What was right, what was wrong? Subaru knew where he had gone wrong. Therefore, what he craved was an answer as to how he might be right.
As for what he wanted to do by confirming what rested beneath that black plume of smoke, that was already—
"—Huhhh? What are the two of you doing in a place like this, Mister…?"
" "
With his face lowered in an attempt to hold back the stuff welling up behind his eyes as he ran, Subaru was slow to notice. When he looked toward the voice straight ahead, he saw that a petite figure was standing midway on the road that continued toward the village.
It was a young girl, hands crossed behind her back as she calmly walked along the path.
Her dark blue hair was tied in a triple braid, and the girl of the same age as Petra wore a black outfit over her entire body. Her eyes and nose seemed quite refined, and her yellow-green eyes gave her a mysterious air.
Someday, she would grow into a demon—that was the impression, the foreboding that Subaru felt when he saw the girl.
Of course, there was also the creeping realization that no innocent little girl would be standing there. However, that bad feeling was sparking an altogether different sensation—
"Oh, Elsa, so sloppy of you to let someone escape. Let me guess, she was all overconfident and careless again, like usual?"
"You're… Wait, you're that…"
"—? Ahhh, maybe you don't recognize me. I had my hair dyed a different color before."
Bewildered, Subaru came to a halt and all the exhaustion he had been ignoring came rushing back all at once. However, Subaru forced it down with long breaths, focusing his mind on the little girl before him.
The girl toyed with her triple braid, performing a pirouette that made her black mantle flutter as she said, "That day, it was a lot of fun when we played together. Let's play some more today, shall we?"
"Th-the Beast Master…!!"
"Meili Portroute. There's no need to call me an uncharming name like that."
The girl—the Beast Master—introduced herself as Meili, drawing her lips in as she visibly pouted. It was precisely because the gesture was so childish and innocent that it was all the more frightening to behold.
Behind the girl's adorable gesture loomed the plume of black smoke, proof that a tragedy had occurred. There was no mistaking that the little girl before his eyes was the very cause of that tragedy.
"You're…a monster just like Elsa!! What did you do to the village…to
Rem and the others?!"
"Errm, I don't know which one was this Rem person, but I'm very passionate about my work, so I always make sure to complete the task I've been assigned. Namely the big maid and the little maid from the mansion— it's too bad the little maid turned out to be Petra, though…"
"Too bad? What do you mean, too bad? Too bad, too bad… Wh-what have you done…?"
"It's all right; she was a friend of mine you know. So I made sure it was settled with one bite so she wouldn't feel the pain…"
Putting her hands together, Meili nodded, smiling as she spoke as if this was her idea of mercy.
"—Ah."
Learning from this report that the girl he had exchanged the promise of a date with had already met her end drained the strength from his knees.
Before he realized it, Subaru had crumpled to the ground, sinking down to his knees in bewilderment.
" "
Deep down, he had already known.
The moment he looked out the window after eluding Elsa, Subaru realized his own mistake.
Beatrice had even pointed out he was avoiding reality, but even so, Subaru had stubbornly made his way toward the village, if only to scrounge one extra second before he was forced to gaze directly at cruel reality.
He'd pretended to see a glimmer of hope, but that was only his miserable self-defense instincts at work.
"…What a buffoon you are. If you were going to give up in the end, should you have resisted to begin with, I wonder?"
" "
"You said such grandiose things to Betty, yet this is the result. Would I not truly like to show you your miserable face in the mirror, I wonder?"
The abusive words came from right beside him as he rested on his knees. Before he realized it, his arms had been brushed aside, and the little girl who he had been carrying in his arms stood upon the ground. Her face showed nothing less than utter disappointment.
Everything she said was true. He'd arrogantly flapped his lips to say this and that, yet in the end, he hadn't saved anyone—
"—I have changed my mind. Betty's life is wasted on the likes of you, I suppose."
"Eh…?"
There was a sound of footsteps. The figure standing beside him turned to look forward. Beatrice advanced a step, putting the kneeling Subaru at her back as she and Meili wound up glaring straight at each other.
That demeanor elicited an "oh my?" from Meili, her voice trickling out in surprise.
"You wanna fight? From what I heard, you shouldn't be fighting this…"
"Perhaps that would be convenient for others, but it is a terrible misunderstanding. Betty is the guardian of the archive of forbidden books… and does not forgive those who would disturb the archive. That's all there is to it, I suppose."
"…Hmmm."
With a hard voice, Beatrice invoked once more the position she had already tried to abandon. For her part, Meili gave an unenthused reply. However, somewhere in her narrowed eyes was a glint of annoyance.
"I really hate it when a plan goes sideways, you see. Thanks to Miss Big Maid bringing the others along, I'm well behind schedule as it is, and I don't want to fall behind any further—"
"How terrible for you. Incidentally, regardless of how much time you save, the likes of you cannot…"
"—That's why I'm going to stick with the division of labor and leave you to my partner…"
Tilting her little head, a cruel flicker remained in Meili's eyes as she stated those words to Beatrice. There was a sound of a blowing wind as Beatrice slightly raised her eyebrows, wondering what those words might mean.
The sound of the wind—no, that was not wind. It was death approaching, heralding a slaughter.
"Beatri—"
When he noticed, Subaru tried to raise his voice to convey that as soon as he possibly could.
But it was too late. A figure in black seemed to glide as it thrust down the street in a straight line, slipping above Subaru's head as he knelt still, seemingly dancing toward Beatrice's turned back as she said, "I came all the way here to visit you—isn't it rude to run away?"
There was not even a moment of difference between when she announced her bloodlust and when she lashed out with her black blade. —Subaru thought for certain that her blade would impale the little girl's chest as if sucked into it, with nothing she could do to stop it.
" !!"
Shaking off incomprehension, the pursuing butcher launched her surprise attack, landing a direct hit with her merciless blade only to be greeted by the echo of a tinny ring. The sound in no way resembled that of metal severing flesh and bone.
"—If you believed Dark magic cannot be used as a means of attack, you were far too naive."
The arm swinging the blade bounced back, throwing Elsa heavily off balance as Beatrice stated those words. It was clear that this statement was no exaggeration when shots of lights surged toward Elsa one after another. Elsa evaded with backward leaps, avoiding them with acrobatic evasive maneuvers.
"How surprising. To think that you could do such a thing. How delightful."
"Minya—mana arrows of stagnant time. You should have a good taste of them, I suppose."
As both Elsa's eyes glimmered with fury, Beatrice taunted her as she continued gathering magical energy.
Crystal arrows radiated purple as they hovered and rotated above the little girl's head. They quickly became too many to count, and the missiles seemed to lock on to Elsa as if they had minds of their own.
"Outside the archive of forbidden books, this is the utmost I can muster… and yet, it is sufficient to hunt down the likes of you!"
The big guns had come out. A moment later, Beatrice launched the purple arrows in a single volley. With no need for a bow, the arrows of magical energy shot through the wind, bearing down upon the butcher, who had lowered her body in the manner of a spider.
"Certainly, it was a surprise seeing this the first time, but now that I have seen it once—"
Elsa intercepted the countless arrows bearing down upon her with swings of her black blade, filling the air with wildly dancing sounds of crystals shattering. The fragile arrows fleetingly shimmered as they scattered apart, unable to reach Elsa—
"Was I not clear, I wonder? That you should not take me lightly and that this is enough with which to hunt you."
"—This is an error on my part, it would seem."
Licking her lips, Elsa's cheeks reddened in arousal as she replied.
The right arm she used to grip her bladed weapon shattered at the wrist, and the severed remains fell onto the ground. The damage continued to spread in a wave across her shoulder and leg, engulfing her entire right half, leaving Elsa's body cracking as if it was made of delicate glass.
Dark magic: Minya, arrows of stagnant time—having demonstrated their true worth, victory and defeat had been completely decided.
Beatrice showed no futile compassion, such as asking to hear her final words. She thrust an arm toward Elsa, clenching her open hand.
That was all it took for countless arrows in the sky to converge upon Elsa, impaling the entirety of her body.
Repeated destructive impacts caused a cloud of dust to rise from the street. When the dust settled, what remained was a remorseless and cruel yet somehow overwhelmingly beautiful work of lethal art.
Crystal arrows were thrust through her entire body, half of it shattered like inorganic matter. Such was Elsa's death.
"Aaaah. Oh, Elsa, how truly, truly stupid of you."
With the menace dispatched, Subaru gawked, unable to process what was happening. In Subaru's place, it was Meili who reacted, having observed the same battle.
Taking the death of her comrade in stride, Meili showed no sign of pain or loss, wearing only an exasperated look on her face after seeing the result of the battle. Exactly as she had stated, there was no emotion upon it save disappointment toward Elsa.
It was twisted. It was strange. This was a place filled with death. To show such contempt for it—
"Now then, with your companion like this, is it your turn next, I wonder? Even the opponent is a child, Betty shall show no mercy."
"Oh, don't say that… You and I don't look much different at all. We could have been such wonderful friends…"
"A bald-faced lie. Is such a convenient thing even possible with the likes of you, I wonder?"
Though Meili was blatantly taunting her, Beatrice's emotions remained undisturbed as she replied. Above her head, the purple arrows that had so thoroughly pierced Elsa took aim at Meili.
Considering what had befallen her partner, Meili had to have noticed that she was in imminent and extreme peril. How was it that she could remain so calm despite that fact?
She was not afraid of death. She thought nothing of death. Perhaps this was the reason why Meili and Elsa could toy with the lives of others as they had.
" "
Beatrice's eyes narrowed, seemingly seeing right through Meili's demeanor. From the tiny wavering of the purple arrows' tips, Subaru knew that they were ready to be loosed.
If launched, Meili would die, just like Elsa. She was their enemy. It was the right thing to do, and yet— "She's a…child."
"—An enemy is an enemy, child or no. There is nothing to be gained from allowing her to live."
"That's… But…what about making her say who…asked her to do this or something…?"
"You mean today's job? Well, you see, that'd make my client angry, so nope. I won't say a word."
At the last minute, Subaru voiced an idealistic argument in an attempt to counter Beatrice's sound logic. And it was not even Beatrice but Meili who sliced it down as a foolish notion.
Of course she did. Even Subaru himself had no idea what he wanted to do. Perhaps he simply didn't want to witness the death of a child. Or perhaps
—
"Killing a kid, that's just…"
"—! You, saying such things again—"
With a broken voice, he offered his feeble thoughts of revulsion. His murmur made Beatrice twist her lips and look back. Then she turned a tiny palm toward Subaru, stretching it out toward him when—
"—Eh?"
—a light impact pressed into Subaru's shoulder, sending him falling onto his side. With that unexpected act leaving him unable to remain kneeling, Subaru's eyes opened wide with incomprehension as he gazed up at Beatrice, the one who had pushed him.
Her anger toward the stupid exchange from a moment earlier ran stale, and then, somehow, her expression shifted.
Beatrice's eyebrows fell as she let out a breath of instantaneous relief, forming a thin smile in the process.
—The tip of a black blade was poking out of her chest.
"—My, what an odd feeling in the hand. A spirit's belly really is different."
The blade penetrating from behind and peeking out of her chest slowly slid downward, as if to widen the wound. Beatrice's body gave a heavy shudder. Subaru, dumbfounded, could only watch.
"…With this."
Haltingly, abruptly, something was woven by Beatrice's lips.
That instant, Beatrice's expression and eyes spoke the feelings coming and going through her heart.
"Finally…"
"Wait…!"
He didn't know what he was trying to say to her. He didn't know what she was trying to say to him.
And these were things that Subaru and Beatrice would likely never know for all of eternity.
Weakly, Beatrice's body leaned forward and crumpled to the ground. The force of the movement drew out the blade. There was no bleeding from the wound. In its place, light gushed out, as if dislodged from the little girl's flesh. Subaru could tell from her extremities turning into particles that her very existence was melting into the world around them.
"W-wait…"
He didn't know to whom he made that earnest plea. All he could do was beg as he stretched a hand toward the light.
Please don't take her away. Please don't take this girl away. Don't carry her away.
The light scattered. He desperately tried to gather it back together. And yet, the motes passed through his hands, vanishing in the blink of an eye. In the span of a single second, Beatrice had become insubstantial.
He couldn't reach her. He couldn't save her. How did this happen? Who could do this to her—?
"—Elsaaaaa!!"
"You don't need to shout. I can hear you just fine."
As he ferociously howled, the side of his face was slammed hard by the tip of the kukri knife.
The hard impact jostling his brain, Subaru rolled violently across the ground. His eyes rolled, his thoughts raced fruitlessly, and his heart could not catch up to the speed of the world spinning around him.
"You took your sweet time. I was getting worried. She was about to kill me, you know…"
"Such a cheeky girl, even after I saved you. As for taking my sweet time, I'm offended at how easily you can say such a thing."
As he lay faceup, a pair of figures leaped into his field of vision against the backdrop of the sky. The spectacle horrified him. Standing right beside Meili, flippantly running her mouth, was none other than Elsa Gramhilde.
The woman who had been blanketed by purple arrows all over, with half her body shattered, was calmly standing right there. There were no visible wounds on her body, but the side effects of the damage had wrecked her clothing, leaving her exposed and half-naked.
There had been a battle. Without doubt, fatal wounds had been inflicted upon her. And yet—
"Don't tell me, you're…you're not gonna say you're immortal or something…?"
"No? That would be incorrect. I merely live a tad filthier than most. A boon granted by a malicious soul. Though I am fresh from being broken to
such an extent, I can count the occasions on one hand."
Implication oozed out of that crazed memory as a lustrous, wicked smile came over Elsa. After that, she shifted her eyes to Meili, standing at her side, and said, "One spirit and two maids… Meili, you're finished with everything in the village?"
"Yeah, but my shadow lion lost to the big maid and the black land dragon…"
All three targets had been at the mansion—it was Subaru's thoughtless decision that had made the villagers into victims. Put more bluntly, Subaru had killed them; just as he'd killed Rem, Petra, Frederica—and Beatrice.
—This was as far as I go this time, huh?
"What unsightly eyes you have."
"Ga…gyaaa—?!"
The instant his mind recognized impending death before him, a scalding sensation shot through his left eye.
Just before the heat burned him, the last thing he saw in the left of his field of vision was a dull black glint—from that, he gathered that the kukri knife in Elsa's hand had gouged out his eyeball. His brain wailed at the terrible sensation of having lost a part of his body, and Subaru reeled from the pain and the bleeding.
His right eye could see his optic nerve getting pulled out like a string. His right eye had witnessed the death of the left. His face had an impossible cavity, a blank space, a meaningless hole in it. His left eye had been lost forever.
"Oh my, Elsa, you're so cruel… What a poor thing."
"One must struggle to live until the very last moment. Otherwise, what meaning is there to life?"
Elsa replied to Meili with a cold voice. Among the short and few occasions he had come into contact with Elsa, this was the first time she had looked upon him with an emotion that could be called…scorn.
"The spirit was the poor thing. To think she sacrificed herself for the sake of a child like this."
But ironically, it was none other than Subaru Natsuki who agreed most with Elsa's words.
Beatrice was an idiot. Why had she done such a thing? She was the one who'd said she wanted to die, wanted someone to kill her. —Why?
" "
Wanting to know the answer to that, Subaru held back the blood coursing from his left eye socket as he moved his remaining right eyeball, looking in Beatrice's direction. Beatrice was lying on the ground, light gushing as she faded away. There was no longer anything left of her little body from the waist down.
—Her vanishing arm was turned in Subaru's direction, hand open.
"No way. Bea—"
The change in Subaru's eyes told Elsa and Meili that something was wrong. However, it was already too late, even for them. At the cost of her life, Beatrice the Great Spirit, Librarian of the archive of forbidden books, cast her final spell—
The blue crystal, still in Subaru's pocket, glowed.
—A teleportation occurred.
7
When he came to, the first thing he did was confirm he was not dead.
" "
The existence of a cavity where his left eye had been told him he continued to live. It was one hell of an easy way to tell. Even Elsa had her moments. The loss of one eye was a remarkably easy-to-understand indicator of a human being who was missing something.
Subaru treated the wound left by his lost eye by wrapping the sleeve of his ripped jacket over his head.
It was pretty crude as first aid went. He'd stopped the bleeding, but there would be no subsequent care whatsoever from a trained nurse or anyone else. That was for the best. If he wasn't dead that very moment, he didn't care about whatever happened after.
—Subaru had already decided. He would pay for the crime he had committed in that world with death.
He'd already lost too much. That world was already wrecked, far too painful to continue living in. Just like before—no, more so than before, Subaru had committed a sin that made him lose so many things.
If at the cost of his own life, he could get those things back, he would not even hesitate.
This was a world that had to end.
He had to undo Rem's death, Petra's death, Frederica's death, Beatrice's death—all of it.
His regrets at Rem dying in a place he could not even reach, the promise he exchanged with Petra, the words he had vowed to Frederica, his reply to Beatrice's laments—he would carry them into the next world.
If there, he could find an answer, everything else could probably be written off.
"It won't… I won't let it… I'll remember…"
He murmured his self-awareness. He repeated his self-admonishment. He could not escape the fact that Subaru Natsuki—was a criminal.
His powerlessness had caused many deaths. His worthlessness had caused many laments. His recklessness had caused many torments. His inconsiderateness had trampled many a world underfoot. He was an apostle of atrocity.
" "
In that room filled with a vile stench, Subaru wobbled as he rose to his feet, placing a hand against the wall. With his left eye gone, the vision of his right hand alone lacked a sense of depth, making grasping things an ordeal. He had no intention to deal with such inconvenience for long, but he would not permit himself an easy death, like a quick slice to the neck.
Only after he returned with something that rivaled his sin could he begin to be forgiven for the death he carried with him.
"This is…"
Looking around, he saw a white floor and white walls in his narrowed field of vision. The unnatural white space, the foul stench hovering in the air —these he remembered, allowing him to form a guess before he could know it for certain.
—This was the Sanctuary. It was Ryuzu Meyer's experimental facility, hidden deep within those Lost Woods.
"Ha."
His breath trickled out. He couldn't really call the broken breaths that trickled out either dry or wet.
He'd been teleported to the same spot again. His connection with the place ran far too deep. As if it was testing him. Testing, experiment—the experimental facility was laughing at him.
—Was this the power of the stone? Or was it the final flicker of Beatrice's life?
He didn't know. There were far too many things he didn't know. He couldn't leave things like that.
Regrets, regrets were limitless. He could not allow those regrets to shackle his legs, to pin him in place.
"Right now…"
He sank his sense of loss, his sense of despair, down to the lowest depths of his psyche, as his legs slowly stepped forward.
He'd go back with the knowledge of what happened to the Sanctuary when Subaru was absent. If he could at least do that much—
" "
Was that a vow or was it a wish? Subaru did not understand even that much as he headed outside the facility. He left the room, went through the passage, breathing white breaths, trusting his weight to the wall, dragging his feet.
After some time passed, he finally arrived at the entrance that led outside, and then Subaru saw.
A silvery world dyed wholly white—the landscape of the Sanctuary enveloped by snow.
CHAPTER 4
THE TASTE OF DEATH
1
From the cold air pricking his skin, he had been fairly certain.
Even so, seeing that sight with his very own eye sent an unfathomable blow running through Subaru's heart.
That was how much Subaru's lukewarm assumptions were exceeded by the Sanctuary's extreme cold.
"This isn't funny… It's still the second day…"
Grasping his own shoulders and exhaling white breath due to the cold, Subaru clenched his teeth. Without matching up his teeth, he put strength into his jaw, ignored the throbbing of his left eye, and earnestly forced his freezing right eye open.
The wind felt cold enough to slice into his body, and the powdery snow was slamming against him rather than merely falling and piling up. Both intensely robbed him of body heat, a white nightmare that killed off your vitality second by second.
—Snow was falling on the Sanctuary. Subaru knew this landscape.
"But why is it…as soon as this?"
Subaru had seen this powdery landscape before. During the go-around before last, Garfiel was on the verge of killing him when the power of the crystal teleported Subaru to that experimental facility. When he exited the facility, the world was already dyed white. —But at that time, the snow had already fallen.
That was why Subaru had not seen the snow itself as of such great importance, but—
"So the snow fell this hard…"
He ought to have guessed. In the span of a few hours, a half day at longest, the Sanctuary had been completely blanketed in snow. The tremendous snowfall in such a short time should have made its force easy to imagine.
In the present, just like back then, the cold was extreme enough that Subaru's flesh seemed ready to freeze over.
"Any way…the settlement is this way…"
Shaking off the snow accumulating on his body, Subaru trained his mind toward the settlement, seeking to grasp the situation.
—The throbbing of his left eye made him think of the various tragedies that had occurred just before. Don't forget, don't forget, it said to him.
For that moment alone, he would put it on the back burner. He'd definitely have time to think about it later. For the moment, he focused on what was before him. If Subaru did not do so, his feet would stop moving. That was a certainty.
"If you're getting this, answer me, please…"
Wiping the flickering figures from the back of his mind, Subaru felt something hard in his pocket—and drew out the crystal. Grasping this, he focused his thoughts. If Subaru was still qualified, surely she would come.
That eye, watching the Sanctuary, would respond to the desire of the Apostle of Greed—
"—Ah."
Enveloped by wind, he did not hear any sound. But slowly, a figure appeared.
Walking barefoot over the accumulated snow, Ryuzu—or rather, a replica thereof—finally came. As one of the individuals assigned near the lab site, it might well have been Piko.
"I should've made some way to tell you apart from the rest…"
Perhaps at the time he'd been too stunned to wrap his mind around such a thing. Or perhaps the fact that he'd noticed it only then, when so hardpressed, indicated weakness and aversion from reality—that was impermissible.
"Piko, I think it's you anyway… I have a request. Guide me to the settlement. I don't have time for getting lost."
" "
Having been asked to guide the way, the replica—Piko—neither nodded nor replied but simply turned her back to Subaru. Heedless of the snow covering the path, she proceeded to break into a nimble run, and Subaru chased after her with all haste.
The authority that he had unwittingly obtained was still valid, but using the rights the Witch had arbitrarily granted in accordance with her expectations put him in a vexing mood. Of course, he was enormously grateful, but—
"Just how much of this did you see coming, Echidna…?"
She'd planted a Witch countermeasure into Petra's handkerchief, and Subaru had received from her the means to make Piko cooperate with him that very moment. He didn't understand her true intent. He did not doubt that she was cooperating with him, but still…
There was too much he did not understand. If it was possible, he wanted an answer to that nonsensical circumstance that very moment. The mystery of the Sanctuary, Beatrice's lament—surely, Echidna had the answers to those things and everything else—
"Shit. Right now… I'll deal with her later. This is just…!"
The tremendous snowfall smothering the Sanctuary, that world of extreme cold that seemed ready to freeze his body solid, dyed life and everything else in white.
Subaru had seen that spectacle before. He had lost his life to it, as well.
If this was like back then, if anything and everything about it was the same, then—
"—What the heck happened to you, Emilia?"
—Having apparently made it snow like this, what was she really thinking?
2
It took Subaru's legs over an hour before he arrived at the settlement.
With the white world already throwing his sense of distance terribly awry, Subaru's having freshly lost one eye made the trek a terrible ordeal. Snow robbed him of body temperature, his thinking ability had decreased and become leaden, and his legs felt as slow as a turtle's crawl.
"Even so…"
Pulling his shoes out of the snow burying him up to the ankles, Subaru murmured with numb, quivering lips.
Ahead of him, on the other side of blowing snow, he could vaguely make out a simplified stonework building. He had somehow managed to make it back to the settlement where the residents of the Sanctuary dwelled.
But what tugged at him was—there was no sign of people in the settlement whatsoever.
"There's no lights on in the houses… Isn't anyone inside…?"
So far as he could survey, there was no light from crystal lamps or candles to be seen. That said, amid this cold, not lighting a fire was nigh suicidal behavior. Surely, as signs of life went, the existence of fire was an absolute.
Instantly, the silence made Subaru's intestines clench. What floated into his mind was that this was indeed the Sanctuary enveloped by snow—and from there, a terrible white monster would emerge.
Had the Sanctuary already been defiled by the attack of the Great Rabbit
—
"—Hey, you're back, ain't ya? Dunno what stupid face ya brought back with ya, though."
The voice leaping into his eardrums made Subaru reflexively turn around. At the end of his gaze was a figure rudely trampling through the snow— Garfiel walked casually, batting the tremendous snowfall aside. He came to a standstill at a distance of several yards right in front of Subaru, grimacing with apparent dismay.
"Ah? Seriously, the hell's with that face? Ya dropped your left eye somewhere or somethin'?"
"A lot happened after I left… It isn't like you to be so thoughtful, coming out of your way to welcome me back."
"Ha! This ain't sympathy. Besides, seems ya noticed the power that's in the crystal, too."
From the sight of Piko standing at his side, he'd apparently guessed that Subaru had gained command rights. The combativeness enshrouding Garfiel rose a notch higher, and the enmity stabbing into him made the pain of his left eye ooze all the greater.
But behind that strengthened pain, Subaru's heart did not fear Garfiel's combativeness.
It was not that the cold distracting him from the pain or some such thing— rather, the issue was the nature of Garfiel's enmity.
"…Setting aside the being thoughtful part, it's still true this isn't like you. I don't think the you that I know would just stand here casually talking with me at a time like this."
"Now you're creepin' me out. I ain't got time for your nonsense. If you're seein' this snow, shouldn't need no explanation why I can't have a chitchat with ya over tea, damn it."
"Meaning, you have something to talk to me about that isn't chat over tea."
" "
With Garfiel pressed into silence, complex emotions arose in the back of his jade eyes.
He was angry. His anger was strong. But at the same time, he was afraid. When he thought about it that time around, his and Garfiel's relationship had worsened in a way different from when he'd resorted to killing.
Garfiel's bewilderment over Subaru's actions, ones that calculated death into them, remained.
But that bewilderment had created just enough space for the two of them to hold a conversation then and there.
"The fact that you're still rational and not attacking out of the blue… means that the other people are safe, I take it?"
"I dunno how far ya define other people, but our old men 'n' women and the bunch from your village are all in the Cathedral. The noisy guy came up with the idea."
"Otto did? He's the one who proposed that?"
"In a situation like this, there ain't no enemies or allies, he said. No reason to bite each other blindly. And to think he's just some guy wrapped up in all this."
As Garfiel clacked his fangs, Subaru nodded toward him. Amid this snowfall—no, this situation in the Sanctuary—he was internally grateful that Otto had come up with a typical good decision. Thanks to him managing to speak to Garfiel, the villagers' safety had been assured. The remaining issue —was something he had to confirm for himself.
"—The snow. Did Emilia do this?"
—To Subaru, the question had a ring much like a bald-faced lie.
He knew the answer to the question. He did not ask it despite that because he optimistically expected to find a ray of hope. Probably he was just… frightened.
Frightened of his own conclusion: that Emilia had created this spectacle herself. Subaru's question, posed with a voice that somehow seemed raspy, made Garfiel spit out a "ha!"
"Dunno that, either. —The Princess has been holed up in the tomb since last night, see?"
"—. Huh? Holed up in the tomb…?"
"Guess ya don't realize that you're the damn cause. Your disappearin' like that hit the Princess's heart pretty darn hard. It threw her way off, and then she went into the tomb…and she ain't come out since."
"That's crazy! I mean, I left a proper letter and everyth…"
"Letter…?"
What letter? was the reply's subtext, one that made Subaru draw in his breath.
He'd certainly slid a letter under the Ryuzu residence door. Subaru had properly written and left behind a letter saying he was leaving the Sanctuary. If Emilia had read it, she shouldn't have been shocked to the point of making her fall into distress. Even without that letter, there was no reason for her to hide herself from others—
"…Seems like a scheme's at work that ain't from you or me."
"Eh?"
"Leave that for later. Follow me. Izolte's decision put history back on course an' all. Annoys me to heck, but you're the only one I can use. —We're headin' to the tomb."
Motioning with his chin, Garfiel indicated for him to come along as he walked out. The great difference in power of their legs meant his kicked the snow aside, never stopping for anything. Subaru somehow caught up to him with a small run.
"The tomb, meaning…you're gonna let me meet Emilia?!"
"Ain't you an optimistic bastard. I ain't letting ya meet her. I'm getting ya to get your Princess to stop this snow from fallin'. You're goin' inside.
That's your damned job, not mine."
"…! Yeah, that's fine with me. If you're not gonna butt into me talking with Emilia, then…"
It was a brusque request, but Subaru had no objection, accepting it with grace.
Neither Subaru nor Garfiel had lost their enmity for each other. But just like when they confronted the Witch, this momentary request put them on the same page—and so they walked together for the moment.
"—Garfiel, how much did you hear from Ryuzu?"
Abruptly, as he squinted at the snow, Subaru posed that question to the back walking in front of him. The words did not make Garfiel look back. "Ha?" he snarled sourly as he said, "…I see. Ya forced the old hag to talk
about the crystal's power against her will, did ya?"
"People would get the wrong idea hearing that, but most of that chat was voluntary… Well, since the person concerned said there was compulsory power, suppose there's reason to doubt how much was really voluntary, but…"
"Ha, I wonder. Me, I didn't hear nothin' from the old hag. Just you came back with one of the 'Eyes' with ya. Hearin' that was enough to send me comin' out to see it."
"Eyes… I see, so stuff's conveyed from Piko to Ryuzu, then."
The tongue click mixed with an explanation made Subaru nod in acknowledgment. Glancing backward and at an angle, he saw Piko following, saying nothing in particular. The sight irritated Garfiel.
"I dunno about this Piko business, but don't you go stickin' names on 'em.
They're dolls without minds of their own. Ain't no point feelin' sorry for
'em."
"…Like hell I can, especially when they look just like Ryuzu."
"That's exactly why. We've got an old hag. We don't need any more.
Those are fakes."
The wording and tone of voice behind the coarse conclusion ascribed great meaning to it. Though the statement seemed harsh, to Subaru, it sounded almost like Garfiel was insisting on that to himself.
"—We're here. Fair bit o' snow piled up even here at the entrance, too."
As Garfiel came to a halt, Subaru peered past his shoulder at the silhouette of the large building obstructed by a blanket of billowing snow— confirming the presence of the tomb. His breath caught just a little.
"Emilia's inside. Knowing that, you didn't just rush in there yourself?"
"Me, I… The residents o' the Sanctuary can't go in. That's the rule. And me, I'm a resident here."
"I heard from Ryuzu that they can't lift the barrier, but wasn't going in and out separate? Given the circumstances, you could've… Guu?!"
"Hey, stop with the long, whinin' preamble, you bastard."
Subaru was saying that Garfiel could have trampled on that rule and gone inside himself.
Garfiel interrupted Subaru's words by grabbing him by the collar, slightly lifting his body off the ground, and drawing his now-clawed hand close to Subaru's face while showing off his fangs.
"Me, I protect this place. What's your role? It's to protect the Princess. Galganchua second-guesses a comeback not. Or should I gouge out your right eye, too?"
Showering Subaru in ferocious combativeness, Garfiel made his gripping hand relent. Subaru lightly coughed as he glared at Garfiel. But all Garfiel did was nod with his chin.
"Go."
No ifs or buts about it. Having come this far, that was the only word Garfiel had to offer.
Turning his back, Subaru trod on snow without a single footprint upon it, heading for the entrance of the tomb buried in white.
The only two seeing him off, watching Subaru's back, were Garfiel and Piko, standing side by side.
—One was emotionless. The other had an indecipherable emotion welling up in the deepest depths of his anger.
3
The cold, serene sensation of the air was unrelated to the extreme cold outside, almost as if time had stopped.
Amid the gloom, the sound of Subaru's shoes echoed as he advanced down the corridor, asking his heart but one thing.
—That moment, was he sane or had some mental disturbance befallen him?
Already, several tragedies that could not be undone had befallen that world.
He had lost Rem, Petra, and Frederica, and he had seen Beatrice die. Returning to find the Sanctuary in this state, his striving to maintain calm could only strike him as absurd.
A man aware of that absurdity could not fail to be disturbed. There was no way he was sane.
Even so, he could not allow himself to stop thinking. He smacked away all thoughts of surrender. He had to crave a future ahead of him, above him.
For that, he'd pay whatever it took, including paying with his life.
If not for that, then why was Subaru still—?
"—Subaru?"
The voice he heard from the gloom freed Subaru from what felt like a long time trapped in a cage of thought. Straight ahead, the corridor came to an end, and he could see the stonework room that gave off a faint blue glow. There stood a single figure.
Her silver hair glimmered in the faint light. Her purple eyes seemed to pull you in. Subaru did not think of those characteristics as a murmur trickled out of him.
"—Emilia."
"Yes. That's right, Subaru… It's me. It's me, Emilia."
The four brief syllables became a name, and the fact that there was a reply crashed through Subaru like a bolt of lightning.
His knees wavered and crumpled. Perhaps others would think this grandiose. However, he could endure no more.
Fatigue, loss, despair, relief—countless sensations stuffed Subaru's limbs with lead. Subaru had glossed over these things through willpower, but when his ears heard that voice like a silver bell, he reached his limit.
With those taut strings cut, he tumbled forward. As he tumbled, arms instantly reached out to support him.
He felt something soft and warm. The warmth of the touch from right before his eyes made Subaru's body go rigid.
—That moment, he was being gently embraced by Emilia.
"Ah, er, sor… My body just let go…"
" "
"Emilia?"
Instead of responding to his apologetic excuse, Emilia pressed harder with her arms to make them embrace Subaru even stronger. It was by no means great strength. But somehow, he felt like she was almost clinging to him.
It immediately became clear that this was not a misunderstanding on Subaru's part.
"—I was lonely."
"…Eh?"
Subaru was struck numb. Her beautiful face was gazing intently at him from up close, close enough to share their breath. Adding further to Subaru's surprise, Emilia hauntingly lowered the ends of her eyebrows as she said, "I was lonely, Subaru. —I mean, you left me and went off somewhere."
"Th…at's… Y-you're wrong. I didn't mean to just leave you like that…"
Subaru spoke awkwardly when the fact that he'd left the Sanctuary was pointed out to him. He tried to excuse it as something that should never have happened like that, if only the letter had reached her. Yes, the letter.
"The letter…that's right. I wrote a letter. I wrote everything on it, that's why. I really meant to tell you about everything, but…"
"Tee-hee."
As he groped for where the precaution he'd left ought to have led, he gaped.
In the middle of their conversation in that tension-filled situation, Emilia made an adorable laugh. She laughed.
It was as if everything was normal, as if Subaru's tongue had spun another joke during the days when nothing was happening at the mansion. —As if she had forgotten her sense of duty in regards to the Trial.
"Even without working that hard to make an excuse, I won't get upset. Oh, Subaru, you don't need to be so pale. You really are just careless."
"E…milia…?"
"It's fine. It's all right, no excuses needed. I mean, you came back, Subaru. I always believed you would. I said, Subaru will come for me. If I work hard and properly fulfill my own duty, he'll come and save me…
That's always, always how it's been. Right?"
As she sweetly spoke the words, Emilia drew near to Subaru's chest.
She had an adorable, bewitching smile, and her sweet murmurs were simply enchanting. Subaru gazed at the heat rising from her lustrous breaths and the moisture in her eyes; that witchiness was wrapping around his heart.
Then, bathed in so much passion that it made his throat feel parched, Subaru's instincts cried out.
Wrong. Something was wrong. The ill feeling he'd had from the start of their reunion had never been revised.
Something was wrong. Something, somewhere, felt off, even though Emilia was that adorable.
Even though Emilia was that adorable as she responded to Subaru…
"C-come to think of it… I heard that you've been here since yesterday…"
With that ill feeling still lodged in his throat, Subaru changed the topic with the worst possible performance ability, even by his standards. At that rate, he'd drown in her sweet voice. Straw or no, he needed to grab onto something before he was fully submerged.
"You being here means you were in the Trial, right? But right now you're…"
As he spoke the words, Subaru put his finger on one of the tips of that ill feeling.
This was the tomb, and the room for the Trial at that. The Trial definitely began as soon as Emilia arrived there. Invited to the Trial of her past, her mind would not escape until the very end.
And yet, Emilia was there awake, meaning that her Trial had ended in—
"…Emilia?"
In the middle of his question, Subaru stiffened from an unexpected sensation. It was the sensation of fingers being inserted into his black hair, gently stroking his head.
Emilia was stroking Subaru's head. Her cheeks were red as she grinned.
"Oh, Subaru, you stroke my hair once in a while, don't you? So I should return the favor."
" "
"To tell you the truth, I was really scared. I was scared Subaru didn't love me to the bottom of his heart, that he'd come to hate me. So I was scared, came here, but it didn't work out after all… That's why I'm truly, truly happy that you came, Subaru."
It wasn't an answer to his question. But Emilia was staring at Subaru with sincerity. There was nothing reflected in those eyes save Subaru; there was only Subaru and Subaru alone.
That was why—
"Stay with me forever? As long as you're with me, I don't need anything else—"
—In his wildest dreams, he'd never imagined how frightening the eyes of an Emilia blind with love could be.
"At first, I was really scared, you see. It was really hard. I mean, I wasn't able to do anything right at all, and I thought, Subaru's going to get fed up with me like this."
"But I thought right after, this is no good. I can't just be soft, shake in fear and let someone else take care of everything… This was really stupid of me, too, huh? I mean, I finally realized that you've always been taking care of everything, Subaru."
"I remembered your words, Subaru. They've come up over and over till now. You've been telling me them ever since the first time we met. You've been giving me courage, urging me onward, supporting me… I remember, that you've said you love me…"
"I finally realized that you've always come through for me in really big ways. But in spite of that, you not being here made me worried; I felt like it would crush me…"
"That's why when I saw Subaru coming to me now, I felt my chest squeezing… It got hot, too hot to endure, I thought; this might be a dream, but no, it's not… I'm sorry, I don't even know what I want to say anymore. Er, erm… I want to say this properly, so…"
"I'm sorry for everything up to now, Subaru. I, did a horrible thing to you. It has to be really something to have someone always thinking of you like this… I'm so self-serving. Even though I thought I want to understand Subaru more, I don't understand you at all."
"But it's different now. I've been thinking about you all this time, Subaru. I've been feeling all these things. Now I want to say all the things to you that you've been saying to me… Mmm, I'm so sorry. This is really unfair of me. I —I need to properly say these things."
"I need to properly…mm, properly convey them."
"Hey, Subaru. I love you. I really love you. When I think about you, when I think only of you, I want to be with you forever. That's what I think."
"I'd be happy if…you think about me the same way, Subaru…"
"Eh-heh-heh. Yeah, yeah… I love you. Subaru…I really love you."
4
"—What, the hell do ya think you're thinkin', aaah?"
When Subaru stood at the entrance of the tomb, he was greeted by Garfiel's voice, brimming with rage.
The menace of the snow had not abated. The strength of the wind blowing it had increased, mercilessly piling up the snow that progressively blotted out the Sanctuary's original landscape. As a resident, it was natural for him to harbor anger at the spectacle. And it was unreasonable for him to not harbor anger toward Subaru as well.
—For having left the girl, presumably the cause of that snow inside, Subaru had come out alone.
"Alone, alone…alone?! What about the Princess…the half-demon?! What about the damned snow?!"
"Emilia ain't comin' out. She's sleeping inside right now."
"Sleeping ya say? This ain't time for slackin' off like…"
"She's exhausted. Since last night, she's been repeating the Trial over and over. Her body and mind are… Her mind in particular is worn down. Right now, I want to just let her rest."
Stubbornly believing it to be the best way to break the situation open, Emilia had challenged the Trial a number of times. Unable to surpass it even so, it wasn't hard for him to imagine her mental state as the number of those challenges piled up.
After all, Subaru had felt the same sense of powerlessness as many times as he had tasted death.
—Inside the stone room, with Subaru's jacket over her, Emilia was peacefully asleep.
His memories of her whispers of blindly devoted love and the heat of her body's clingy embrace were still fresh. These filled him with enough feelings of love to make the blood plasma in Subaru's body boil and enough regret to make him want to die.
The memory of the redness of Emilia's cheeks, the quivering of her lips, and her whispers of love to Subaru came back over and over.
No one could understand how Subaru had agonized over the prospect of falling into that softness, drowning in it, and sinking down with Emilia together.
There was no reason for anyone to blame him. This was a world that was already done for. It was a platform of bubbles set to disappear. Just who could blame Subaru for choosing comfort and pulling the curtain down over them?
"So ya left the half-demon, and the snow ain't endin'. Ya come back empty-handed with your head down, and what, ya think I'm just gonna accept
that, huh? Hey, hey, just who do ya think ya are, huh?"
Still angry, Garfiel clacked his fangs, storming his way up to the tomb. With Subaru standing right before him at the entrance, the pupils of his jade eyes spoke of danger as they narrowed.
"So what kind of excuse did ya bring to tell me, aaah?"
"—Emilia. She said that she loves me."
" "
As Garfiel emphasized and asserted his anger, Subaru's rebuttal was way out in left field. It was so unexpected that Garfiel could only gape wide-eyed at him.
However, he immediately bared his fangs, the notion that he was being mocked igniting his anger.
"Looks like it ain't just the half-demon; ya just love gettin' on my nerves, too, don't ya! Got a lot of guts talkin' about stupid, shitty sweet nothin's of love in a situation like this, don't ya, aaah?!"
Filled with heat from his swelling anger, Garfiel was making the snow touching him evaporate. His fangs made a creaking sound as they elongated, and his body, on the verge of transfiguration, swelled to twice its size.
Though his eye caught that harbinger of transfiguration, Subaru's expression did not waver.
All he did was stare at the angry Garfiel with his right eye alone as he continued to speak.
"Emilia said she loves me. She said to me if I was there with her, it was enough."
"Why you…"
"She said with a cute face, a sweet voice, right by my side… Enough, it was enchanting."
"I'm sayin', what of it?! One glance was all it took to tell the half-demon had a thing for ya! The hell does it matter now! Ya want me to crush your head in my fa—"
"—There's no way Emilia would tell me she loves me, goddamnit!!"
"—?!!"
As Garfiel howled, Subaru thrust his face into Garfiel's and shouted.
The explosion of emotion made even the angry Garfiel forget himself and shut his mouth. Glaring at the reeling Garfiel, Subaru's face fell apart as he screamed.
He cast the words exchanged in the tomb, the heat from their touching, the affirmed feelings of love to the wind.
He felt their loss. There was no way he could not. He couldn't help but regret the loss of the words, the heat, and the emotions of love he had received. But Subaru could not become deft enough to pretend to be deceived by a false gemstone.
—If he was deft enough to play the fool and call it quits, his chest would not be filled with such pain.
"Like hell she'd say that to me. Emilia telling me she loves me…relying on me, leaving everything to me, say if I'm there she doesn't need anything else… No way in hell."
"Th-the heck are ya tryin' to say…"
"Telling me 'everything' like that… There's no way. And if Puck was by her side, there's no way she'd rely on me in a way like that…!"
He did not know just how much he desired to be Emilia's number one. But he was not so self-conceited as to believe he was Emilia's number one that very moment. Her number one, the place in which she laid her greatest trust, was the little cat spirit, even then her one and only family.
With that same Puck absent, Subaru had stepped up to serve as his standin, nothing more.
That confession of love, those hot fingertips, and her trembling breaths— he didn't want to think that they were all false.
—But they were not genuine. If they weren't genuine, he couldn't accept them.
"Someone's driven that girl…driven her into a corner until she ended up like that. Drove that girl's heart into a corner enough to make a situation like
this, where she has to depend on someone like me…"
"Y-you're the one who decided to do that, damn it…! So what, she made it snow like this for payback for all her failures?! She's sayin' it's me and the old hags' 'n' geezers' fault?!"
As if chewing down on Subaru's words, Garfiel brushed the snow aside and grabbed Subaru by the collar. He shoved him against the wall behind him by brute force, and an anguished groan trickled out of Subaru's throat.
"Like I know or care what made her lash out! Bring the half-demon out! If ya can't even do that…"
"Bring Emilia out and make it stop snowing…? No can do. I mean…" "Ya mean what?!"
"—I mean, it won't help because Emilia's not the one making this snow fall."
Subaru's confident declaration made Garfiel's grip on his collar relent.
With Garfiel gazing straight at him with a dumbfounded look, Subaru continued.
"The situation's all wrong. The snow and Emilia… If she was holed up in the tomb, the timeline for making the snow fall is all messed up. If Emilia did make the snow fall, what's her reason?"
"Th-that's…payback against me, the old hags, and geezers…"
"Why would Emilia want payback against you? That's just weird. You hold animosity for Emilia right now because the snow's falling. The snow, being backed into a corner… The timing doesn't match up."
The situation had been warped from the beginning. He could only think that someone had set it up that way.
Someone in the Sanctuary was controlling the situation, hiding Subaru's letter, inducing Emilia to hole herself up in the tomb, and stirring up Garfiel's anger against her.
And as for who that someone was—he had a single guess.
"When it comes to people who can make it…who can control the weather, I have two suspects only. But Emilia can't do it. Without Puck here, she can't do something on that scale."
"You're sure of that…?"
"…A deduction with my own optimism mixed in, I suppose. I want to believe it, that's all. Even if she's desperate, Emilia's not the kind of girl who can do something like this. That's just what I want to believe."
"Just want to believe…"
Subaru's repeated pleas made Garfiel close his eyes and sink into thought. But his internal conclusion was soon in coming. Garfiel removed the hand gripping the collar, freeing Subaru from his grasp.
When Subaru's feet touched the ground, he lightly stroked his throat and nodded toward Garfiel.
"—Where's Roswaal?"
"The bastard's in the old hag's house. Ram was supposed to go there and get 'im, but…can't expect much from her at a time like this."
When one searched for suspects fulfilling the same conditions, only one name fit the bill of a mastermind. Garfiel had easily accepted the notion, perhaps because doubts about Roswaal had been growing inside of him as well.
"Ram's…"
"Shaddap. Even against the girl I've fallen for, what I gotta do don't change."
If Roswaal was the mastermind, the loyalties of Ram, his faithful retainer, came into question as well. With a low growl, Garfiel's statement interrupted Subaru voicing his concerns about that.
Subaru envied that resolve. Unyielding before the possibility the girl he'd fallen for might prove his enemy, he had the heart of steel Subaru wished he had.
Besides, setting Roswaal aside, it still wasn't clear where Ram stood in Subaru's book.
Going by his relationship with Ram to that point and her actions during those repeated worlds in the Sanctuary, he had a deduction that bordered on hope, but—
"—Hearing the answer is the last thing on my to-do list in this world." Subaru murmured that quietly, so that the spirited Garfiel might not hear it.
5
"My, my, it is quite rare to see such faces put together with such interesting tiiiiming, is it not?"
Roswaal smiled amusedly at the unexpected arrival of his guests.
His heavily wounded body wrapped in bandages, Roswaal was lying sideways on his bed in the room allotted to him, his face bearing the makeup of a clown as per usual—and before this man they had eyed as the mastermind stood Subaru and Garfiel side by side.
The expressions on both their faces were fairly severe, and anyone inside the room could tell that a palpable sense of tension was filling up the room. In spite of this, Roswaal was calm; if anything, he was in a rather good mood as he spread both hands apart.
"So a pair of youths have come to cart off a heavily wounded man during such a tremendous snowfall… Although I must somewhat question your choice of personnel. Judging from that left eye, you are quite a gravely woooounded man as well?"
"Cut the taunts, Roswaal. This guy and I both know darn well that's the kind of guy you are…but under certain circumstances, whether that's allowable changes. Like now."
"Seeing the two of you standing side by side, such words become truly persuaaasive…"
Saying this, Roswaal shifted taunting eyes toward Garfiel, standing right beside Subaru. He, standing in front of the room's entrance to seal it off, crinkled his nose sourly.
"Like he just said. Changes with the circumstances. Me, if I don't find out for sure who's my enemy and who ain't, I won't know who to grind into mincemeat."
"What a barbaric thing to say… In the end, Garf is Garf, I suppose?"
As Garfiel made a low growl, Ram, standing in a corner of the room, sighed toward him. Just as they'd figured at the tomb, she was indeed waiting at Roswaal's side, even amid that snowfall.
And from the very fact she was there, Ram was a partner in Roswaal's schemes—perhaps not all of them, but there could be no doubt she shared in part of them. The problem lay in the true intent behind those schemes.
Just what was Roswaal's objective, and why was Ram cooperating with him?
"Don't butt in, Ram, not this time. Me, I don't wanna turn my claws against ya."
"Should there be rudeness toward Master Roswaal, Ram will stand before him. It all depends upon you, Garf."
"Calm yourselves, both of you. That of course goes for Garfiel, but you too, Ram. For the moment, do as he says and be silent. —Those are words that should be saved for the proper moment."
"He has spoken. Be grateful for Master Roswaal's benevolence."
With a haughty, audible snort, Ram took a step back, suspending her role as attending servant. Garfiel went "Keh," clicking his tongue as he said, "Puttin' Ram aside, me, I've got no reason to listen to your words and calm down or anythin' like it. Watch how ya talk to me. Dependin' on what ya say, my claws might end up turned against one of ya."
"Can you stop including me as a potential target for violence like it's supernatural? Geez, you're still doubting me?"
"Ya've got your own mountain of suspicious things to spare, damn it.
Witch-smellin' lunatic."
They harbored suspicions toward the same person but whether they shared comradery was a different issue altogether. Subaru didn't trust Garfiel on all fronts, either. They both had claws pointing at each other.
Then, upon the exchange between the pair, Roswaal closed one eye, the world reflecting in his yellow pupil as he said, "Setting a bedridden man like me aside, you should not look upon good Subaru too lightly, Garfiel. If the two of you clash, it is by no means guaranteeeed that the odds of victory are invariably in your favor."
"He's missin' one eye. How could he win? Ya got holes in your eyes? If he heard all the fights I've won, he'd be smacked senseless."
"Is that so? If the proper conditions were aligned, I do not think his chances of victory are quite so poooor…"
As Roswaal narrowed his eye, Subaru could only agree that he must have a hole in it. Since being summoned to that other world, Subaru's individual combat exploits were limited to one victory by three surprise blows.
Of course, it was futile even trying to compare Garfiel to three punks in a back alley.
"—!! Enough of this! I didn't come 'cause I wanted to talk about crap like that! Are ya both asleep?! The old hags are out there, shiverin' and waitin'!"
To cut off that futile line of conversation, Garfiel stomped the heel of his shoe onto the wooden floor. As the impact sent wood dust spreading within the room, Subaru closed his eye to the angrily snarling Garfiel.
Garfiel was right to be angry. Subaru had left Emilia at the tomb. Surely everyone present knew there was no time for taking it easy.
Accordingly, Subaru took a deep breath, opening his right eye. Catching
Roswaal in his field of vision, he—
"You're the one who made the snow fall here in the Sanctuary, aren't you, Roswaal?"
—cut straight to the heart of the matter.
" "
Roswaal was silent in the face of Subaru's question. But the smirk vanished from his lips.
He'd caught a glimpse of the true face under the mask of makeup that he'd kept up until the moment prior. Coming from him, that was more proof than anything that Subaru was on the money.
A silence fell for a time, and the only sound reverberating inside the room was that of the wind and blowing snow smacking the window. That silence, in which not even the sounds of breathing could be heard, seemed to course for eternity—until it abruptly ended.
"Subaru."
After his name came up, gazes turned toward him, and Subaru waited in silence for what would follow.
With Subaru taking that posture, Roswaal left a pause before he continued. "—You heard that from me, I take it?"
Subaru did not understand what the question meant.
Subaru had anticipated a number of responses from Roswaal. Excuses, being shaken, attempts to gloss things over, violence—but this result was different from everything he'd surmised.
Naturally, faced with a question he did not understand, he could not even imagine what answer was being sought.
"Mm-mmm… I see. I see. I seeee... How disappointing."
Facing the suspicion swirling in Subaru's black eyes, Roswaal nodded, his face giving an answer that went far beyond words. From his sunken face and voice, it was immediately clear that this was not the answer he yearned for.
The sight threw Subaru off. It felt to him like the man known as Roswaal —despite being heavily wounded, face pale—had literally fallen from his standpoint and clear through the realm of normal men. But—
"—Ya ain't gonna deny it, are ya?"
The angered Garfiel paid no heed to the change in Roswaal. To him, the important thing was not Roswaal's sentiments but the identity of the culprit behind the menace assailing the Sanctuary.
Faced with that blame, Roswaal seemed numb to it, letting a heavy sigh trickle out.
"I could assert my innocence, but you are hardly one to politely accept that at this juncture, yes? You came here because you possess more than adequate reasons for doing so. Should I not pay this the proper respeeeect?"
"Respect! Respect, huh?! Ha, well ain't I grateful. Milkiss had no line of retreat! Maybe it's high time I paid that excess of stupidity proper respect, yaaah?!"
To Roswaal, who acknowledged the suspicions against him, Garfiel unleashed a sharp exhale and stepped forward. In the cramped confines of the room, it was only a few paces from the entrance to the bed. He easily closed the distance in a single second. Riding that momentum, Garfiel moved to grip the self-possessed Roswaal's throat.
Was restraint really going to hold back strength whipped up by anger? Fearful of this, Subaru tried to raise his voice. But faster than Subaru could speak, a figure circled in front of Garfiel and spoke up.
"—I told you, Garf. I shall permit no rudeness toward Master Roswaal."
Now directly in front of the outstretched arm, Ram pushed out her modest chest, blocking its path with her body. For an instant, the prospect of hurting someone he cared for made anger and hesitation rise up in his eyes and then some form of determination.
Guessing that this determination was, in truth, the will to remove even Ram from his path, the color of Subaru's face changed. In fact, in a previous loop, he had seen Garfiel take Ram's life once already— "Ram. You are truly a fine servant."
—Accordingly, Subaru's reaction to that sentence was thoroughly late in coming.
Wary of Garfiel's violent actions and concerned for Ram's safety, Subaru knitted his brows, perplexed. There was nothing odd per se about the sentence just now. Just as he stated, Roswaal was praising Ram for her attempt to defend her master.
That wasn't the problem. Roswaal, lying on his side on the bed last anyone checked, was not trying to get up. He was not glaring at Ram and Garfiel, either.
But Subaru felt like something strange had entered his eyes. Not finding a reason for why he was getting a bad feeling, Subaru's bewilderment deepened his irritation as he desperately groped for some kind of answer. And finally, that ill feeling took tangible form.
" "
Huh, the heck? There's a person's arm sticking out from Garfiel's back…
He could see a human arm, complete with five wriggling fingers, thrusting through the center of his torso and out his back.
"Go-fu…!"
Garfiel's body shuddered greatly, seemingly moving while time had stopped.
The back of his vest was dyed by a creeping vermilion as his knees buckled, crumpling then and there. When Garfiel's knees hit the floor, the arm vanished from his back. Instantly, blood gushed out from the wound that it had been plugging.
"—Eh?"
As Garfiel went down on his rear, Ram and Roswaal were looking down at him.
And as Ram watched Garfiel collapse in a pool of blood, coming out of her chest was…
"Ros…"
"I have not reneged on my promise. I offer this soul to you."
When frailly, Ram attempted to call out his name, Roswaal interrupted her, speaking those words in an exceedingly gentle voice.
From behind, he preciously embraced Ram's thin body, softly stroking her pink hair with his left hand. Ram seemed entranced by his touch, her cheeks reddened as a charming smile came to rest upon her face.
—From the corner of the lips forming that charming smile came out a delayed spill of fresh blood.
Of course it did. Her chest had been run straight through from the back.
" "
The spectacle made Subaru recall another he had seen up close. The sight of Beatrice impaled was superimposed over that of Ram.
The arm was pulled back. Without anything to support it, Ram's body tumbled forward. It was Garfiel who caught her, profusely bleeding himself.
The blood-ridden pair embraced each other.
"Gah… Ros…ra, mm… Ram, Ram, Ram, Ramramramramrammm…!!"
In an instant, a heart governed by hatred was smashed to pieces by the sight of wounds on the his beloved.
Calling out the name of the girl in his arms, Garfiel let up a bloody roar as his arm emitted a pale light. Subaru discerned that the flowing energy, enveloped by vivid luminescence, was healing magic.
But that fact was inconsistent with what he was seeing, and more than that, the dizzying situation had thrown his thought process awry.
His impression of Garfiel was that he was wholly unsuited toward using any magic, let alone healing magic, but to pull it off instantly at a juncture like that displayed considerable mastery of healing techniques.
Despite bearing mortal wounds of his own, he put everything aside, pouring all his strength into healing Ram.
All of it was beyond Subaru's expectations, so far beyond his imagination that he was unable to move a single foot.
"Gah-ah-aaahhh…!"
Employing healing magic, the snarling Garfiel's flesh bounced, enlarging much like a pulsing vein.
Golden fur covered his exposed flesh, his sharp fangs creaked as they began to lengthen, and his body, which Subaru had guessed was on death's door, was instinctively urging him to transfigure in order to avert that death.
If he transformed into a giant tiger, it might well save his own life.
However, if that happened, his healing would be interrupted. Ram would die. His rational mind rejected that, clashing ferociously with his survival instincts.
If he stopped healing their wounds before he transfigured, there still existed some chance both of them might survi—
"—It would be troublesome to let you transfigure, yes?"
Roswaal took a single step forward. His right leg bent and then lashed out.
With a vividness that made it impossible for Subaru to tear his eyes away, wind entwined around his bent leg as it scored a direct hit to the back of Garfiel's skull—causing a heavy sound, much like that of an egg cracking, rupturing his target and smearing that blond hair with such ease it didn't seem real.
"—ll."
With his skull half-smashed, Garfiel lay on his side, glaring at Roswaal with his one remaining eye. In a twist of fate, he and Ram fell together almost as one, both lying powerlessly on the floor.
Garfiel was dying, and in his arms, Ram did not move a muscle, either, a thin smile still on her lips.
No healing magic existed that could be effective on people with dead faces like this. None would even activate. By the time Roswaal drew his arm out, Ram's life had already been lost, for her heart had been destroyed.
Not realizing this, Garfiel struggled to save her, but that was as far as it went.
"Even I would find it extremely difficult to weave magic without Garfiel noticing. Accordingly, for but a brief moment, I relied upon means that are heretical for a magic user."
Wiping his bloodstained hand and foot with the sheets, the Roswaal that had murdered the pair turned toward Subaru.
During that entire time, Subaru had stood rooted to the spot, unable to move a step, unable to speak a word.
Inspecting Subaru, Roswaal narrowed his eyes before shrugging his shoulders with a casual air as he spoke again.
"Now then—in accordance with the vow we have exchanged, let us speak, Subaru Natsuki."
6
Subaru stood in a daze amid that incomprehensible scene.
Ram had sunken into a pool of blood; Garfiel had lost his life from his skull being crushed. As the two lay atop each other, Roswaal—he who had murdered both—stood astride their corpses, calmly gazing Subaru's way.
The incredible physical feat he had witnessed left Subaru unable to even speak. Realizing that Subaru was gawking, Roswaal stared at Subaru with his yellow eye alone as he said, "To believe a magic user cannot engage in unarmed combat is to fall prey to prejudice, you seeee. It is the sort of pitfall even Witches are known to miss. You should remember for future reference."
Perhaps he meant it as honest advice, but Roswaal's lecture, made with a raised finger, left Subaru horrified.
Certainly, he was shocked. That Roswaal's unarmed combat technique was eye-catching was the simple truth. Comparing that shock to what he felt at seeing the pair's sudden deaths was difficult.
And yet, he could not comprehend how Roswaal could smile pleasantly, not letting it bother him.
"Wh-why…?"
"Mm? Why what?"
"Why did you kill th...? Why did you kill Ram…eh? Even Garfiel's…"
"Because Garfiel was an impediment to speaking with you. I did a terrible thing to Ram…but her cooperation was indispensable for getting Garfiel out of the way. Had she not created an opening, even my odds of victory would have been quite poor."
"—Huh?"
Shrugging his shoulders like it was no big deal, he came right out and plainly confessed his murderous intentions. The contents flew into Subaru, sailing right over his sentiments of anger, drawing out an unconscious breath.
It was an absurd answer for an absurd situation. It was an absurd comment about an absurd fate. What the hell was going on?
"An unexpected reaction. The Subaru that I know is a boy who would see nothing beyond this situation, fly into a rage, and even try to grab hold of me.
—Am I wrong, Subaru Natsuki?"
"What are you trying to say? You're a shitty, psychopathic bastard… There's no way in hell I can…!"
"Forgive me or the like? You do not require language such as that. You should be more honest in facing your own heart. That is the 'you' I desire, the
'you' that I have always, alwaaaays desired."
"—!! Stop, looking at me with that eye! The hell! The hell is wrong with you?!"
During those words, Roswaal had continued looking at Subaru with his left eye alone. The intent gaze of that lone yellow iris made him feel queasy, like something was clawing at the core of his psyche. Hence, his voice had gone ragged.
"You murdered two people! And that ain't all! I'm not talking about just this! Before, that's right, before when you were talking about the Witch Cult, too! You've been giving me the slip over and over—"