyway."
He recalled the string of events leading up to his abdomen being deeply slashed.
Subaru, a completely ordinary Japanese schoolboy, was abruptly summoned to another world in a painfully cliché manner, coming face-toface with death, literally, on multiple occasions.
That he was still alive was thanks to a string of coincidences that one could only call miraculous.
"But how much time's passed since then… No way to tell the time, huh?"
He glanced all around the room, unable to find any sign of calendars, clocks, or anything similar. The gold-glowing crystal above the door stood out; the darkness outside the window told him it was night, which was news to him.
Subaru slumped his shoulders and took a deep breath. Then, he voiced the inescapable conclusion on his lips and finally resigned himself to face reality.
"Any way you slice it…this time I managed to avoid Return by Death, huh?"
2
"First time, it was a pathetic death; second time, it was a bold death; third time, I died like a dog; fourth time, I got involved in mortal combat and died from a stray blow—is what I would be saying if I hadn't overcome that development. Man, if I died then, I'd be on a one-way ticket to mob-ville."
Flopping back into the bed, Subaru counted the causes of his deaths on his fingers.
Looking back on it, armed robbery included, he'd been slashed to death every time. He didn't want to see a blade again anytime soon.
At any rate, he'd somehow managed to avoid Return by Death and had finally been able to move time forward. The fact that he was all right after sustaining a plainly lethal wound meant…
"Considering the situation, it was that girl's…Emilia's healing magic, huh?"
An image arose in the back of his mind of a beautiful lilac-eyed girl with silver hair—Emilia.
He thought it was safe to assume she'd healed his abdominal wound. Having had a wound healed by Emilia once before, it was a natural assumption for Subaru to make. Subaru reasoned that, as a result, the guest room he was resting in was part of a mansion owned by Emilia. Then again…
"It's entirely possible this mansion's connected to Reinhard's family… But, well."
Glancing toward the door, Subaru let out a dissatisfied sigh at the lack of information on his current situation.
"Normally, there'd be a pretty girl at your bedside when you open your eyes, saying, 'Are you awake?' And there weren't any pretty girls when I was summoned, either. For a summons, this one sure has some glaring inadequacies…"
This summons was definitely third-rate. He couldn't slice through armies, and he'd barely had any meaningful encounters.
"Besides, nothing's happening so far… So it's up to me to do recon and make myself comfortable."
Subaru practically leapt to his feet and put his hand on the door. The refreshingly cool air blew in through the open doorway and the floor transferred the cold directly to his bare feet.
When he left the room, the walls and floor of a corridor, all in warm colors, unfolded before him. The passageway continued on and on to both the left and right.
Frighteningly, he couldn't see either end of the corridor.
"It's so much like a palace that all I can say is whoa. It's insanely huge… Can't even tell if anyone's here."
Delicately walking down the corridor on bare feet, Subaru scowled at the silence. It was as if he couldn't hear any signs of life that should normally be there.
"It's too quiet, even for the night… Makes me not wanna raise my voice…"
Personality-wise, Subaru was geared toward asking, Is anybody here?! in a loud voice, but the present circumstances made that too dangerous.
After all, Subaru had not yet determined whether this was a safe place for him or not.
Subaru had accepted as a matter of course that the host was friendly, but
in the worst case, it was possible the assassin with a love of slitting bellies might have returned and abducted him.
All the same, he wouldn't be able to lift a finger if he assumed everything was doomed.
"Kenichi once said, life must be lived. That's what I think, too."
Incidentally, Kenichi was Subaru's father. It was very fitting that a person like him was his father.
Subaru's steps forward did not falter. But after walking awhile, Subaru twisted his neck a bit.
"I've walked this much, but I haven't hit a bend. Is that even possible?"
Unsurprisingly, he could not contain his misgivings. Subaru turned around, thinking about going back the other way.
Then he raised an eyebrow and remarked, "Huh…? That painting… I think it was right in front of me when I came out of the room…"
Subaru crossed his arms as he stood in front of the oil painting decorating the corridor.
The painting was of a forest scene at night. He felt like it was the same as the one he'd seen when he stepped out of the room.
Unless Subaru had moved at the literal pace of a snail, he jumped at the only possibility he could think of.
"Maybe the floor has some trick that makes it move around on its own or…could it be that the corridor loops around…?"
He'd probably turned in the opposite map direction after going a certain way. It was a field trap like you'd see in an RPG.
"If the corridor's looping, maybe it's got something to do with Return by Death."
Subaru, hoping someone out there agreed with him, grasped the doorknob of the closest room and opened it. When he did, a no-frills room that had nothing within greeted him. Of course, no one was in it, either.
"A looping corridor with any number of rooms… So if I don't find the right one, I can't get out?"
Though he hadn't yet truly accepted he'd been summoned to another world, here he was facing a new fantasy element right after waking.
"So if this goes according to cliché, it could take me hours to find the right one. I'll go hungry; my mind'll give out, then my body will, too. If that's the case…" The situation made Subaru want to hold his head.
Taking a deep breath, Subaru wiped the sweat off his brow and took the first decisive step forward.
He twisted the doorknob of the door facing the oil painting—in other words, the door that looked like the one Subaru had exited.
"I'll sleep in my room till someone comes. Maybe that first room was the goal anyway."
Speaking his characteristically flippant thoughts, Subaru entered the
room—
"…How do you look like such a deeply irritating person, I wonder?"
Within the book-filled archive that Subaru had no recollection of seeing earlier, a girl with curly hair glared right at him.
3
—It was a room that truly screamed book archive at you.
The breadth of the room was about twice that of the first one, chock-full of bookshelves that rose to the ceiling. Each shelf was lined with books; it hurt to even try to guesstimate.
"Man, here in a place full of books and I can't read a single one… What a bummer."
His breath caught when he looked all around the bookshelves, unable to find a single one with the title on its spine in Japanese.
It wasn't some sort of alphabet, either; rather, these were characters like those he saw in the royal capital—the characters in common use in that world.
Subaru let out a sigh as he looked over the characters he couldn't read no matter how hard he tried.
"Looking all over someone else's bookshelves, and sighing on top of that… Are you trying to offend, I wonder? Perhaps I should respond in kind?"
"Your pretty face'll go all to waste if you're that prickly. C'mon, smile, smile!"
"I am simply pretty by nature. I suppose my contemptuous sneer should
be enough for the likes of you."
Putting the tips of her fingers to her cheeks, the girl formed a cruel smile.
Betty was a sweet, lovely girl—a sight he'd seen several times in this world already.
She looked younger than Felt in the slums, no more than eleven or twelve years old. Her frilly hairstyle matched her ornate dress, both framing her lovely face.
Her pale, cream-colored hair was worn long, distinctive for its swirling rolls. If she'd only smile properly, there was no one's heart she'd fail to melt.
She held a large book in her hands as she sat on a wooden footstool, from which she looked up at Subaru.
"You know big words like contemptuous sneer, huh…and you're in a bad mood because I got it right in one go? My bad! I've been doing stuff like this since way back."
Subaru Natsuki had a knack for picking the right answer to difficult questions with many options, without hints, on the first try. In the past, Subaru had unwittingly ruined many a scheme like that. The corridor from before made one more on the list.
"All my hard work constructing the domain, all for naught, just like that… It is quite horrid."
"I suppose GMs would want me to trigger all their events instead of skipping to the end, so I get it. My bad, my bad."
Subaru made a light wave of his hand in apology while the girl glared at him with half-lidded eyes. Apparently, it was this girl's scheme that Subaru's thoughtless act had foiled.
"Well, let's make that water under the bridge. Could you tell me where this is?"
"Hmph. It is my archive, my sleeping quarters…my private chambers, perhaps?"
"Shouldn't that make me feel kind of sad for you? I mean, you don't have your own bedroom to sleep in? That's horrible. Or about you using a library as your private chambers…maybe I should just laugh?"
"Are those remarks intended with a touch of teasing, I wonder?!"
The annoyed girl replying with blunt sarcasm, who called herself Betty, puffed out her cheeks and advanced upon Subaru.
"I am finally reaching the limit of my patience. You should be put in your place a little, I suppose."
"Hey, whatever you're planning, let's not? I'm just an ordinary guy, no combat ability at all here?"
His eyes became smaller and damper as his body made tiny quivers in a showy pose. But the speed of the girl's soft footsteps increased.
"—Stay right there."
Suddenly, Subaru was assailed by a feeling like a chill up his spine.
The girl, already before his eyes, stretched out her hand all the way to Subaru. Subaru froze as the girl, her height not reaching near his upper chest, stared at him with pale blue eyes.
His skin broke out in goose bumps as a quiet, high-pitched ringing echoed inside his skull.
"Is there something you wish to say…?"
As the girl posed her question, he unfroze for a moment. Subaru searched for the best thing to say during the instant he had been permitted.
Subaru's gaze wandered as his lips quivered.
"I-it's not gonna hurt, is it?"
"Should I applaud your devotion to your flippant tongue, I wonder?"
Speaking with a tone of genuine admiration, the girl reached her hand to
Subaru's chest. Her palm pushed against his breast, her fingertips pressing softly against the surface. It felt ticklish. And—
"Bwah…!"
—the next moment, Subaru felt like his entire body was on fire.
Something was running wild inside him, making him feel like he was on fire from the tips of his fingers to the very ends of his hair. The eerie pain was as if a finger of flame were tracing his internal organs.
His vision darkened. When Subaru came to, he had fallen onto his knees, a large amount of tears flowing from him.
"It seems you did not faint. Perhaps you are as sturdy as I heard?"
"Wh-what did you do, drill loli…"
"I simply interfered with the mana inside your body. Does the circulation feel slightly off, I wonder?"
The girl calmly murmured as she knelt down and jabbed a finger into Subaru's body.
"Well, it would be good to confirm whether you had hostile intent or not. And, for your rudeness toward my hard work, your mana should be
confiscated before letting you go, I suppose."
Subaru, having reached his limit, was unable to remain upright from the jab, his head falling to the floor. Despite this, he was able to slowly use his neck, looking up as the girl glared down at him with a sadistic smile.
"You're not…human, are you? And I don't mean your personality…."
"You are quite slow to grasp that for someone who has met Puckie already."
The girl looked down with amusement as Subaru crawled. She looked younger than her choice of words hinted at, feeling like the sort of little girl who'd rip the wings off an insect in a cruel game.
"Correction… Your personality's…inhuman, too…"
"Surely a sublime being far beyond your ability to measure, human." It was an overly glacial statement coming from the lips of a little girl.
Subaru felt the inside of his chest smolder. But he had no strength left to describe the heat with words. Subaru's consciousness sank into darkness against his will.
—Geez, I just woke up and I'm getting knocked out again?!
"If you died here, your husk would be troublesome to remove. I shall speak to the others."
—Don't say husk, it makes me sound like an insect, you little brat—
Subaru returned to sleep once more, unable to move even his frivolous tongue.
4
"My, it seems he has awakened, Sister."
"Yes, Rem. He is awake."
When he next awoke, two girls spoke, their voices sharing the same timbre.
He was in the same soft, comfortable bed as before. The slight opening of the curtains let in the dazzling rays of the sun, burning sleepy Subaru's eyelids. He instinctively assumed it was morning.
"Ugh, I'm not so much nocturnal as I am a denizen of the night. Waking up in the morning makes my chest burn…"
Wide awake, Subaru sat up as he remembered that his day and night cycles were inverted while school was out. He looked around, rotated his shoulders, and shifted his hips toward the window as he looked in that direction.
"Dear Guest, it is now Seven Solartime."
"Dear Guest, it is about Seven Solartime."
Their friendly voices conveyed the time of day. Seven Solartime—he didn't know what that meant, but he guessed it meant something similar to seven AM.
"That being the case, if you don't count the wake-up earlier, I've slept for about a whole day, huh? Well, my record is two and a half days, so this is no big deal, really."
"Sister, did you hear? Quite a lazy thing to say."
"Yes, Rem, I heard. Quite a good-for-nothing thing to say."
"So who're these ladies who've been chewing me out in stereo here?!"
Subaru sat up quickly, taken by surprise at the girls, sandwiching the bed from both sides. The girls rushed a short distance to a corner of the room, joining hands and drawing their faces close as they looked at him.
Standing side by side, their faces were two peas in a pod; the girls were obviously twins.
Both stood about a hundred and fifty centimeters tall. Their big eyes, pink lips, and the soft, youthful loveliness of their faces made them outright adorable. Both wore their hair in short bobs, with their hair parted to fall across one eye—the right eye on one and the left eye on the other.
The way their hair was parted and the fact that one had pink hair and the other blue were the only visual clues to tell them apart.
The twins watched Subaru carefully. His mind quivered, as though it were all scratched up, as he suddenly realized.
"No way… There are maid outfits in this world, too?!"
They wore black apron dresses with white accents and white lace headpieces on their heads. These outfits were specially modified to expose their narrow shoulders, which, combined with the short skirts, flaunted their body lines in scandalous ways. Subaru didn't know a whole lot about maid outfits, but he was certain the level of skin exposure represented the designer's personal taste…though the twins who wore them were beautiful regardless.
"I thought maids were supposed to dress modestly…but I think I'm a fan!"
"This is terrible, Sister. Right now, in Dear Guest's head, you are the subject of obscene, degrading thoughts."
"This is dreadful, Rem. Right now, Dear Guest's head has become filled with completely disgusting thoughts about you."
"Don't take my mental capacity for granted, ladies. You're both going to star in my fantasies!"
Subaru crossed his forearms and made suggestive motions with his fingers. The gesture made the two maids' faces tremble; the girls wrapped around each other, releasing their hands and pointing at each other.
"Please forgive me, Dear Guest. Let me go and defile Sister instead."
"Please stop this, Dear Guest. Let me go and humiliate Rem instead."
"Where's the sisterly love here?! I mean, selling each other out and making me some archvillain?!"
The two maids pushed the role of scapegoat onto the other, looking at Subaru as if wondering which one he'd sink his evil fangs into first. That was when he suddenly noticed…
Knock, knock. The girl stood inside the open door, tapping it softly while looking at the three of them.
"…Couldn't you wake up with less drama?"
Today, she was letting her long silver hair hang naturally all the way to her hips. Her outfit was not the robe he'd seen at the capital but rather, an outfit that accentuated her light skin and slender physique with its design.
The skirt was unexpectedly short; Subaru, marveling at how it showed off her long legs, pumped a fist.
"I get it! Whoever chose this, I get what they were thinking!" The silver-haired girl—Emilia—gawked at Subaru's praise.
"…I'm not quite sure what you're referring to, but I'm veeery disappointed that I know it's something meaningless."
In one move, Emilia's sudden visit had greatly improved Subaru's mental state.
In a place full of unknowns—his incident with the first little girl he had met was especially poignant—seeing Emilia, a friendly face he'd known since just after his summoning to another world, made it all the more special in his mind.
"To think I was worried a bit when I heard Beatrice was rough on you when you were low on blood… I really shouldn't have bothered."
"I'm in a super good mood from waking up to your face, though. And I'm a little afraid to ask this, but…"
With Emilia giving him a suspicious look, Subaru put both his hands together and timidly looked at her with upturned eyes.
"You, ah…remember all about me, right?"
"That gesture, for some reason I don't like it. Also, that's an odd question. I don't think I'd forget someone who stands out as much as you do, Subaru."
With Emilia smiling charmingly at him and calling his name, Subaru slumped his shoulders in relief. Then, realizing that for once a girl was calling him by name, he was rather flushed.
"Please listen, Lady Emilia. This person was terribly humiliating. For Sister, that is."
"Hear this, Lady Emilia. This man has trapped and violated girls. Rem, that is."
The twins left Subaru behind, who was now red to the tips of his ears, as they rushed to Emilia's side to make their baseless charges. Emilia made a strained smile at their slander and glanced sideways at Subaru.
"I…don't know Subaru enough to say I know he wouldn't do that, but I trust that he probably did not. Don't tease him too much, okay?"
"Yes, Lady Emilia. Ram shall reflect on this."
"Yes, Lady Emilia. Rem will reflect on this."
Despite their statements, the twins didn't appear to mean it even a tiny bit. Emilia showed no signs of objecting to their attitude; perhaps she was simply used to it.
"Anyway, Subaru, are you doing all right? Nothing feels wrong anywhere?"
"Mm, oh, yeah, before I slept I felt like my whole body was on fire and I was going to die, but I don't feel one bit of that now. I actually feel like I slept a bit too much."
"If you're no worse than that, good. Can you handle a little stroll?"
"Stroll?"
Emilia was making a small smile as Subaru tilted his head.
"Yes, a stroll. I try to go into the garden once a day, and this seems like a good time for it, no?"
"Once a day…doing what? Watering the flower bed?"
"Not exactly. One of the conditions of my pact with the various spirits is that I make contact and speak with them every morning."
When Emilia said spirit, Subaru thought back to the cat spirit he'd seen with Emilia.
A stroll and a chat with the spirits. It was a nice idea that provided fodder for his curiosity—and his ulterior motives.
"Sounds like great rehab to me, Emilia-tan. How about I stroll around the garden and exercise while you're talking to the spirits?"
"Well, if you don't talk loudly or make a big fuss, sure… Eh? What did you say just now?"
"Okay, it's a deal. Let's go to the garden!"
"Hey, what did you say? What is tan? Where'd that come from?"
The pet name seemed to throw off Emilia. Subaru was hiding his blush at having her call his name so openly when he turned toward the faces of the two maids standing side by side. "Hey, maid sisters. Where are my old clothes? Feels like I got in a hospital gown while I was out. I figure the mansion here lent this to me, but…"
"Do you understand, Sister? Perhaps he means that drab gray rag?"
"I understand, Rem. He means that bloodstained mouse-colored piece of filth."
"Some guts there, calling it filthy and looking like a dirty rat. If it's in one piece, could you hand it over?"
Faced with Subaru's request, the twins turned to Emilia. Their looks said they wanted permission. When Emilia responded with a nod, the twins politely bowed and left the room.
"You don't need to hear this from me, but you mustn't strain yourself.
You were terribly injured."
"You closed the wound perfectly, though. Oh yeah…"
As if remembering something, Subaru straightened his posture and slowly bowed his head to Emilia.
"Thank you for healing my wounds, Emilia-tan. You saved me. I really am scared of dying. I'd like to do it only once."
"Normally once is all you get…? But, mm-hm, never mind that…"
After the spontaneous verbal jab, Emilia's purple eyes wavered as she looked at Subaru.
"I should be the one thanking you. You risked your life for mine when you barely knew me. Healing your wounds was the least I could do." Subaru's breath caught at her sincerely apologetic look.
He hated himself for being unable to give her the reply he wanted to.
—Emilia had said never mind that at her saving him. Yet it had been Emilia who'd saved him first.
But the only record of that was inside Subaru's memories.
Subaru smiled, holding in the gratitude he could never properly convey.
"—Well, since we saved each other, I think we're all square here."
"Square…?"
"It means that neither of us owes the other a thing, so let's get along, brotha!"
If he were talking to a resident of the Poor District, this would be the time for him to kindly clap them on the shoulder. But at that moment, it was all Subaru could do to cover up his embarrassment and blushing face as best he could. Emilia made a small smile at Subaru.
"Do I really need a younger brother this weird?"
"That's a pretty harsh comment?!"
He slumped his shoulders at the casual put-down.
Both laughed at the exchange as the door opened and the twin maids returned. Subaru straightened as he saw them carrying the top and bottom of his tracksuit, one part each.
"Guess it's time to restart the day."
His first day since surpassing Return by Death was truly beginning.
5
Subaru shook his head when the maids offered to dress him, changing clothes by his own power before heading to the manor's garden with Emilia.
Subaru let out a sigh of admiration as he looked over the broad garden.
"This is really big, too. The mansion's huge, but this is more a grassland than a garden."
He'd seen gardens of the manors of the well-off in manga and anime from time to time. They were the sorts of places where you held dinner parties. There, in the middle of the huge garden, Subaru began stretching exercises to begin his rehabilitation posthaste.
Emilia looked on curiously as she watched Subaru's movements.
"Those are odd moves. What are you doing?"
"Oh, don't you do warm-ups here? You do them before starting strenuous exercise."
"Hmm, I haven't really seen much of that. But I do understand it's dangerous to make sudden, hard movements."
"So people don't do stretching in this world? Oh well, it can't be helped —how about I teach you? Genuine warm-up exercises from my homeland, passed down through the generations!"
Emilia seemed to yield in the face of Subaru's confident proclamation. "R-right. Just a bit, then," she said, copying Subaru. Subaru stood beside Emilia and gave out instructions.
"Morning Warm-Up Part Twooo! Reach high with your hands and stretch that back~~!"
"Eh, what, no way?!"
"Just do what I do. I'll pound the essence of radio calisthenics into you yet!"
With Emilia lost, Subaru scolded her and followed the beat of a routine famous around the nation.
Emilia was still bewildered at first but proved a quick study. When both finished making their final deep breaths, Subaru spread both hands into the sky.
"And last, raise your hands. Victory!"
"V-victory!"
"Okay, there you go, Emilia-tan, you are now a Radio Calisthenics Novice!"
Having finished doing calisthenics with all her might, Emilia's face showed the new title had made a deep impression. But she made a face like she'd just remembered her original purpose.
"Right. Things really got off the beaten path, but if I forget this, they'll be upset."
Emilia, making a thin, pleasant smile as she spoke, brought out a green crystal from her pocket and showed it to Subaru.
"Ah, that's…"
"A crystal for spirits to inhabit. You know, like Puck."
"The kitty cat that slept through all the big stuff? Bet he doesn't know about my heroic scene, then?"
The crystal glowed as if to rebuke Subaru's taking him lightly. The indifferent voice came from the crystal at first.
"Oh, not at all, Subaru, Lia told me all about it after things got wrapped up."
Finally, light poured out of the crystal and condensed into an outline forming atop Emilia's palm.
"Heya. Morning, Subaru. Nice weather."
"It's been an up-and-down night and morning for me, though. First the looping corridor, then that menacing little girl. Now I'm past that and working up a sweat with Emilia-tan…" Emilia's lips tapered into a pout.
"People will get the wrong impression if you say that." Emilia then looked at Puck, sitting atop her palm.
"Good morning, Puck. Sorry for pushing you so hard yesterday."
"Good morning, Lia. I'm the one sorry for yesterday, though. I almost lost you. I can't thank Subaru enough, really."
Puck looked up at Subaru with his round black eyes as he stroked his pink nose with his paw.
"Well, I owe you something. I wonder if there's anything you want?
Something I can do, I mean."
Subaru's reply to Puck's grandiose statement was immediate.
"All right, let me touch that fur of yours to my heart's content."
Puck's and Emilia's eyes went wide. Apparently, the speed of the reply had surprised them as much as the content.
"Sh-shouldn't you take a little longer to decide? Puck might look small and unreliable, but his power level really is quite something."
"Hey, to me, being able to feel fur like from the finest fabrics is a really huge thing. I wouldn't take any amount of money over it. No, seriously."
As Subaru spoke, he indulged his right and stuck his finger toward Puck: first belly, then chin, and the ears to finish him off.
"Oh, these ears are addictive! I'm totally into your fluffiness here!"
"I know from reading the surface of your thoughts, but to hear you actually say it, wow."
Subaru liberally toyed around as Puck made pleasant noises from his throat.
Emilia let out a sigh of resignation as she watched Subaru and Puck play.
"Well, I'm going to talk to the lesser spirits, then… It's fine if you two play, but don't interfere, okay?"
"So, she dumped us."
"Yep, she dumped us."
As both slumped their shoulders, Emilia made a point of ignoring them as she softly went to a corner of the garden. She gave the ground a light brush before sitting down. Emilia closed her eyes as pale lights began to surround her.
—He'd seen that sight before.
"Lesser spirits, huh?"
"That's right. Most are classified as lesser or greater spirits…though a lot are outside of those categories."
"Not that it doesn't help…but I don't know how to classify them."
Subaru knew that the lights frolicking around Emilia were lesser spirits because Emilia had said as much during the loop in the royal capital.
As Emilia sat, she spoke softly to the minor spirits, smiling from time to time; the minor spirits seemed to brighten or fade accordingly.
"You said 'a pact with minor spirits,' but, like, what is that?" "A ceremonial pact with a spirit—forging a covenant." Subaru frowned at the term he hadn't heard before.
"Err, you see, a Spirit Master can't use spirit spells unless she makes a pact with spirits first. The details of the pacts differ according to the spirits.
Still with me?"
"So it's not like interest and collateral for a bank loan, then. Gotcha."
"My name's not Gotcha, but let's move on. So individual spirits want different things…but minor spirits like that just want pacts with simple conditions like contact with the caster."
"So it's like easy stuff for beginners. I take it that doesn't work for other spirits?"
"It helps that you're quick on the uptake. This won't get far if you keep going off on tangents, though?"
Oops, said Subaru with a blushy smile. For his part, Puck gave him a warm look as he toyed with his own whiskers.
"Right, it's a bit harder to satisfy a spirit with a mind of his own, like me. I'd like to give to the pact maker as good as I take…but my conditions with Lia are pretty strict."
"It's been on my mind since earlier, but Lia, that's a cute nickname."
"Your Emilia-tan's even cuter, though. I should call her that, too."
"—Don't. Seriously. I'm begging you."
With puffed-up cheeks, Emilia cut into their silly games.
As Emilia returned, the spirits around her winked out; apparently Spirit Talk Time had come to an end. Subaru stood up and brushed the grass off his rear.
"Quality time over? That felt easier than I expected."
"I was mindful of you two, so I asked them to keep it short. We have things we need to discuss today."
As Emilia spoke, she offered up her palm; Puck leapt from Subaru, landing upon it. Puck's round eyes turned toward Emilia with what seemed like a small, satisfied smile.
"It's all right. I got a good feel for him, and I can't find one shred of malice, hostility, or intent to do harm. Subaru's a good boy, though his personality is a bit weird."
"Now wait a…"
Aghast at Puck appraising him to Emilia on various levels, Subaru could only gape.
"Why did you… Even if it's true, isn't saying it in front of him hurtful?"
"Oh, ah, that's fine! I'm a complete stranger to you, so of course you'd check me out. You're right to doubt. But that part at the end really hurt,
Emilia-tan!"
Emilia quickly covered her mouth with a hand and made a pained smile at Subaru.
Subaru hadn't touched Puck all over without a reason. He'd expected this to come up. Emilia and the others weren't so careless as to accept Subaru without knowing a single firm thing about him. No doubt that partially explained Ram's and Rem's demeanor.
"That said, I don't have any good way to explain."
There was obviously no preexisting record of Subaru in this world. Explaining that he'd been summoned was a tough sell, with good odds he'd be treated as a lunatic.
That being the case, letting Puck get a good read on him was the best option. Words from Puck, trusted by Emilia and able to read conscious thoughts, were a lot more convincing than anything Subaru could come up with.
"It's all right, Lia. Oh, and I know what you were up to, Subaru.
Naughty boy, using my mind reading like that."
"I'm honored. Let's get along famously, my friend!"
How Subaru addressed them put a look of shock on Puck's face; he then broke into a wide smile.
"It's been a while since I got this kind of treatment. I like it."
"I'd rather hear those words from Emilia-tan. Oh well, as they say, to take down a general, first take down his horse… Well, you're kind of a cat so does that still make sense? …I wonder?"
A surprised look came over Emilia as she watched Subaru put a finger to his chin and sink into serious thought.
When Subaru curiously raised his eyebrows, Emilia inhaled a bit.
"—Really, Subaru, you are so strange."
"Huh?"
"Giving leading looks to a…half-elf like me who speaks to spirits like it's a normal thing…it surprised me, even as a joke."
In his heart, Subaru countered, Would you be as surprised if you knew it wasn't a joke? But he forgot all about that as he fell for Emilia's charming smile.
This smile was on par with the one she'd given him when they'd exchanged names at the royal capital. It seemed fleeting and fickle, which only made his heart flutter all the more.
Her beautiful, flowing silver hair was as surreal as dew in the moonlight; her skin was as pale as the first snow. Her violet eyes seemed to hold Subaru's mind firmly in their spell and wouldn't let go.
He knew she was sublime, beautiful, with a heart of gold wrapped around an unshakable core.
Subaru wanted nothing more than to put his hands on his cheeks and give thanks to Mother Nature, but he abstained.
"Huh, wonder what's with those two?"
And, as Emilia mentioned something she'd noticed, Subaru looked toward the manor.
The twin maids were walking down from the mansion. Both gave formal bows before Subaru and Emilia, speaking in perfect stereo, not off by the slightest bit.
"—Master Roswaal, lord of the manor, has returned. Please come this way."
Their perfect combo surprised Subaru, but the maids' change of demeanor surprised him more.
Their earlier frivolousness was nowhere to be found, replaced by a sense of dignity befitting servants of the upper crust.
"I see. Roswaal… We'd best go see him, then."
"Yes, and he said to bring our Dear Guest as well, should he be awake."
Puck wriggled into Emilia's silver hair. Emilia's face stiffened a bit as she patted down her hair. Watching her from the side, Subaru cracked his neck slightly at being addressed.
"So, who is this Roswaal guy, anyway?"
"Lord of this manor… Ah, that's right, I didn't explain." Emilia put her palm to her mouth as she realized her own slip.
"Err, right. Roswaal is… You'll understand when you meet him."
"You gave up on that explanation too fast! What, he's too plain to describe?!"
Emilia, Puck, Ram, and Rem all replied in unison…
"—No, the opposite."
Subaru's jaw dropped open in a face of surprise multiplied by four. The blue-haired girl gently closed his mouth from below with her hand before giving a solemn bow.
The pink-haired maid standing beside her motioned to the mansion.
"One cannot describe the likes of Master Roswaal with words alone. You shall understand when you meet him, Dear Guest. It is all right; he is a kind lord."
The twins met each other's gazes and nodded, with the repeated affirmation serving only to deepen his doubts.
With Subaru bewildered, Emilia looked like she grudgingly agreed with the twins as she gently reached out to him. Giving Subaru's shoulder a couple of pats, Emilia murmured in a grave voice.
"—You'll probably get along just fine, Subaru. He'll wear you out, though."
CHAPTER 2
THE PROMISED MORN GROWS DISTANT
1
In the dining hall the twins led them to, where breakfast was to be held, the girl with curly hair said in place of a greeting, "Watching from above, I felt…dismay at seeing your considerably disappointing head, I wonder?"
Emilia had split off midway to return to her room to change clothes, so at that moment, only Subaru and the curly-haired girl were in the dining hall. Subaru made a sour face at her sarcasm.
"What's with talking like that on a fine morning like this, loli?"
"What is that term, I wonder? I have never heard it, yet it feels distinctly…unpleasant."
"It means you're not on my list. I never go for girls younger than me."
"…Perhaps I should pity you for having insulted me so?"
Deliberately ignoring the sarcastic girl's words, Subaru looked over the dining hall.
A table covered in a white cloth was at the center; the plates had already been set. If one was set for Subaru, it was surely the lowest seat at the table.
"I don't know anything about table manners. How about I let you give me pointers?"
"Is that arrogance, I wonder? If you do not understand, simply say so and lower your head."
"If I could do that much, I might as well just sit in the big chair and really irritate you."
The girl shook with anger, her face going red as Subaru waved with a palm and sat in the big chair. It'd probably be Emilia or the lord of the manor who'd sit there, with fifty-fifty odds for each.
Seeing Subaru genuinely unable to get comfortable in the chair, the curly-haired girl shook her exasperated face.
"Well, fine. More importantly, have you no words with which to thank me?"
"Thanks? I asked for help just now and you brushed me off, didn't you? And what kind of person asks to be thanked? I'd wanna see the look on your dad's face for that one!"
"What are you angry for, I wonder?! I should be the angry one! After all
I did…!"
They kept egging each other on.
The girl, her voice flustered at Subaru's reply, never quite finished her sentence. Mindful of the unnatural pause, Subaru prompted her to continue, but…
The door to the dining hall opened and the twin maids came in pushing a cart.
"Pardon us, Dear Guest. I shall set the meal."
"Pardon us, Dear Guest. I shall set the tableware and the tea."
The blue-haired girl laid out an orthodox breakfast menu consisting of salad, bread, and the like, while the pink-haired girl briskly poured and placed cups of tea. The warm scents made Subaru's stomach grumble out of nowhere.
"Whoa, not bad at all. Now this is a breakfast fit for nobility… I was worried it was going to be some weird out-of-this-world thing."
Subaru, worried that any strange thing could potentially be served here, was considerably relieved.
When he looked all around, he couldn't place anything in particular that seemed to pose physical or mental danger.
His enthusiasm rising, Subaru leaned back against the chair, making it creak. The sound echoed throughout the dining room, bringing a hint of annoyance to the girl's soothing face.
For some reason, Subaru couldn't resist needling the curly-haired girl. Wanting to see her soothing face break down further, Subaru, full of mischief, decided to move his butt all around the chair.
However, before he could do so, a new individual entered the dining hall, his happy-sounding voice interrupting everything else.
"Ohhh my. You certainly seem raaather spry. That is good, veeery good."
He was a tall man, at least half a head above Subaru's height, wearing his dark blue hair long to nearly cover his entire back. But his body seemed not so much slender as delicate, with his skin color ghastly pale.
Combined with the look of his face, he somehow seemed like some sort of pretty boy. The effect was further accentuated by his left and right eyes being different colors, the first yellow, the other blue.
—Well, it might have if he wasn't decked out in that weird outfit and makeup that made him look like a clown.
"…Man, you hired a jester to entertain us before breakfast? I'll never get how rich folks think."
Beatrice watched and commented.
"I have some idea what you must be thinking, but I shall not get in the way."
"Don't be that way, Betty. We're friends, right? Let's do some more small talk."
"What kind of relationship do you and I have, I wonder? Also, do not speak my name so casually."
The girl snubbed him with a shrug and withdrew from the conversation.
Subaru scowled at her behavior as the clown walking into the dining hall opened his eyes wide, looking at both her and Subaru.
"Oh my, it is raaare to see Beatrice here. Is it not fortuitous thaaat you decided to share a meal with me after so looong?"
"If that man over there is the only optimist, wouldn't that already be too many, I wonder? I wait for Puckie and Puckie alone."
Brushing off his chummy statement, the girl—Beatrice—shifted to behind the clown. The silver-haired girl, having finished changing her attire, entered the dining hall a bit after the clown.
"Puckie!"
Practically leaping from her seat, Beatrice ran over, her long skirt swaying. Seeing a smile like a flower in bloom come over her was so adorable that it made him forget how he'd pegged the girl as "cheeky." Her gaze was trained on Emilia, but it was not Emilia who replied.
"Heya, Betty. It's been four days. Have you been happy and ladylike?"
Beatrice nodded at the words of the buoyant little gray kitty popping out
of Emilia's hair.
"I have been eagerly awaiting your return, Puckie. You would enjoy spending the day together, I wonder?"
"Yeah, that'd be great! Both of us can take it easy for one day."
"That is wonderful!"
Puck leapt off Emilia's shoulder to land upon Beatrice's outstretched palms. As she caught Puck, Beatrice lovingly embraced him and ran around in circles then and there.
Subaru was struck senseless by the happy, carefree scene as Emilia walked over with a teasing smile.
"Tee-hee, aren't they merry? Puck and Beatrice are very close, you see."
"Nobody uses merry anymore…"
When Subaru gave Emilia his stock reply for when she used outdated words, Emilia went, "Mm?" and pointed Subaru's way.
"Er, Subaru, that chair…"
"Oh, right! Uh, it's not what you think. I mean, a cold chair really throws you off, so I figured I'd warm it up a little. It wasn't that I just wanted to sit where you usually sit, like an indirect sit-down, really."
"Sorry, I'm not really sure what you mean, but that's Roswaal's seat."
With Subaru's big scheme foiled, he slid off the chair in front of the wide-eyed Emilia.
"Oh, there's no need for concern. I see, your warmth may not reach Lady Emilia, but I shall treasure it greatly."
The clown reached out and patted Subaru's shoulder, smiling at him in consolation. The touch to his shoulder and the gently smiling, made-up face drew a sour frown from Subaru.
"This clown's acting real chummy. It's not polite to touch the dancing girls, you know?"
"Since when did you become a da… Er, no, Subaru, this man is…"
"My, my, myyy, I do nooot mind, Lady Emilia. Considering how he went from being at death's door to being in such high spirits, shooould we not be quiiite grateful?"
The clown's tone of voice excelled at getting on one's nerves, yet his statement was extremely sensible. The others continued to watch the clown as he slowly sat down in the chair—the very chair at the head of the table that Subaru had been seated in just before.
"Hey, now. Not that I should say this, but sitting in someone else's chair is gonna tick people off."
Emilia made an exasperated face at Subaru's statement as she murmured, "No need to worry about th… You, ah, really should introduce yourself to Subaru."
It seemed Emilia's exasperation was also directed toward the clown.
"What do you mean?"
"In ooother words, she meeeans…this."
The clown seated in the chair replied to Subaru's query as he spread his arms out wide.
"'Tiiis I, lord of this manor, Roswaal L. Mathers. It is goooood that you feel so safe and comfortable under my roof, Subaru Natsuki."
And so, the deviant noble dressed as a clown introduced himself in a lively manner thoroughly devoid of shame.
2
Beginning with Roswaal in the seat of honor, they sat in prearranged seats and began breakfast.
"Mm…this is better than usual…"
Subaru was admiring the food before his eyes reminiscent of salad and soup. Roswaal nodded back, seeming to take personal pride in Subaru's appraisal of the cooking as he looked at Rem.
"Mm-hmm, iiindeed, indeed. She may not look it, but Rem's cooking is quite something."
When Subaru looked at Rem, too, she made a fox sign with a hand. Subaru didn't know what it meant, but it might've been this world's version of making a V with your fingers.
Subaru made a frog with both hands in reply.
"So the blue-ha… Is calling you Rem fine? So you cooked this?"
"Yes, Dear Guest. Rem handles the meals in this household. Sister is not especially good at it."
"Oh-ho, so it's like, you twins have different specialties. So, your sister's really good at cleaning?"
"Yes, Sister specializes in cleaning inside and doing the laundry."
"So since you're good at all the cooking, you're not so good at cleaning and laundry, Remrin?"
"No, I excel at all domestic chores, including cleaning and laundry, more than Sister."
"What's she here for, then?!"
An older twin sister worse at everything under the sun than her little sister? This was a new one.
The older sister seemed to pay no heed to Rem's statement. Subaru couldn't prove it, but he guessed the words were true. So why wasn't Ram bothered by it at all…?
"So maybe it's different fields, huh? Ramchi does combat stuff and the other does more domestic stuff?"
"Not a baaad guess. Though Ram and Rem make a poor first impression because of their idiosyncrasies, yes?"
"Hard for that to stand out now when their master's so unique, Rozchi."
By Rozchi, Subaru was addressing the man in charge by a pet name, but Roswaal let the statement pass with practiced ease. Subaru had an ingrained tendency to get a rise out of people, but not so here. That said, the items on the menu vanished from the plates one after another before they knew it.
"It'd be something of a dilemma if the food wasn't good, but it's delicious, so no prob. Right, Emilia-tan?"
Emilia wiped her lips with a napkin, grimacing at Subaru's carefree words. Subaru tilted his head, wondering what was up, as Emilia exhaled slightly.
"You know, Subaru, you shouldn't speak at the dinner table. It's rude to Ram and Rem, who prepared this all by themselves. Without proper manners, you'll make blunders during important occasions, so…"
"No one uses blunder anymore… Table manners, huh. Kind of late to learn them now, though, right?"
Subaru delivered his cliché while motioning toward the dining hall with his hand. In spite of the spacious hall, Subaru was sitting right beside Emilia.
By rights, the two would be seated quite far apart to make full use of the dining table.
"But I moved closer because I wanted to eat with Emilia-tan. Roswaal didn't say he minded, so what's the big deal? I mean, you can give me any veggies you don't like."
"All right, you can have my green bepper— Wait, that's not the point. I'm being an idiot."
Subaru laughed, finding it cute how Emilia tapered her lips in a pout at being outdone in their verbal jousting.
After that, Subaru belatedly brought up an issue Emilia's words had raised.
"Incidentally, Rozchi, I thought I heard Emilia-tan say this household has only two maids working here?"
"Ahh, yeees, such is currently the caaase. Ram and Rem are the only ones left."
"Two people handling a place this huge? You'd think people would die from overwork no matter how good they are. That said…it doesn't feel like you're going to be hiring any new maids here?"
Roswaal was silent to Subaru's question, crossing his arms at the table. Roswaal's face displayed a smile, but the eyes with which he regarded Subaru had subtly changed.
"You truly are a mystery, having come to the house of Mathers at the far reaches of the Kingdom of Lugunica, yet you do not know the circumstances? Amazing that you made it past royal customs."
"Well, I am kind of an undocumented immigrant in a sense…"
Subaru's casual reply startled Emilia; she gave him a glare like she was scolding a young child.
"I can't believe it. If you say things like that so easily, bad people will make mincemeat out of you."
"Nobody uses mincemeat anymore."
"Don't joke about this. Hey, Subaru, is that really true? Is everyone where you come from like this, or is it really just you who doesn't know?"
Subaru, feeling bad at how Emilia was genuinely worried, reflected upon his own behavior.
"Err, more like my education's especially lacking. So if it's no bother, I really would be grateful if you filled me in."
"You seem an educated enough child to me from the big words you're using, but…"
"I mean, this here's my debut with high society. I mean, there're things you don't know either, Emilia-tan? Honorifics like that and extra-polite words seem to throw you off?"
"Err…you do have a point."
Emilia seemed to shrink at Subaru's observation. Seeing Emilia like that surprised him, but it was not the wilting Emilia who followed up but Roswaal, previously silent in the seat of honor.
"I do understand what you are saying, but Lady Emilia is cuuurrently studying such things, you seeee."
"Studying, huh. Wait, you mean we lost her when we were talking earlier?"
"You truly do have an active mind. It is because you think so much that you can make such thoughtless-sounding statements."
Subaru slouched from Roswaal's apparent praise before giving his own chest a thump.
"Thinking while you live is just common sense. It's the duty of every man to think on his feet for when the chips are down. That or your guts get spilled all over the floor."
"I feel like your guts kind of did spill on the… Ahem. Back to the other subject… Subaru, do you know this country's…the Kingdom of Lugunica's situation at the moment?"
"Not the smallest, tiniest bit."
"Hearing you say it like that, I'm shocked you've lived this long."
That doesn't sound like praise to me, Subaru thought while looking fondly at Emilia. He wasn't trying to arouse her protective instincts, but she was certainly giving him that mother-hen feeling.
"By 'situation'…you mean the country's in a bad spot?" Roswaal carefully chose his words.
"A fairly difficult situation, yes, for Lugunica currently lacks a king."
Subaru's breath caught as it sank in. He gave the man in performer makeup a guarded look as he sat straighter in his chair.
"There is no need for suuuch concern. The gravity of the situation is alreeeady well known to the public, you see."
"Well, that's good. I was thinking I'd learned a dangerous secret and would never get out alive."
"It's sad you're hearing it first from us… Anyway, the nation's highly unstable right now," Emilia said.
I see, thought Subaru as that sank in. A kingdom without a king was in a very precarious situation. The sudden death of a king, from natural causes or otherwise, could shake a country to its core.
"But isn't that usually dealt with by having a child of the king inherit and take over?"
"Usually, that iiis the case. Howeeever, that went awry due to an incident half a year ago when a great plague struck inside the palace walls."
As Roswaal told it, they announced that the epidemic only affected those of a particular bloodline. And so, the king and his descendants dwelling in the castle perished.
"Can't blame them for getting sick and dying. But what's gonna happen to this country, then? If there's no royal bloodline, what, start a democracy and elect a prime minister?"
"I do not cooomprehend the latter part of your statement, but presently, a Council of Elders manages the affairs of the country, formed from great families decorating the kingdom's history. The country will continue to operate. However…"
After pausing a moment, Roswaal grew tenser.
"…a kingdom must have a king."
"I suppose so."
Even if just for show, you couldn't have an organization without someone at its head, let alone a kingdom.
"I see," reflected Subaru. "I've got the gist of it. In other words, the country has no king and is in a jumble while it's trying to pick a new one. Your relations with foreign countries are deteriorating and you're in international isolation. So a mysterious foreigner like me appearing is… super suspicious?!"
"Fuuurthermore, by making contact with Lady Emilia, you have become associated with the House of Mathers, you see… Though the evidence is
circumstantial, that is all some would need to…"
Roswaal lowered his eyes and traced a line across his throat with his thumb. Though Roswaal looked like he was joking, Subaru suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.
He had a bad feeling about something. He'd picked up on it earlier, but it loomed larger and larger with each passing moment.
"Why is…the lord of the manor calling Emilia-tan lady?"
The golden rule of any household was that everyone paid respect to the person of the highest rank.
When Roswaal laughed, Subaru felt like the bud of anxiety in his chest had begun to bloom.
"Is it not naaatural to address someone of higher rank than I with proper reeespect?"
Subaru froze with his mouth open. He looked at Emilia so robotically that you could hear the gears turn in his neck. The girl, a grimace on her face, sighed with resignation.
"I don't want you to think I was pulling the wool over your eyes, all right?"
"—Err, in other words, Emilia-tan, you're…?"
Subaru stubbornly stuck to the nickname as she seemed to drive in the final nail.
"Currently, my title is royal candidate, one of those seeking to become the forty-second ruler of the Kingdom of Lugunica…with the backing of
Roswaal's House, that is."
Her words made Subaru feel like he'd insulted Heaven itself.