Just as Emilia was about to proceed back to the Princess Room— "—It seems he has come."
This was no voice from the past. It was a voice from the present, calling out to Emilia from behind.
It was the voice of the Witch, the only person experiencing time in the same way as Emilia was in that world of the past.
The murmur from Echidna, who had watched events in silence up to that point, drew Emilia's attention, too. Then she immediately realized what Echidna's words meant.
—There was a boy who seemed the epitome of the color white.
He had white hair that was neither long nor short and white-colored skin lacking even a hint of a tan. He was clad in attire that was pure white, with not a single other color upon it; he felt sickly, as if he avoided all external interference from color itself.
His face was modestly handsome, but it was average with no eye-catching features. His appearance overall seemed extremely lacking in any kind of individuality; he gave off the impression that he would immediately be forgotten as soon as he melted into any crowd. But that impression was itself firm proof that he was an anomalous being.
"…Who are you?!"
Both Fortuna and Geuse instantly noticed his strange presence. Fortuna immediately pulled Emilia close, extremely wary of the boy who had appeared without warning. Sensing this, the boy slipped out of the forest with a calm gait, stroking his own white hair.
"When you wish to ask someone's name, is it not polite to first state yours?"
The reply made Fortuna's emotions chill over all at once, amplifying her wariness even more. However, the boy lowered his shoulders, regarding with exasperation the wind of enmity blowing toward him.
"My reply just now was nothing short of clichéd, but that said, I think anyone can appreciate the temptation to react that way in this kind of situation. Even though we are meeting each other for the first time and we stand on completely equal ground, why must you arbitrarily look down upon me and demand my name like this? Do you even realize the fact that you have subconsciously, inconsiderately, carelessly, and one-sidedly classified me as inferior?"
"…For a man, you certainly like long-winded speeches."
"Stating for a man is nothing less than comparing me with the men you know simply based upon my outward appearance alone. In the first place, the creatures known as men are innumerable throughout the world, so by what standard can you judge me? That attitude… I just can't let it go. It is excessively lacking in manners. It flies in the face of my individuality, my rights."
In contrast to Fortuna's concise sentences, the madness in the boy's rambling gradually increased as he spoke.
Sensing danger from his words, his actions, and more importantly, his attitude, Fortuna put Emilia behind her and shielded her, sternly glaring at the boy as she shouted in anger.
"Enough with your self-centered babbling! Who are you?!"
Lending no ear to the boy's words, Fortuna asked him for his name once more.
These words brought a change in the boy's expression. His face blanched at the interruption in the conversation, yet his cheeks, so unenthusiastic before, slowly drew back in a gloomy smile—
Then, addressing the Emilias frozen in both past and present, he spoke.
"I am a member of the Witch Cult, the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins who has been entrusted with Greed—Regulus Corneas."
CHAPTER 2
THE BEGINNING OF THE SANCTUARY AND OF RUIN
1
—Let us go back in time a trifle, to the place outside the tomb where Emilia was currently holed up.
On the grassy clearing in front of the entrance, the group that had seen her off as she went to face the Trial was currently awaiting her safe return, but—
"l broke a promise to write my love out, but it got seen by someone else first… I'm done for…"
"No matter how ya cut it, you're bein' way too far in the dumps. Man up already, geez. Gotta get it together."
A half-naked Garfiel sighed at Subaru, who was cowering as if the very world were coming to an end.
As the victim, Subaru had plenty he wanted to say toward the culprit's undaunted attitude, but the ultimate cause was Subaru's own lack of caution. His only option was to endure the shame of it.
—To cheer Emilia on and bolster her determination to take the Trial at the tomb, Subaru had spent the previous night carving all his thoughts, great and small, into the stone room's walls. There, he wrote down everything that could be expressed with words and then kept going even when words would never be enough to relay everything he wanted to say.
"But I never thought Garfiel would head in to settle his stuff first…"
"Goodness, for someone who normally tries to sweet-talk her all the time in broad daylight, what is this embarrassment over putting your feelings in text? Mr. Natsuki, is your sense of shame not rather misplaced?"
"Usually, I'm mentally prepared for her to brush it all off, so when she actually does that, I'm fine! But this time, I was serious! And this is literally a love letter I wrote in the deep of night…the most embarrassing kind of all!"
When Subaru ruefully covered his red face with both hands, Otto lowered his shoulders with a weary look.
It was not uncommon for people to get oddly excited in the middle of the night and use words that would ordinarily never come to mind. It was an established cliché to spend the next morning looking back upon it with groans of agony.
"Don't worry 'bout it, General. It's not like ya did anythin' weird. If anythin', it makes me wanna do somethin' like that. Love for the Lingdon man is first come, first served and all."
"Whether you intend it or not, hearing that from the culprit only makes it worse!"
Without malice, Garfiel's words indicated he wanted to launch his own romantic campaign for the one he cared about—Ram. Of course that would likely end with his feelings bouncing off the iron walls Ram had put up around her heart.
It was with such exchanges that Subaru and the others awaited the end of the Trial.
With good cheer and resolve buoying her, Emilia had entered the tomb. Though the Trial had broken her heart once already and reduced her to tears, they believed she would surely overcome it this time.
"When it was Garfiel, it took around an hour. Wonder if it'll take the same time."
"In the case of success, I would imagine so… Ow?! And ow again?!"
"—Read the mood a little, would you?"
Just as Subaru drove an elbow into the insensitive Otto, Ram had also come over to pile onto the poor man. Ram flicked Otto's forehead, coldly narrowing her eyes.
"You are so dense when it comes to understanding others… Are you really a merchant?"
"The way you said that hurts more than anything else…"
After a taste of those sharp words, Otto was stunned from both mental and physical pain.
"Incidentally," started Ram, glancing at his pathetic face before turning back toward Subaru, "Lady Ryuzu…or rather, Miss Shima, because that is what she herself wishes to be called, wanted to speak with you, Barusu. It would seem she wishes to continue last night's conversation."
"Last night's conversation, huh…?"
As he listened to Ram, Subaru folded his arms and furrowed his brow.
Then Garfiel's jade eyes opened wide as a thought occurred to him in the middle of the conversation. "Come to think of it…I never got a chance to ask about the details. What 'n' how much did General and Grandm…the old hag end up talking about last night?"
"Whether you correct yourself or not, everyone can still tell you're one hell of a granny's boy… Mostly, I asked about what you were like before going into the tomb. You were on my mind a lot yesterday."
"…That so…?"
Garfiel turned away with an awkward look on his face. Though he'd tried to cut ties with his past after overcoming the Trial, that didn't wipe away the days of continued regrets. It couldn't be anything but awkward.
"Anyway, my hands were full with planning yesterday on how I should go after you. That's why I got Shima to promise me to save the important
conversation until after I give Garfiel his spanking."
"The now-spanked Garf seems dissatisfied, but what is it you postponed exactly?"
"That's…"
"—An unavoidable conversation if this Sanctuary is to be liberated."
The one who picked up where Subaru trailed off was Shima, speaking in a low voice. Her spitting image—no, one of the Ryuzus she herself was born as— was lending her a shoulder as she approached.
Her expression was hard, and her labored breathing sounded quite weary.
"I believe you were told, Young Su. Just like spirits, our bodies are constantly depleting."
"…Ahhh, I see. Ryuzu has three people to swap places with, but Shima's been kicked out of the rotation, so there's no substitute for her. That's why she's this tired, huh…"
"Normally, sleeping and rising at a set schedule keeps me from deteriorating too much…but I have little confidence I can last until Lady Emilia returns. As such, we should speak while we can."
Even while leaning on Ryuzu's shoulders, Shima lifted her face and nodded toward Subaru with determination.
"Wait. Ya don't need to do anythin' reckless. Just have a healthy old hag take the old hag's place and—"
"It's impossible to tell who you're talking about, so let's call them Granny Shi and Granny Ryu from now on. Besides, we can't swap them around like
that. This is something we can only hear from Shima's lips."
Garfiel seemed to snap out of familial concern that Shima was forcing herself to speak. Subaru wanted to respect his opinion, too, since it was sensible. But he could not say that here.
What Shima wanted to talk about was the Sanctuary's past. These were things that only Shima and the people directly related to the Sanctuary's creation could know, and that was because—
"—Only I, who entered the tomb and took the Trial, can speak of this."
"Ah…"
Bewildered by that fact, Garfiel let out a breath of realization.
Previously, when young Garfiel had gone into the tomb, it was none other than Shima who had gone in after to bring him back. As a result, Shima had seen the past there. Namely—
"The memories of the ancestor of all us replicas… Ryuzu Meyer."
—she'd seen the girl who was hidden in the replication facility in the forest, continuing to sleep within a crystal.
She was Ryuzu Meyer, the original upon which Shima and the other replicas were based. In the tomb, Shima, the replica, had experienced the memories of Ryuzu Meyer while she still lived.
Consequently, the story she would share was about the regrets Ryuzu
Meyer harbored about her past, memories related to the creation of the Sanctuary itself—
"They concern the cherished hope harbored by Young Ros's family, the Matherses; the existence and objective of Her Lady the Witch, who created the Sanctuary—and they concern her daughter, Ryuzu Meyer's one and only friend."
"The Witch's daughter…?"
The implications of what Ryuzu had shared made Subaru alone raise his eyebrows, for he was the only one who sensed a special meaning behind her words.
Neither Garfiel nor Ryuzu, nor Ram nor Otto, understood; only Subaru had a suspicion that turned out to be true, a reference toward which, like it or not, he felt a longing aching in his heart.
While Subaru was still reeling from his most recent realization, Shima softened her voice, speaking as if telling a fairy tale to a child.
"It all began here, before this place was called the Sanctuary."
Her eyes held distant hope as she began to speak of memories that would surely arrive at regret—
—and yet, her gaze was filled with a longing, tender love.
2
"—What is it, I wonder? Even if you gaze at me with such eyes, I shall grant you nothing."
The unfamiliar memories began with a glare from a girl in a sour mood.
The girl had an adorable face. She had creamy hair, as if light had been dissolved, and her skin was so white, you could almost see right through her. Her round eyes were a pale blue; if her appearance exemplified one word, it was lovely.
Her hair was parted in two large, long twirls, and the flaring dress she wore made her look like a princess out of a picture book. As a matter of fact, the position she occupied was not that far off in terms of esteem.
When this girl turned such keen eyes toward her, Ryuzu wilted completely.
Though it was presumptuous to even compare the two, the girl before her eyes was far classier than she. Ryuzu was deficient in appearance and attire both, and their apparent ages being similar only invited greater embarrassment.
"Hmph. Silent again. Are you a boring, cowardly girl, I wonder?"
The girl gave a snort of dissatisfaction to Ryuzu, who was squirming with her face cast downward. This sour demeanor clashed with her adorable appearance, but her words still thrust into Ryuzu's heart like needles.
It was not the abuse that pained her but the disappointment. Ryuzu could hardly breathe.
"Beatrice, what is with that attitude? Did I teach you to behave like that?"
The gentle tone of his voice made the girl's expression stiffen. Aah, went Ryuzu as she let go of the breath she was holding.
Someone had called out from behind the girl, which was to say, directly in front of Ryuzu. Coming out of a hut in the back of the settlement was a woman who exuded a pure-white aura.
She had long, glossy, naturally white hair and skin that seemed untouched by light. Only her eyes, lips, and the long-hemmed dress she wore barely managed to add color to her, yet she possessed beauty requiring nothing more than that.
"Lady Echidna."
Ryuzu hastily bowed her head as she spoke the name of her patron Witch —Echidna. Glancing at Ryuzu, the girl named Beatrice turned around in great haste.
"Ah, er…y-you're wrong, Mom! Betty didn't do anything… But this girl, she—!"
"If you are guilty of nothing, there is no need to be all flustered. You need only accurately convey the facts. If you truly did nothing wrong, it would not be necessary to hesitate, would it? Am I mistaken?"
"Perhaps that's true…"
Echidna was not emotional, but she was quiet, firm, and strict. Ryuzu would have interpreted this as being hard on her daughter at first, but the pouty look on Beatrice's face made her believe otherwise.
"Betty was quietly waiting outside, just like you asked, Mom. And then this girl was watching Betty from afar…so Betty called her over, wondering if she had any business with Betty."
"I see. So, you there, what do you have to say?"
"Eh…! Um, er, yes, I have no excuse. I behaved most rudely…"
Beatrice's childish explanation was the truth. When Ryuzu saw Beatrice at the edge of the settlement, she stared at the girl in a daze. Beatrice took issue with that, which was what led to the current situation.
"I was smitten with the sight of Lady Beatrice in the twilight… I am sorry."
"Smitten, is it…? Beatrice, do you acknowledge Ryuzu's version of the story?"
"Ummmm…"
"It would not be proper to tell you, a child, to behave more like an adult, but your attitude is lacking in tolerance. You are indeed special, but that is not for the sake of looking down upon others. I seem to be saying this a lot." Upon receiving Ryuzu's reply, Echidna sent some sort of stern admonition Beatrice's way. Though Beatrice seemed quite crestfallen, Ryuzu was in too great a panic to notice.
—She'd never thought that the great Witch Lady Echidna would personally remember her name.
Ryuzu lived in a tiny village, but her existence was the tiniest of all. As an apostle, she felt the joy of having the Witch of Greed herself remembering her name send a tremor running through her heart.
"I shall leave things to Geuse from here. I am sure he will work hard to give you proper guidance."
"…Betty does not like Geuse very much."
"Considering his role, being disliked by you is exactly the appraisal I wished and hoped for."
Smiling at Beatrice's disgusted face, Echidna then turned to Ryuzu.
This made Ryuzu's heart leap. She always let opportunities to speak slip and kept finding some suitable reason to distance herself from such places out of hesitation, so Echidna paying any attention to her once again was a surprise.
"That must have come as quite a shock for you, yes, Ryuzu? This girl, Beatrice, is my… She is like a daughter to me. As you can see, she has yet to learn proper manners, I am embarrassed to say."
"I am not like a daughter—I am your daughter!"
"Well, it is something like that. I believe I shall be coming here with her more frequently hereafter. Both of you will likely see each other more often, so I would like the two of you to get along nicely."
"Y-yes. Leave it to me, Lady Echidna…!"
Honored to receive a request from the Witch, Ryuzu nodded, her eyes sparkling with delight.
Ryuzu's acceptance elicited a satisfied nod from Echidna. From behind, Beatrice murmured ruefully in a tiny voice.
"…Is Betty not completely fine even when all alone, I wonder?"
3
"You there, girl. I am sorry; Lady Echidna was supposed to be here, but I do not see her anywhere."
"Yes?"
Ryuzu was carrying a laundry basket when the inquirer called out, bringing her feet to a halt. When she slowly turned around, she set eyes on the one who had called her to a stop. "Wah!" she went, eyes bulging. Out of surprise, she unwittingly slackened the strength in her arms, and she almost dropped the laundry basket then and there.
"There you go."
"Whoa… Aah, I-I'm very sorry!"
Ryuzu bowed her head to the boy, who had closed the distance with one long-legged stride and put his hand under the laundry basket. Flashing a troubled smile at the sight, the youth with blue-colored hair shook his head.
"Think nothing of it. I am sorry for speaking to you in the middle of your work. It was inconsiderate."
"Not at all…! You are too kind, Master Mathers!"
"One must not forget to be kind to ladies, regardless of our respective positions… If I may ask one thing of you, I do not particularly like being called by my family name. Could you address me as Roswaal?"
After speaking to the apologetic Ryuzu, the boy—Roswaal—gave her a wink.
His age was around four years greater than Ryuzu's twelve, and his height was a full head taller. Even so, it seemed like he still had room to grow, and his melodic voice was well on its way to that of an adult. The boy possessed a wicked charm possible only during the brief period between being a boy and an adult, and he was brimming with natural elegance.
At that young age, he was also the current head of the Mathers family, which governed multiple domains, and the learned man who administered the forest settlement together with Echidna, making him Ryuzu's supervisor.
To Ryuzu and the other residents, he was someone to whom respect ought to be paid on par with Echidna the Witch.
"So, erm, as for Lady Echidna…I have yet to see her today. Beatrice does not seem to have come to her usual place, either."
"I see; their arrival may well have been delayed. Setting Lady Echidna aside, I find it difficult to believe Beatrice would not have come here to meet you."
"Errr… Beatrice only comes to speak to me once in a while…"
"You say once in a while only because that is what Beatrice insists on calling it, no?"
Echidna threaded gaps in her busy schedule to visit this land, with Beatrice accompanying her. Somehow, they'd had numerous opportunities to come into contact and see each other's faces during the time before Echidna finished her business.
Pfft, went Roswaal, barely containing his laughter over Ryuzu's reply.
"Beatrice is not an honest girl, you see. It is good that you do not think of her as difficult to deal with…"
"Perish the thought. She treats even someone like me extremely well. In fact, I am always making Lady Beatrice angry…enough that I was worried that she might come to hate me."
"Then you have nothing to be concerned about. Beatrice's 'hate' carries no credibility whatsoever. If she genuinely hated you, she would not create all these excuses to spend time with you."
Faced with Roswaal's toothy grin, Ryuzu half believed him and half not. Beatrice often puffed her cheeks up at Ryuzu, voicing voluminous complaints about anything and everything all the while. This was far softer than what Ryuzu knew as rejection, but in contrast, Ryuzu thought Beatrice had made unmistakable displays of hate.
"I hope that at some point, you might pick up on that girl's true feelings as well."
Seeing that Ryuzu had been pressed into silence, Roswaal murmured a comment, somehow sounding forlorn as he did. His smile became ever so slightly pained, and this caused Ryuzu's chest to tighten.
However, quicker than she could apologize over it, Roswaal's expression became one of realization.
"Teacher! I heard that you were here today, so I flew right over!"
Roswaal's eyes brightened and glimmered, his face like that of a child as he broke out into a run. With his grown-up impression thoroughly erased, the boy raced toward Echidna, the Witch in question, who sighed at the sight. "Roswaal… I do not recall permitting you to address me as Teacher."
"This is not a day I may call you anything less. I have gained a complete comprehension of the homework you spoke of previously, Teacher. By focusing mana of the four colors at a uniform rate, one makes them into magical energy without elemental attributes. At that point, by adding the remaining two colors, one arrives at a rainbow-colored attribute—how is that?"
"I am certain I assigned only the four colors as homework. So you have arrived at six colors through self-study? What terrifying learning speed and desire to grow…or more accurately, obsessiveness? Goodness, you have surprised me."
Echidna was praising him, a fact that made Ryuzu's eyes bulge. Echidna was a Witch through and through; something exceeding Echidna's imagination was far beyond Ryuzu's own.
Hence, she could not help but smile at Roswaal's proud look over such an accomplishment. Even to Ryuzu's eyes, it was plain that Roswaal was very fond of Echidna. Even Echidna seemed overwhelmed by the love and respect her self-described apprentice showered onto her.
"And just what are you standing around in a daze for, I wonder? As always, you are quite a lax girl."
"Ah… Lady Beatrice…"
While Ryuzu gazed upon teacher and student, Beatrice peered in from the side. Beatrice folded her arms, snorting at Ryuzu's surprise with the grimacing face that Ryuzu was accustomed to. Ryuzu was so used to this scowl that she didn't even apologize for causing it.
"Do Mom and Roswaal have something to discuss, I wonder? The two of them no longer have time to mind the likes of you. Also, that laundry basket is annoying, so shouldn't you return to work promptly, I wonder?"
"Y-yes, I shall do just that. Then if you will excuse me."
Cringing and bowing her head to the acrimonious Beatrice, Ryuzu departed in a hurry.
Roswaal may have said Beatrice did not truly hate her, but Ryuzu found it a little hard to believe. Then she had a sudden realization.
"Um, Lady Beatrice?"
"I'm not here for any particular reason. Merely killing time, I wonder?"
When Ryuzu resumed carrying the laundry basket, Beatrice followed right behind her. She responded to Ryuzu's obvious confusion with a composed look on her face, and when Ryuzu resumed walking, Beatrice indeed followed suit.
Ryuzu thought about it a little. Then she decided to firmly believe in Roswaal's words.
"Lady Beatrice, if you like, could you assist me in folding up the laundry?"
"…Hah?"
Beatrice was taken aback by Ryuzu's gracious proposal that she assist in doing the chores. Her reaction made Ryuzu regret having relied upon Roswaal.
"—If it is too much for your hands alone, then there's no other choice. Betty shall assist you."
"Eh?"
"Should Betty say it again, I wonder? Now, move already. Are you going to just stand around all day, I wonder?"
Beatrice overtook Ryuzu, who had unwittingly frozen in place, rushing right past her. The instant Beatrice passed by, Ryuzu saw her expression was half-exasperated and half another entirely different emotion.
"—Ah."
Flushing, Ryuzu felt the inside of her chest heat and something well up in her eyes.
Somehow holding that emotion back, Ryuzu broke into a little run, coming up alongside Beatrice and peering at her face.
"Um! …If it is all right with you, could I leave the laundry with you for a brief moment?"
"Don't get too full of yourself—I could for a little while, I suppose."
With these words, Beatrice extended her hands toward the laundry with a reluctant look on her face.
4
—The days passed peacefully.
Various things had happened to Ryuzu before arriving in this land, both good and bad. The good had been somewhat outweighed by the bad, but it was by resiliently carrying on that she had lived to this day.
There were others who came from similar backgrounds, and they were kind, taking care to keep young, frail Ryuzu out of harm's way.
Once, when their homelands came up in conversation, and Ryuzu said she did not have any good memories of her own, someone responded with, Same here, and laughed. After that, they continued with, Let's make this everyone's homeland.
She didn't remember the speaker. But Ryuzu had always remembered those words since.
Recently, Echidna visited the settlement with ever-increasing frequency.
Everyone was fond of the Witch, for she was the savior not only of Ryuzu but everyone in the settlement. No one could thank Her Lady enough for the salvation of being granted a homeland. Inconveniences in their day-to-day life were swept away, their needs were well met, and she asked for nothing in return for all she did for them.
It was but once, when Echidna had replied with Pay it no mind to everyone's thanks that Ryuzu saw her making a little smile. From that faint smile, Ryuzu felt she understood why Echidna went to such great efforts: so that she could continue to smile just like that.
Whenever Echidna visited, her daughter, Beatrice, would invariably come along with her.
Echidna, surrounded by a large throng of people when she came to the settlement, always ordered Beatrice to act freely. In the majority of cases, Beatrice spent her free time close to Ryuzu.
Child or not, being a member of the settlement meant Ryuzu had a lot of work to do. On occasion, Beatrice would grudgingly aid her with laundry and sewing. She grumpily complained she was not particularly skilled in doing laundry, but she concentrated on the work even more than Ryuzu did.
When not helping with Ryuzu's work, Ryuzu often saw her pounding away at her magic lessons.
Beatrice was clutching a book too large for her small frame and honing her mana through trial and error, in all sorts of ways. To Ryuzu, who lacked any connection to magic and was unable to even read, it seemed like anguish beyond her comprehension.
It was at those times that Roswaal, who came to meet with Echidna, would inevitably interrupt, invariably angering Beatrice and igniting her temper. Roswaal, who was normally dedicated to behaving in a most aristocratic manner, acted his own age only when he interacted with Echidna and Beatrice.
Suffering Roswaal's teasing, it was common to see Beatrice go red in the face as she launched her counterattacks. Whenever Ryuzu caught a glimpse of the pair's magical duels, she always smiled at the sight of them fighting like siblings.
From time to time, Echidna would happen upon their quarrels, making both Roswaal's and Beatrice's faces go pale, a sight that made everyone in the settlement laugh.
Echidna, Roswaal, Ryuzu, even Beatrice—everyone laughed a little.
—For Ryuzu Meyer, these days in her new homeland were happy, happy, happy times indeed.
5
"These are fragments of the memories I have gathered together… I had meant to organize them in chronological order in my own way, but I have found that telling a story from the memories of another person—even when they belong to the person closest to me above all others—is still quite a difficult thing."
Shima was carefully choosing her words and memories as she spoke of Ryuzu Meyer's past.
Perhaps she was accustomed to drawing on memories, for her relaxed tale flowed smoothly. From her pause in that tale of the past, the cast around
Ryuzu Meyer seemed to be complete for the moment. However— "—Perhaps I should say Lady Beatrice has not changed at all?"
"My opinion about that's the same as yours…but there's something… before that… Way before that."
Beatrice—Subaru had received a shock just from discovering that she appeared in Ryuzu Meyer's memories. But at the same time, it wasn't difficult to come to terms with.
He'd known to begin with that Beatrice was Echidna's contracted spirit from four centuries prior. Echidna had worked with Roswaal's ancestor to build the Sanctuary and ordered Beatrice to stand watch over the archive of forbidden books at Roswaal's mansion and await That Person after Echidna's own death.
As a consequence, he could accept that Beatrice had entered and left the Sanctuary prior to that time.
"This Lady Beatrice… Certainly, she would be the one at the marquis's mansion, of whom I have heard nothing but her name? I have not yet had the opportunity to meet her…"
"Yeah, that Beatrice. So she really is connected to the Sanctuary… Plus, she transported me to the Sanctuary back then…"
Nodding after Otto checked with him, Subaru mulled over a memory from a previous iteration of the loop.
The last time around, when he'd gone to rescue the mansion, Subaru had been unable to save a single person from Elsa's vile blade, going right down to letting Beatrice die before his very eyes. And when it was Subaru's turn to have Elsa rob him of his life—Beatrice had transferred Subaru to the Sanctuary.
"Even if she was using the Passage, it bothered me when I tried to figure out how she could spirit me all the way to the Sanctuary. If the Passage can only send people flying to places familiar to you, then to her, the Sanctuary has to be…"
For Beatrice, it was surely a place filled with memories. Perhaps it was essentially her homeland.
That was how, in that emergency situation, Beatrice had enabled Subaru's escape to the Sanctuary.
"—I dunno about the little shrimp, but I'm payin' more attention to the Witch. I knew this was the testing grounds of the Witch of Greed, but I never had a chance to hear about the Witch herself."
"Wait, what? Garfiel, you've never met the Witch?"
"Er, I hate to put it this bluntly, but is your question not rather unusual, Mr. Natsuki?"
Otto was dubious about Subaru's reaction, but Garfiel's murmur from a moment before wasn't something Subaru could let go.
The tomb was Echidna's resting place, and Garfiel held the qualifications to challenge the Trial within as an Apostle of Greed. Subaru had assumed those weren't qualifications anyone could obtain without meeting Echidna first.
"But from the way you put it just now, Echidna never came out during your Trial, right? So how did you figure that you'd overcome the Trial?"
"General, the way ya put that makes it sound like you met the Witch… As for me, I settled it, that's all. I didn't meet the Witch. Won't talk about what happened inside no more."
Garfiel avoided speaking clearly about the contents of his Trial while answering the question relating to the Witch. When Subaru nodded in response, Ram abruptly posed a question.
"—In other words, Barusu has met the Witch of Greed?" Slowly narrowing her pink eyes, she quietly stared at Subaru.
"…Happened on the first day, when I went into the tomb to bring Emilia back. I asked her about Ryuzu and…some other stuff."
" "
"Hey, what gives?"
Without revealing the details of his own Trial, Subaru explained his fleeting encounter with the Witch. Subaru was dubious about Ram's silence over the contents thereof, but she immediately gave a brief exhale.
"I see. I simply thought, it all makes sense now. For someone who had come to the Sanctuary for the first time, you have made very deft arrangements, Barusu. If anything, I am relieved to know that it is not through
Barusu's proper talents."
"Wait, is there something wrong with me being a capable man…?"
"Ha! Barusu, a capable man? Do not say that even in your sleep. It is disturbing."
"Do you have to go that far?!"
As Ram snorted, Subaru's voice went shrill. But oddly, he could not wipe away his suspicions toward Ram's demeanor. He felt like he had a little bone stuck in the back of his throat.
"Let us return to the topic at hand. This is how I understood it, but it seems there was indeed a Witch in this Sanctuary. I shudder at the thought of a time when a Witch's presence was taken for granted."
Otto sought to put the conversation back on track but ended up hugging his own shoulders as he involuntarily shivered.
"The era in which Her Lady the Witch existed was certainly long ago. Perhaps that is why you know not of it. In fact, even for me, these are
memories from another, not anything I know directly myself."
"Hearing that from someone with the same face as mine makes me feel like I've gone senile…"
"This just sounds like bad clone humor… So I take it that Echidna came here from time to time? And Beatrice came with her?"
Subaru interrupted Shima and Ryuzu's low-tension exchange with a question. Shima nodded deeply in response.
"A great many of Ryuzu Meyer's memories are of Lady Beatrice. Just as I have told you, they seem to have gotten along very pleasantly together."
Shima's memories, which accompanied a slight softening of her expression, contained within them a version of Beatrice that Subaru knew. That girl's personality, unable to deal honestly with others, had remained unchanging since four hundred years prior. Hence, she had obstinately refrained from showing others her true thoughts, keeping various feelings stuffed inside her tiny body.
—Subaru felt sadness welling up in his chest as he thought back to Beatrice, clinging to her pact and the archive of forbidden books.
"To be honest, I'm surprised that Echidna walked around with Beatrice alongside her. So far as I know, you wouldn't think she had one shred of love for Beatrice as if she was family."
"I wonder just what conversations Young Su has had with Her Lady the
Witch to make him go that far…"
"I, too, concur with our opinion. In the memories I have seen, I do not think of Her Lady the Witch as lacking in humanity as Young Su suggests… toward her daughter, her apprentice, and Ryuzu Meyer as well."
"That's… I agree with you on that."
Subaru could say it didn't match with the Echidna he knew, but that was as far as it went. It had been four centuries since her death; perhaps a period so long brought tremendous changes even to the mind of a Witch possessing such great power.
Perhaps that had resulted in a twisting of the Witch's personality, rotting her core nature.
"—Please continue your story. Up till now, you've only spoken of heartwarming memories of the past. But all of us know that a Trial doesn't end with just that."
Subaru's words made everyone present nod with various feelings in their chests.
"Life in the Sanctuary, peaceful on the surface, continued like that… So what happened?"
"What happened, you ask…?"
All by herself, Shima, the teller of the tale, lowered her gaze, murmuring with a weary voice.
Then she slowly surveyed the faces of all present.
"Ruin is what happened. And the true reason for the Sanctuary's existence came to pass."
"The real reason this place exists…?"
The energy she gave off was far from gentle, and Subaru could feel it from the cold sweat on his brow. After watching that sweat form a droplet, which then fell from his chin, Shima closed her eyes, peering under the lid of her memories once more—
"That day also, Her Lady the Witch, Lady Beatrice, and Young Ros's ancestor were in the Sanctuary. The settlement was the same as always…and I thought those days would continue onward, peaceful and unchanging forever."
6
"Truly, how can Roswaal be such an annoying person, I wonder? He is almost impossible to forgive."
Clutching her knees and red-faced as she made an adorable huff, Beatrice murmured with a whiff of anger. Seeing the girl in the dress sitting on a stump and hearing her words, Ryuzu formed a vaguely pained smile.
"Does that face of yours irk me, I wonder? If you have something to say, come right out and say it."
"…Is it not because Lady Beatrice played a prank upon me in the first place that Master Roswaal had an excuse to take revenge?"
"C-could you not refer to it as a prank, I wonder? That was a more, yes, a more refined thing than that."
Once Ryuzu pointed out the source of the conflict, Beatrice clumsily tried to justify her actions.
Since she was honest to the bone, the girl was terrible at coming up with excuses. Though Ryuzu thought that, too, was cute, the prank the adorable girl had played on Ryuzu made it something she could not simply dismiss with a laugh.
—After all, she'd twisted space, trapping her in a meandering, looping corridor.
"Opening door after door only to find the same room each time was a rather terrifying experience for me."
"…Was it using but a trifle of Dark magic, I wonder? There is no reason to be so sore about it."
"—I see. In that case, Beatrice cannot be sore whatsoever over my using countermagic to return the favor in kind. Good to know."
"Nghhh…!"
Beatrice, taken by surprise by the voice coming from behind, found her own caught in her throat. When she looked, Roswaal was there smiling as he stood behind the stump upon which both girls sat side by side.
Beatrice's rueful expression got him to nod with an especially satisfied expression.
"What a fine face you're making, Beatrice. After Teacher's reaction, I like that look the most."
"What an impudent manner of speaking!! You are nothing more than someone blessed with a wealthy family and a smidgeon of talent, fortunate to have access to the greatest teacher in the world! Do not get carried away!"
"Lady Beatrice, I believe you are only praising him…"
Beatrice flared up, but she lacked the talent to get the better of someone who was an expert at teasing, such as Roswaal.
Just like with their magic duels, Roswaal always seemed to have the upper hand. Hence, the exchanges between the pair, which flew right over Ryuzu's head, had become a daily fact of life.
"Ryuzu, do tell me if Beatrice troubles you in some way again. I shall immediately chastise her and give her butt a good spanking."
"Ha! Would this girl depend upon you in the slightest, I wonder?! Go on, you tell him."
"Thank you very much, Master Roswaal. I shall surely report to you if anything happens."
"Like what, I wonder?!"
Seeing Beatrice's shoulders droop and a betrayed look appear on her face, Ryuzu's expression softened. Roswaal nodded, looking like he was fully aware that Ryuzu would report no such thing. After that, he pensively inclined his head to the side.
"All that said, I am sorry to have interrupted your reading. Allow me to apologize in Beatrice's place."
"No, that is too gracious of you. Besides, I hesitate to call it reading just yet."
Shaking her head at Roswaal and his apology, Ryuzu stroked the pages of the book on her lap. This was one of the books Echidna had provided for the residents of the settlement who were unable to read but wanted to learn.
She had yet to have a firm comprehension of I-script, but she was right in the middle of learning that bit by bit.
"Hmm… Can reading books be anything but good, I wonder? Reading leads to a more bountiful life."
"Beatrice has truly taken the words straight out of Teacher's mouth— Actually, Beatrice, since you're already with her often, how about becoming
Ryuzu's teacher?"
"You mean Betty would be this girl's…?"
For an instant, Roswaal's suggestion made Beatrice widen her eyes, reacting as if he was teasing her. But Ryuzu was more surprised than Beatrice.
"Th-that is simply—! I could not impose such trouble on Lady Beatrice, who is very busy…"
"—Is it a real problem, I wonder? This much is child's play."
Perhaps out of her sense of rivalry toward Roswaal, Beatrice crossed her arms and accepted the role of Ryuzu's teacher. When Ryuzu was agape at her reply, Beatrice asked, adding a snort at the end, "What, I wonder? If you do not like it, Betty has no intention of forcing it upon you. It is not as if Betty is particularly enthusiastic about—"
"No, if Lady Beatrice will teach me, I would be very happy."
Beatrice had been the impetus behind Ryuzu wanting to study how to read in the first place. Having fallen in love with the sight of her always carrying around that large book, Ryuzu came to hold an interest in reading all her own. If she could ask Beatrice to teach her, that would be a great honor.
"I-if you insist, what choice is there, I wonder? You are a truly fortunate girl."
Instantly, Beatrice averted her face, blushing happily as she responded to Ryuzu's plea. Toying with her extravagantly curled hair, Beatrice seemed set to continue rambling—
"Lady Beatrice?"
"…Is Mother calling, I wonder?"
Abruptly, the nature of Beatrice's expression underwent a great change as
she hopped down from the stump. Glancing at the perplexed Ryuzu out of the corner of her eye, she proceeded to motion her hand toward a house close by.
"Roswaal, Mother is calling for you as well. Is this an emergency situation, I wonder?"
"I understand. You do as Teacher instructs. I shall…"
With that exchange of few words, Beatrice smoothly glided through the open doorway. But she was not seen on the other side of the door; she had surely crossed over to a distant place the moment she passed the portal's threshold.
"—The circumstances have changed somewhat. For the moment, come with me to where Teacher is."
The look on Roswaal's face allowed no second-guessing. Without a word, Ryuzu could not help but obey.
—She felt as if she sensed some kind of disquieting wind at the horizon of the cloudless sky.
7
—The atmosphere had grown heavy and strained. Ryuzu felt like her own blood was drying up.
"We should flee from here immediately. We are not prepared yet; if he appears in this place here and now, the project will be ruined. Rebuilding will become impossible."
" "
"Teacher! The time we are spending here is precious! He…he has already come this far!"
In the hut, Roswaal pounded the table, his voice ragged.
The boy normally placed such an emphasis on behaving with composure, but in this moment, he sounded stressed, nervous, and frayed. Echidna the Witch closed her eyes, not responding to his pleas.
Seeing his teacher pressed into silence made Roswaal beg even more earnestly, his voice high-pitched, that they should evacuate.
"We must not hesitate. His power is too overwhelming! I cannot be of service to Teacher just yet. If you tell me to be your shield, I shall gladly be your shield. However, without countermeasures planned, we cannot…"
"It is not that I lack for methods. To a certain extent, the Sanctuary already meets my expectations."
"Eh…?"
Opening her eyes, Echidna glared at the grainy table. Judging from his expression, Roswaal was flabbergasted by her words, causing Echidna to sigh at her apprentice's surprise.
"The theoretical structure is complete. Sufficient amounts of the necessary blood that's requisite for the barrier should already have been assembled at the Cathedral."
"Th-then…!"
"—However, there is not yet a sufficient 'core' with which to activate the barrier."
Roswaal was on the verge of seizing a new hope, but Echidna's chagrintinged words made him draw in his breath.
"Without the all-important core, the barrier cannot be activated. Without the barrier, it is impossible to repel him. If we cannot maintain a complete security net, he will surely destroy us."
Roswaal, ruefully hanging his head, pounded the table with his strongest fist up to that point. The legs of the old table creaked, and Roswaal's torn fist oozed with blood.
Silence filled the interior of the cabin. The passage of time slowed, and the weight of the air could be felt on one's skin.
It was then, as if to defy that gloomy atmosphere, that one timid girl— Ryuzu—raised her hand.
"Regarding that insufficient core…might I be of service?"
"Ryuzu…?!"
As Roswaal gaped, Ryuzu slowly shook her head and looked at Echidna.
"I heard of this some time ago. Namely, that I meet the conditions for the core of the barrier that Lady Echidna is building…and that this is why you set eyes upon me."
"—From Beatrice, perhaps?"
"Yes."
With quiet resolve resting within her, Ryuzu nodded in response to Echidna's question without fear. Her bold demeanor made Echidna the Witch open her eyes wide. Ryuzu recalled when Echidna had been surprised by Roswaal. She took a small measure of pride at having been able to do the same.
"According to Lady Beatrice, Lady Echidna had told her that I am extremely suitable for meeting these conditions. Also, I heard that Lady Beatrice has taken samples of my mana several times during these last months for this purpose."
"If that is what Beatrice told you, then I suppose it must be so."
With an ever so slightly hostile manner of speech, Echidna sincerely inspected Ryuzu before continuing.
"Certainly, the possibility you could function as a core for the barrier is high. With you as the core, the establishment of the Sanctuary is theoretically complete. However, that would have to wait until after your mana becomes more accustomed to this land."
"So it cannot yet be done right now?"
"This is no ordinary barrier. This barrier must not be broken. For that sake, I have moved things forward meticulously. Over the course of years, I have gathered people with both human and demi-human blood in this land, establishing the scale requisite for this barrier. You could become the final push. But…"
Breaking off his words, Roswaal gnashed his teeth.
Ryuzu did not understand such difficult language. But if it was so difficult that even Echidna and Roswaal collaborating had not brought success, the wall that blocked their path was stern indeed.
However, though Ryuzu did not understand these complexities, there was one thing she did comprehend.
"The two of you surely have some way of overcoming this, do you not?" Sensing their breaths catch, Ryuzu felt encouraged to go on.
"…I was saved by Lady Echidna and Master Roswaal. I have been happy coming to this land and having the chance to live without being shunned or despised. If there is a way to repay you for such precious time, I believe it will grant meaning to my life."
Bit by bit, Ryuzu put the feelings welling up inside her into words.
Echidna coolly peered at her with her black eyes as Ryuzu clenched her fists so tightly that her hands turned white. In her stead, the expression on Roswaal, standing beside the Witch, ran thick with anguish.
"T-Teacher…"
Roswaal called out to Echidna, seemingly gasping for air. This was not an address out of trust for his teacher's judgment. It was an address carrying the implication, You cannot mean…
But Echidna did not give her apprentice his desired reply. She kept her black eyes trained upon Ryuzu.
"—We will build the Sanctuary's core by placing your Odo into a catalyst. By doing this, the time you will require to acclimate to the soil's mana shall be shortened, allowing us to render the barrier functional."
"If this is done, this land…this Sanctuary can be saved?"
"That would depend on the definition of salvation. However, it would surely become possible to fend off the menace closing in on us at this very moment. Per my original aim, with a long enough reprieve, we can refine our countermeasures as well."
Echidna's reply was not to put her mind at ease. The Witch did not deal in optimistic assessments or sugarcoating of any kind.
If Echidna declared she could do it, she could make it a reality.
In other words, Ryuzu could repay the favor shown to her at the cost of her own life.
"…When can you begin?"
"—We can begin right away. A facility has been prepared to accept the core. What remains is the purification of the magic crystal that will become the catalyst and readying the ritual linked to the blood of the residents gathered at the Cathedral. The problem is buying time against the menace…"
"That…is my duty. Isn't that right, Teacher? I shall strive to give everything until my dying breath… Ryuzu."
Concealing the grief deep within his eyes, Roswaal turned toward Ryuzu. There was no hint of frailty in the youth's expression—only respect for Ryuzu, whose resolve was as firm as his own.
"I am sorry. I lack the power to save Teacher all on my own."
"Not at all. To me, Master Roswaal, you, too, are my benefactor, granting me time I would not replace for anything. I am grateful for this. There is nothing to resent you for whatsoever."
Placing a hand over her meager breasts, Ryuzu slowly shook her head side to side. Roswaal exhaled at her reply, whereupon he shifted his gaze toward Echidna.
"I will depart immediately. Teacher, take care of preparing the barrier… and please summon Beatrice back."
"…Would it not be better if Beatrice does not know?"
"If you do not call Beatrice now, that girl will resent you and me both for the rest of her life… Albeit, perhaps it will be so even if you do summon her."
"I see… Understood. I shall call her shortly."
Seeing Echidna nod, Roswaal headed toward the entrance to the cabin. Midway, he placed a hand on Ryuzu's shoulder, putting substantial strength into it for only a moment.
The trembling of his fingers was more proof than anything that Roswaal would miss Ryuzu's presence. "…Lady Beatrice."
Closing her eyes, Ryuzu murmured the name of a little girl.
As Ryuzu thought of that obstinate girl who was not present, her heart ached terribly.
8
—Once more, the scene flipped upside down.
"Ga, hu…!"
With an anguished cry, the young man coughed up a clump of blood as he flew parallel to the ground.
The sight of him ferociously kicking up a cloud of dust as he rolled made Ryuzu unable to do anything but gape, forgetting even to breathe.
Overwhelming. It was truly an overwhelming spectacle.
At the young age of sixteen, he wielded the six colors of magic, attaining the excellence of what was essentially the highest sorcery mankind was capable of reaching. He had gained a Witch as a teacher, yet he had not lost his drive to improve further still. He was a true genius—there was no more suitable word in that world than genius to describe Roswaal A. Mathers.
It was this Roswaal who lay upon the ground, out of breath and spewing bloody froth.
Could one call such a spectacle anything but a nightmare? Was there any option but to be aghast?
"…You still want more?"
Gloomily, a languid-seeming man peered down at Roswaal as he spoke those words.
His age was twenty, more or less. His hair, colored a charred brown, was tied in the back, and the unhealthy-looking bags under his eyes were those of a sickly individual. The color of his face was poor, and his posture was crooked. He gave off the impression of one wholly divorced from the word vitality, seeming so lethargic that he barely managed to put on clothes and walk around. However, that outfit was the only thing striking and eccentric about him.
He was clad in clothing reminiscent of a jester's, yet his posture contained not even the slightest shred of cheer. As the man walked forward, he kicked Roswaal as if amusing himself with a pebble, blood spattering up as Roswaal was sent flying in agony.
"Gahhh! Guhhh! Goah…!"
"Shut up. You're annoying me. Depressing. Irritating. Pathetic. Dismal."
Seemingly grumbling to himself, the man murmured, apparently without any intention of actually speaking to others. However, with each word, each step, the damage to Roswaal's flesh increased. His bones creaked, his flesh exploded, and Roswaal's body crumpled, seemingly being crushed by the air as bloody tears spilled out from him.
"Well done. Very well done. You've tried very hard. You didn't beat me, but you tried very, very hard. The fact that you tried so hard is good, right?
…It's useless to try anymore, you know."
"What nonsense are you…? If I do not stop you here…gu, ah! Aaaaagh!!" "That stuff weighs down your spirit the most. It makes your chest go bad. Makes your mood all gloomy."
When Roswaal would not obey his words to give in, the man bent a knee with an attitude of disgust. Letting out a sigh, seemingly in a dismal mood, the man poked a finger against Roswaal's chest.
—The next moment, Roswaal let up a scream as his limbs crumpled and twisted, his blood and flesh ruined.
"I really hate this. It really gets me down. Me doing twisted stuff like this is really the worst. It's dismal. It's lame. It's disheartening. It's dreary. It's withering. It's the worst. Worst of the worst of the worst—so depressing."
"Ah—"
As Roswaal listened to those melancholic words that seemed to seep into his heart, the final murmured word seemed to land a decisive blow. Unable to withstand the additional pressure, Roswaal's torso was "crushed."
He coughed up a great quantity of blood, enough to convince anyone his torso had been pulped right at its center, his internal organs pushed up through his mouth. The whites of his eyes were bared, his limbs convulsed, and Roswaal fell silent.
"Ahhh, ahhh, aaah, what. What, what. What's with thiiiis. I really hate this, my chest feels bad. My mood's sinking. My head's heavy. It's depressing. Depressing, depressing,
depressingdepressingdepressingdepressing—"
As Roswaal sank into a sea of blood, not moving a muscle, the man continued to vent gloomily.
Roswaal's grand demise and the unorthodox man who had inflicted it— unable to do anything but watch the scene to its conclusion, Ryuzu, who had forgotten even to breathe, belatedly remembered how to do so at that late moment—
"Ahhh…? My heart is heavy, but it seems like there's someone over there?"
"—!"
The instant a slight bit of air passed into her lungs, the man's attention turned in her direction.
That fact left Ryuzu astonished. Ryuzu had been peeking at the battle from a cabin some distance away. The man had noticed her from her gaze through a gap in the crude wall and the slightest of breaths she had taken.
"Hey, you know, I'm noooot doin' all this 'cause I want to. Taking lives pains my heart. Hearing shrieks ruins my mood. Being cursed by other people means a dreary life… Would you save me some time?"
"Eep."
"…Depressing."
With Ryuzu unable to move, unable to speak, the man turned a palm toward the cabin where she was frozen in place. She did not understand the principles behind it, but Ryuzu took this as the man serving her a death sentence.
Roswaal had been crushed by some kind of incomprehensible power. And now Ryuzu's body would be contorted by this same— "Al…goaaaaa!!"
There came a roar that literally spat flecks of blood as it summoned explosive flames, dyeing the world crimson.
An enormous amount of heat emerged from the fallen Roswaal's raised hand. The mysterious man was assaulted by flames that seemed intent on reducing him to ashes. This was scarlet hellfire spawned from a plane of scorching heat. The tall, thin man, a menace beyond human comprehension, was suddenly assaulted from behind, his very soul burned to a—
"Breaking a sweat is so depressing."
Murmuring melancholically, the man pounded the hellish flames into the ground before they arrived.
The incandescent red sphere should have scorched the man to ash, searing him out of the world altogether. Yet, it had failed to singe even a single strand of the man's hair, turning into a tiny red clump that tumbled onto the ground.
"I'm rather surprised that you haven't vanished yet. Having to use my power is so depressing, I just want to die."
When the grumbling man clenched his upraised hand, the gesture caused the sphere that had fallen to the ground to burst apart. The sound of scalding heat scorching the air echoed but once—then it dissipated, its mana completely exhausted.
—It was magic that Roswaal, on death's door, had cast with the whole of his body and spirit, hoping for a miraculous turnaround.
He'd wrung his dying breaths, and all he'd accomplished was making the strange man break a sweat. The only matter that remained was whose death —Roswaal's or Ryuzu's—would precede the other's by a few scant seconds. "Damn you, Devil of Melancholy—!"
"What a terrible nickname. It dampens my spirits. Do you think I ended up this way by choice, hmm?"
"Even if your life has been twisted or corrupted somehow…you became your current self through the choices you made, no matter how limited they were. Don't try to pass yourself off as a victim…Devil of Melancholy,
Hector!"
"A sound argument. My ears hurt. It makes me feel bad. Hmm. Truly, I do not get along well with you. That's why—"
Cutting off his own words, the man—Hector—turned his palm toward Roswaal.
"—Rgh, ghh!"
"Your bones are clattering. Your internal organs are squishing. Your heart's cracking. What are you gonna do now, hmm?"
The instant Hector spoke in a low voice, an anguished cry resounded. It was the cry of Roswaal's impending death.
This time, Roswaal truly ceased to move. Hector paid him but a glance before languidly turning back around. He looked toward the cabin Ryuzu was in—and without warning, it was crushed under the strain. "—Uuugh, aah?!"
She was not able to endure it for even a single second.
She was smashed from above by a force that was far greater than her own mass. By some miracle, she fell forward as she collapsed to the floor; had her posture been even slightly different, her joints would have surely been bent backward and snapped.
However, that miracle achieved nothing beyond mitigating some of the agony prior to her death.
"If she isn't resisting, she's not Echidna. And if she's not Echidna, who cares about her, hmm?"
"—Wha?"
Her entire body enveloped by some inescapable strain, she felt as if she were being crushed by the air. Right after she thought Hector's distant voice would be the last thing she knew in this world, that strain suddenly vanished.
Her breaths were ragged. Her face was marred by tears and drool. Ryuzu wheezed as she lifted up her face.
"Given the situation, it is most difficult to say I've arrived on time." There, behind the collapsed cabin, stood a white-haired Witch.
Somehow, someway, the Witch had caused the summoned force to vanish. The sight of this made Hector raise his eyebrows.
"…No, you came just in time. Your apprentice slowed me down, gallantly delaying me as a result, you see. Thanks to that, not a single thing has gone according to schedule. It dampens my mood. Really, it does."
"That style of speech… You have not changed at all. You're exactly the same as you were when we parted ways."
"Your manner of talking is the same as always, too. How did you end up with such an uncute way of speaking, I wonder? Even though you were so cute back then…"
Echidna removed her gaze from the lamenting Hector, looking at Roswaal, who lay motionless, jumbled in a pool of blood. Echidna narrowed her eyes slightly at the sight of her apprentice having fulfilled his duty to the bitter end.
"…My chest hurts more than I expected. I cannot remain objective in regards to this result…"
"In a case like this, remaining composed and without emotion would be far creepier, would it not? If you want to cry, take at least enough time to do so. I am not that heartless."
"You are the very one who harmed him so. How dare you speak such words?"
Their exchange was barbed. This pair of apparent acquaintances most certainly did not have a friendly relationship.
In contrast to Echidna, who kept her distance, Hector behaved how he normally would. There was no room to doubt Echidna's might, but Hector was also a being who exceeded all bounds of sense. Ryuzu could not even conceive of another getting the better of him in battle.
"—Just how long are you going to lay there pathetically like that?"
"…Eh?"
Suddenly seized by the collar, Ryuzu, who had been prone, found herself hauled upward. Surprised by this turn of events, she noticed by her side was a familiar girl, looking down on her with a sour face.
"Lady…Beatrice…"
"This isn't the time to lay about in a daze. All you are doing here is slowing others down… Would you leave with haste while Mother is buying time for you, I wonder?"
"B-but…Master Roswaal and Lady Echidna told me to wait here."
"…That Roswaal is now a mess on the floor. Look here, will Betty go with you, I wonder? This is doing as Mother told her—the one method
through which this situation can be turned around."
Unsurprisingly, even Beatrice could not maintain her cool at the sight of Roswaal fallen and the presence of that unfathomable Devil. She was putting excessive strength into her cheeks, her expression one of scolding as she looked toward Ryuzu.
Even so, Beatrice was far stronger compared with her, who was able only to shrink and cower.
"The preparations are complete. Did Mother inform you of this, I wonder? Even you would fully understand, she said."
"—I understand."
Receiving Echidna's verbal message, Ryuzu's breath caught as she nodded. In contrast, Beatrice did not look like she understood the true meaning of those words, but this was not a place where Ryuzu had the luxury of explaining.
Behind the pair, the air grew strained as the excited mana within eagerly transformed into power. Hostilities had already commenced; a battle had begun between supernatural entities beyond the ken of normal human beings.
To reel victory in from that battle, which was beyond the realm of human comprehension, they had to leave.
"Let us go, Lady Beatrice. Where have the preparations been made?"
"…In the forest, at a building that's emitting a disgusting scent. All Mother said to do was to take you there, through the bothersome means of Betty's Passage, I wonder?"
Even as her implicit dissatisfaction over this slipshod explanation oozed out of her, Beatrice led Ryuzu away from the battlefield by hand. As Witch confronted Devil, they needed to make it to their destination before they were enveloped by the pair's mutual battle.
" "
One final time, Ryuzu bowed her head toward Echidna's back.
The Witch paid no heed to Ryuzu. But she had to do it anyway.
—After all, no opportunity to exchange words with her, or to convey her thanks, would ever come again.
9
The crystal was blue, transparent, and so beautiful that it made Ryuzu tremble.
"Do not become so charmed that you touch it by accident. Would you become part of the crystal, I wonder?"
Beatrice was warning Ryuzu not to be so enraptured, so enthralled by the crystal that she would do something rash.
The magic crystal held such magical energy as to ensnare the mind, enough to instill one with the desire to do something that would be considered rash. Coming back to her senses, Ryuzu hurriedly went "I'm sorry!" and bowed her head. To be entranced by a magic crystal at a time like this…
"It contains such a great amount of mana that it is no wonder for you to be intoxicated by it… Now, what do we do from here? All I heard from Mother was to bring you here."
"Even so, Lady Beatrice, you faithfully did as Lady Echidna told you."
"Is that not par for the course, I wonder? To Betty, Mother is absolute… You and the residents here are blessed to have her. Once we safely resolve all this, will you work diligently to repay her, I wonder?"
Beatrice responded to Ryuzu's words with a snort and what came off as a rather haughty attitude. Ryuzu looked back fondly upon the time she took such statements at face value, rendering her deeply apologetic.
Albeit, by that time, she understood this was a form of the girl's difficultto-discern gentleness and an expression of her deep affection.
—It would have been so wonderful to continue spending time with
Beatrice like that.
"—Right now, you are smiling with a rather disconcerting look on your face."
The sharp-eyed-as-ever Beatrice pointed out the deeply sentimental face Ryuzu had shown her. But Beatrice had known Ryuzu long enough to recognize that this differed from her usual smile. The instant Ryuzu realized this, tears filled the corners of her eyes.
"I—I am very sorry…! I have a little dust in my eyes…"
"—Worry not. Do you not realize that even Betty understands you would be anxious in such a situation, I wonder? You really should keep quiet and stay right here."
Showing concern for the tearful Ryuzu, Beatrice shifted her attention beyond the facility, toward where Echidna and Roswaal had been left behind. Then she nodded to Ryuzu several times over.
"Once Betty takes Mother's side, will all be as it was, I wonder? That jerk Roswaal is on the brink of death, so I must save him quickly as well. Then after tomorrow, once more, we can…"
At a slightly rapid pace, Beatrice presented Ryuzu with a list of all the reassuring things she could think of. For but a single moment, this honest display of sympathy took Ryuzu aback in a way that was very out of place.
Immediately, the inside of her chest ran hot. Her words had provided strength. In that moment, Ryuzu was proud of Beatrice for that.
That was why—
"Lady Beatrice, thank you for looking after me for such a terribly great length of time— This is farewell."
—she rejected that solace, deciding to step barefoot toward an ordeal of thorns.
"—Eh?"
Beatrice's voice was weak as she blinked, not understanding.
Ryuzu looked back as Beatrice stared straight at her in astonishment.
Hesitation and pain were welling in Beatrice's round eyes. But Ryuzu, knowing the girl's kindness, did not falter.
Up until that point, Ryuzu had immediately apologized for whatever might have displeased Beatrice. But this time alone, she absolutely could not.
"What do you mean, farewell…? Do you mean you're running away?"
"No, you are mistaken. If I ran away, I might hope to be reunited with Lady Beatrice again someday. However, this is farewell for life… I shall
never be able to speak to Lady Beatrice again."
Tightly pursing her lips, Beatrice gazed deeply into Ryuzu's eyes in search of her true intentions. This was the first time Beatrice had allowed Ryuzu to see her so desperate. Ryuzu quietly chose her words.
She chose them from among all the words within her, for this was the single most important moment of her life.
"This facility…was designed to deploy a barrier over the forest. Eventually, I was meant to become the core of that barrier…but now, there is insufficient time for the original plan."
"Time for the barrier…and that man is in the way? Then we need to…"
"He cannot be beaten merely through fighting. That conclusion was the reason for creating the Sanctuary in the first place. I imagine the reason Master Roswaal was so devoted was because he understood that if he was not, Lady Echidna could not be saved."
That was how overwhelming a being the Devil of Melancholy was.
Not even Ryuzu understood what effect activating the barrier might have against that Devil. But it was the one and only firm promise Echidna had ever made to Ryuzu.
"If the barrier is activated, this place will become a Sanctuary. It will be protected. Lady Echidna promised this to me… Therefore, I will offer up my body for its sake."
"A-are you not speaking stupidity, I wonder?! Offering up your body… What are you saying you can do?! You know nothing of magic! You know… aaa…"
With a loud voice and a rapid mouth, Beatrice closed the distance to Ryuzu. But in the middle of her own words, the clever girl arrived at the answer to the question that came from her own lips.
Aghast, Beatrice looked up at the blue magic crystal right beside them.
"With this crystal as the catalyst, you would make your Odo the core of
the barrier…? If you do that, you can overwrite the mana of the soil without any delay in time and make this forest a Sanctuary…"
"Yes. That is what Lady Echidna said."
That was the conclusion Echidna and Roswaal had agreed upon prior to the Devil launching his assault.
Beatrice stood still, already at a loss for words. She had transported the magic crystal herself. And she knew full well Ryuzu's suitability to serve as the core of the Sanctuary—
"—By your reaction, you have guaranteed this is how it will turn out as well, Lady Beatrice."
"You are wro…! Betty… Betty had no such intention…"
Voice trembling, Beatrice lifted her face as if she'd been slapped, unable to mend her composure.
"I did not do that with Mother with the intention of… Wait, no, will you wait, I wonder? Wait. C-can Betty make a personal appeal to Mother, I
wonder? Mother is soft on Betty; she will surely listen…"
"There is no time for that. A decision is required this very instant."
"Then Betty has decided to go to Mother's aid this very instant! If Mother and Betty are together, will someone like that go down in one hit, I wonder?! Betty will heal Roswaal swiftly, too, and then…"
Beatrice shook her head in denial, but her words trailed off at the end. She herself knew more than anyone how unconvincing her agonized declaration sounded.
—Beatrice was incredible. Ryuzu respected her from the bottom of her heart.
Ryuzu had always been watching her. She knew that the girl adored her mother, that her quarreling relationship with Roswaal was like one between siblings, and that she nonchalantly sent a great deal of attention Ryuzu's way.
She studied magic with the utmost earnestness, undaunted despite all Roswaal's teasing. She loved her mother, Echidna, so much, and the smile she let Ryuzu see from time to time was adorable.
"—If Betty uses Passage so that everyone escapes from here, all will be well."
" "
"Right? Shall I do so, I wonder? Such a crowd is troublesome for Betty, but Betty can make do. Pick up Roswaal when there is an opening, bring Mother along, too… Hey, and then—!"
"And after fleeing in that manner, live in fear of that man pursuing us again? Thanks to Lady Echidna and Master Roswaal, we have finally obtained a place of peace… If we abandon this, I can't help but wonder how long will it take to build a new Sanctuary?"
When Beatrice desperately tried to wring out a substitute plan, Ryuzu responded with words that were gentle but harsh.
When she saw a hurt look spread across the girl's face, a bitter sentiment ran through Ryuzu's chest as well. Beatrice was simply being kind. Ryuzu was trampling her kindness underfoot as she asserted her own opinion.
—She was betraying all the things they had done together, all the feelings they shared together, day after day.
How cruel, how selfish, how ungrateful an act was this?
"Lady Beatrice. I love this place. I truly believe it was wonderful to have been allowed to live here. I love very much the smiling faces of everyone who lives here. This place must not be lost."
" "
"I have had my fill of warm memories. I, an unwanted, taboo child, was taken in and given happiness that I did nothing to deserve… Therefore, I am satisfied."
"Can that even be possible, I wonder…? N-no matter what you think of it, the true meaning of this place was never for your sakes…!"
"Yes. I understand."
Interrupting Beatrice's words, Ryuzu nodded deeply, for that was something she already knew.
She understood the true purpose of the Sanctuary.
"This place is a place for Lady Echidna to deal with the man who pursues her."
Of course, even she understood that Echidna and Roswaal had not searched for her and others of mixed blood out of the goodness of their hearts…even though it had nonetheless granted them a new homeland and a new hope.
"Right now, I understand this is what this place, what I am for."
"Then…if you understand, then why …?"
Unable to comprehend, Beatrice weakly shook her head side to side.
Faced with Beatrice's imploring gaze, Ryuzu made a bright, cheerful smile.
"It is fine. Perhaps that was how this place began, but all the time we have spent here surely changed things. Living here, being able to speak with
Lady Beatrice, being with everyone…these are all choices that I made."
Until she had arrived at the Sanctuary, she had lived a life without ever having decided anything for herself. Cruelly treated as a half-demon by the world, Ryuzu had gone through innumerable bitter experiences despite her young age.
However, this place was different. Here, for the first time, Ryuzu had chosen how to live her life.
The gracious encounters she had experienced, the days she had spent resolved to make new friends—they were all decisions she had made herself.
So, too, was getting as close as possible to the girl clutching her book and trying to be just like her. So, too, was learning from that girl to better the imitation, tracing out a future where she would ask the girl to teach her even more things.
"I am not losing anything. I carry everything right here with me."
Even if she would never see the future she'd planned out, Ryuzu still treasured its happiness, its warmth.
"I have lived happily here. That is why I must go. I will protect that happiness. Lady Beatrice, I thank you very much for the compassion you have
shown me many times over and many times today."
Far away, roars from beyond the building echoed.
The ground trembled, an aftershock of the battle between superhuman beings shaking the very atmosphere itself. The change was gradual, but the roars were without question drawing nearer, as if fate itself was demanding that the pair come to a true decision.
For a single moment, Ryuzu closed her eyes. She deftly concealed the faint unease within her. Directly in front of her, Beatrice put her head to work, desperately searching for words…for the magic words that would make Ryuzu's will yield, Ryuzu's feelings waver, and make Ryuzu go back on her view.
—Such convenient magic existed nowhere in the world.
"Lady Beatrice."
When her name was called, Beatrice lifted her face, seemingly clinging to
the faintest of hopes. She anticipated Ryuzu herself weaving the magic words that had not come to Beatrice herself. But— "Make sure you do not eat too many sweets."
—in place of magic words, Ryuzu made a final request to Beatrice.
After all, when they had tea together, Beatrice was a girl who simply could not keep her hands off the sweets. She was too cute to have it go to waste by getting fat. Ryuzu wanted her teeth to stay pretty, too.
—Not that Beatrice let others see it much, but when she smiled, she was truly an adorable girl.
Turning back, Ryuzu looked at the deep, glimmering, seemingly bewitching magic crystal. All she had to do…was to touch it.
Surely, there would be neither pain nor suffering.
Though she resigned herself to her end, she did not know how it would come. Ryuzu thought she was pathetic for finding that just a tiny bit scary.
When she was swallowed up by that light, she could make the Sanctuary real.