[ Priscilla took off her shoes, revealing her bare feet, and extended them towards Subaru.
"Kneel on the ground and taste the shame and humiliation. You will lick my feet like an ugly stray dog, like a suckling infant. If you can do it, I'll consider your proposal."
"WHAT—?!"
"It's fine if you don't want to. You can also choose to preserve your insignificant dignity and watch your master, whom you wag your tail to flatter, become a corpse in the wilderness. Either way, it will amuse me." ]
.....
〜Inside, the Theater〜
"Huh? No way? You're kidding, right?"
"Wh-why would you do something like this?!"
Emilia and Beatrice were stunned.
"…Sigh, that's very much how a princess would act."
Al sighed.
"What?! You can lick feet? That dirty part of the body?"
Felt exclaimed.
"Such humiliation…"
Yuriusu couldn't help but clench his fist.
"Subaru…"
Subaru is a good person and shouldn't suffer this.
Reinhard thought.
"Natsuki-san… isn't going to lick them, is he?"
Otto said uncertainly.
"Don't worry, Otto-bro. Boss would never do that!"
Garfiel had faith in his boss.
"To think they'd make Subaru-kun…"
Rem clenched her fist.
"Ho-how could this be… and…"
Natsuki Rem, wearing a kimono, could see her own feet by looking down.
She looked down at her feet, lost in thought.
"Hmph."
Priscilla smiled, hoping to see Subaru's embarrassed, humiliated, and feigning-reluctance expression and actions.
—
[ In the screen, Subaru looked hesitant, then…
"I-I… understand."
Subaru slowly knelt on the ground, cupped Priscilla's feet in his hands, and then his mouth slowly moved closer to her feet… ]
.....
〜Inside, the Theater〜
"Ah, Boss!"
This is too humiliating, Boss!
"Natsuki-san is really going to lick them?!"
"Subaru! Are you really going to do this?"
Yuriusu was somewhat shocked.
"Tsk, how boring."
Priscilla, outside the scree,n said so.
—
[ "Ah, it seems you… are truly just an incredibly boring man."
Priscilla angrily kicked Subaru away.
"Your performance is neither loyalty nor faithfulness, but something more disgusting. Like a dog's dependence, like a pig's desires. You are a slothful pig, filled only with desire. And a pig's desires are the ugliest."
Subaru's plea for help to Priscilla also ended in failure.
....
"…I need to change my thinking, I must change my thinking. I don't have time to dwell on those idiots now."
After being driven away, Subaru walked through the crowded streets. ]
.....
〜Inside, the Theater〜
"It failed… but thankfully, I didn't actually lick them."
Otto said.
"So boring. To do anything for one's own desires, I was expecting that clown to have more of a reaction."
Priscilla said.
"Ah! Mimi has appeared! Mimi—making a flashy entrance!"
Mimi shouted energetically.
—
[ "Hey! Big brother over there! You look like you're in a lot of pain! Are you okay?"
"Huh?"
Subaru looked down at the beast-person, Mimic.
"Big brother is bleeding? Mimi sometimes bites her mouth when eating, Mimi understands. It hurts so much at times like this! Do you want to cry? Do you want to cry?"
"It wasn't for such a childish reason when I was learning… Oh, I'm busy, goodbye."
"Hey, Mimi. Don't bother others. Don't be mischievous."
Anastasia appeared. ]
.....
〜Inside, the Theater〜
"Oh my, I didn't expect my first meeting with Natsuki to be here."
Anastasia, outside the screen, commented.
—
[ "If you just want to chat, can I go now? I'm not like you; I have plenty of things to do."
"What? You're really not giving me any face. What are you busy with?"
"I need to meet up with my companions. Then I need to find a dragon carriage to leave the royal capital, and there are plenty of other things to handle."
"Oh? Looking for a dragon carriage. By the way, do you have any leads? Actually, it's quite a hassle to find a dragon carriage in the royal capital right now. It's said that a lot of trouble has occurred. Someone is buying up dragon carriages all over the royal capital. For various reasons, it's inevitable to go through a lot of trouble to hire a dragon carriage in the royal capital."
"…Are you kidding me?"
Subaru showed a worried expression.
"Young lady, don't be so fickle."
Mimi tugged on Anastasia's sleeve.
"A dragon carriage is that lizard, right? Why don't you just send it to big brother?"
"Hmm… I, just now, that, my attitude wasn't good…"
Subaru proactively showed weakness, wanting to seek help. ]
.....
〜Inside, the Theater〜
"By the way, why does Subaru need a dragon carriage? His combat power is clearly insufficient."
Yuriusu said.
"Could it be that he's going to repeat the same mistake as last time… No, they seem to be leaving much earlier than last time, perhaps he wants to pick them up?"
Otto proposed a possibility.
"It looks like a 'fight and run' strategy."
Anastasia said.
"Of course, this is just my guess."
"Suwen guessed correctly. In this situation, there's no other reason to borrow a dragon carriage."
Anastasia affirmed Otto's uncertain guess.
—
[ Then, the two chose a place to eat, and Subaru successfully borrowed a dragon carriage.
Subaru and Rem got into the dragon carriage, preparing to head to Roswaal's mansion. ]
.....
〜Inside, the Theater〜
"Finally, something succeeded."
Otto said.
"It's just a dragon carriage, after all. It's a favor I can easily do, so I'll help."
Anastasia replied.
"Ah, me?"
Otto pointed at the screen.
—
[ "Subaru-kun… there's a crowd gathered on the road ahead."
"What?"
Rem, driving the dragon carriage, said vigilantly as she looked at the people in front of them.
"Hey! Can you stop the dragon carriage? Want to exchange some information!"
Otto Suwen shouted.
After a brief conversation, Subaru seemed to have thought of something and said:
"Otto, I want to talk to you about something… No, about some business."
"What business do you want to discuss? Please, tell me. Esteemed guest, what do you need?"
"I'll buy all the oil on your dragon carriage. But you have to run errands for me."
There were not only Otto but also many traveling merchants.
Subaru shouted to them:
"Anyone willing to help me run errands with their dragon carriages, come and talk to me about the price!"
Then, including Otto, ten out of fourteen traveling merchants decided to follow.
And Subaru explained to Otto that he intended to transport people from the village.
It seems Otto, outside the screen, guessed correctly; he did want to take them away.
A large group set off towards the mansion, and Subaru fell asleep.
....
"…Subaru-kun, I'm sorry, please wake up quickly. Subaru-kun."
Subaru was awakened by Rem.
The surroundings had become dark; it seemed to be night.
Since Subaru's help was needed, Rem had to wake him up.
Because it was too dark, lighting was needed, so Subaru took out a magical device called a mobile phone to illuminate the area.
"Natsuki-san, what is this thing? I've never seen such a tool before."
Otto asked curiously.
The other traveling merchants, especially a burly man wearing a headscarf, were also very interested.
But Subaru wasn't in the mood right now and gave a brief, dismissive answer.
Then… ]
.....
〜Inside, the Theater〜
"Someone is missing."
Wilhelm said in a deep voice.
Wilhelm's observation was correct; the burly man with the headscarf and another person had disappeared.
"What's going on?!"
Emilia exclaimed.
—
[ "What's wrong, Natsuki-san, are you looking for something?"
"Of course, I'm looking for your companion. His dragon carriage was right here earlier, the one belonging to the boss who wears a headscarf and looks a bit old-fashioned. Where did he go?"
"What are you talking about? There was never a dragon carriage there."
"…What?" ]
.....
〜Inside, the Theater〜
"The White Whale!"
Wilhelm immediately realized what was happening.
—
[ "…What's going on?"
Subaru was very confused. A fog seemed to rise here.
He used the light from his phone—
A giant eyeball looked at Natsuki Subaru. ]
....