The Royal Capital was disappearing behind us.
I watched through the carriage window as the walls shrank into the distance, the noise of the city thinning out little by little until it was just another memory behind us.
For the first time in a while, nobody was actively trying to kill me.
That was nice.
Suspiciously nice.
It probably wouldn't last.
Emilia sat across from me, looking out the opposite window with her usual calm expression. Rem was beside her, resting quietly after everything with the Witch Cult.
The carriage was peaceful enough that a normal person might have relaxed.
I was busy thinking about what could go wrong.
Again.
Planning existed for a reason.
Getting stabbed was unpleasant.
Fantasy protagonists seemed determined to learn that lesson through repeated personal experience.
I had no intention of joining them.
Outside, Otto was driving the carriage toward the Mathers Domain.
A good investment.
A very good investment.
After the White Whale was defeated, Anastasia's trade routes had opened again, and Otto's oil shipments had finally gone through without getting swallowed by disaster.
His money problems had eased up, and he no longer looked like debt was about to crawl out of the ground and eat him alive.
Now he was attached to Emilia's camp like a man who appreciated not being ruined financially.
Reasonable.
I approved.
From the driver's seat, Otto glanced back over his shoulder.
"Natsuki-san, if you keep staring out the window like that, I'm going to start thinking you're plotting something."
"I am plotting something."
"That's exactly what I was afraid of."
Emilia turned her head toward me. "Subaru-kun, why are you always this tense when you travel?"
"Keeps me alive."
She blinked once, then sighed. "That doesn't sound healthy."
"It's very healthy. It means I'm paying attention."
Otto gave a dry laugh from the front. "That's one way to describe it."
I leaned back in my seat and folded my arms. "You say that like you're not also benefiting from my excellent judgment."
"I'm benefiting from the fact that you paid me to drive," Otto said. "That's a much simpler explanation."
"Money is just judgment with better branding."
Emilia stared at me for a second, then laughed despite herself.
Good.
Mood stable.
For now.
The carriage kept rolling.
After a moment, Emilia's expression softened a little. "Are you still feeling unwell?"
Felix told me to reover for at least two months.
I'll gladly do that! Why not? You should've said 6 months. Who wants to work? Well, I don't actually work but who cares?
"I'm recovering," I said.
"That's not really an answer."
"It's the best answer I have."
Emilia laughed again.
Good.
The carriage continued onward, the road stretching out ahead of us in long, quiet lines.
Rem had been silent for most of the ride, but I noticed the way she kept looking between Emilia and me.
Well, I don't really understand the way she kept looking but yeah, she looked anxious.
The carriage rocked gently over the road.
As the conversation faded, I closed my eyes and started sorting through the wreckage of my memory.
Arc Four.
Sanctuary.
The next major disaster.
My recollection of it was a mess.
Frederica.
Blue crystal.
Sanctuary.
Garfiel.
Roswaal.
Trials.
Beatrice.
Rabbits.
That was it.
That was my strategy guide.
No details.
No instructions.
No explanations.
Just disconnected keywords floating around in my head like abandoned browser tabs.
Freakin' hell.
I frowned.
The annoying part wasn't that I didn't know enough.
It was that I knew there was more, but couldn't remember it.
Like remembering the ending of a story and forgetting everything in the middle.
Somewhere in that missing section was the answer to surviving Sanctuary.
Unfortunately, my brain had decided to keep only the most useless pieces.
Angry tiger.
Useful.
Blue crystal.
Very helpful.
Rabbits.
Extremely helpful.
At least one of those rabbits apparently ate people.
I did not appreciate that.
I preferred rabbits that stayed on plates.
The carriage rolled on.
Then another problem came to mind.
Elsa.
Meili.
The mansion attack.
Unlike Sanctuary, this one had a simple answer.
Money.
Money solved a lot of problems.
Sometimes it even solved people.
Before leaving the Capital, I had asked Emilia to fund extra protection around the mansion. She agreed immediately once I told her what was coming.
The Iron Fang had accepted the job of guarding the mansion until my return.
Ricardo had looked at me like I was either insane or very well-informed.
Maybe both.
I had told them exactly what they needed to know.
Two intruders.
One woman with knives and a habit of refusing to stay dead.
One little girl controlling mabeasts.
Secure the mansion.
Protect the people inside.
Do not let the attackers reach the children.
That was the job.
Whether they won or not, I couldn't know for certain.
But at the very least, Elsa would not be walking into an undefended mansion full of easy victims.
If danger wanted to come, it could deal with professionals.
I had no intention of doing it myself.
The wheels kept turning.
Otto's voice drifted back from the front again. "You've gone quiet."
"I'm thinking."
"That's usually when I get worried."
"You should be worried less often."
"I'd love to, but your face makes that difficult."
The road continued to stretch ahead of us, and eventually the familiar outskirts of the Mathers Domain came into view.
The village was empty.
Not just quiet.
Empty.
The kind of empty that made the air feel wrong.
No villagers in the streets.
No children running around.
No signs of daily life.
Just stillness.
Otto slowed the carriage as we approached the center of Irlam Village, his expression tightening when he saw the lack of people.
"This is… more deserted than I expected."
"Yeah," I said.
Emilia looked out the window, her brows drawing together. "Everyone's gone."
"Evacuated," I said. "Or moved."
Otto glanced back at me. "You say that like you knew."
"I did."
He stared at me for a second, then sighed. "Of course you did."
I didn't answer.
The carriage rolled to a stop.
Ahead of us stood the Roswaal Mansion, silent and waiting like a stage after the actors had already left.
Roswaal was gone.
The villagers were gone.
That was obvious.
Only Frederica and the newly arrived Petra remained to greet us.
Frederica stood at the front of the mansion with her hands folded neatly in front of her apron, as composed as ever. Beside her was a small girl with chestnut hair and an apron that looked just a little too big for her.
The moment Frederica saw us, she bowed.
"Welcome back," she said.
Then she stepped slightly to the side and gestured toward the girl beside her.
"This is Petra Leyte," Frederica said. "She's the new apprentice maid."
Petra straightened up and bowed quickly, looking nervous but determined. "Pleased to meet you."
Emilia's expression softened immediately. "It's nice to meet you, Petra."
Otto climbed down from the driver's seat and stretched his back.
"I still don't understand why I was asked to drive into an abandoned village, but I assume there's a reason."
"There are several reasons," I said.
"That's not comforting."
"It wasn't meant to be."
He sighed. "I'm beginning to think that's your entire philosophy."
"It's a very efficient philosophy."
Emilia looked between us, then smiled faintly. "Otto, thank you for bringing us here."
Otto straightened immediately, looking far more pleased by that than he had any right to. "Of course, Emilia-sama. It's my pleasure."
Then he glanced at me and lowered his voice. "If you're planning something dangerous, at least try not to die."
"I'll do my best."
"That's not reassuring."
"It's honest."
Frederica led us inside.
The mansion was quiet.
Too quiet.
No servants bustling through the halls.
No Roswaal waiting around to complicate things.
Just silence.
The kind that made every footstep sound too loud.
I followed Frederica through the hallways, my mind already moving ahead to the next step.
The Sanctuary.
The barrier.
The trials.
Garfiel.
Roswaal's schemes.
Beatrice.
The blue crystal.
Frederica stopped near one of the inner corridors and turned to me. "Before you go any further, there is something Master Roswaal instructed me to give you."
She reached into her apron and produced a small crystal.
Blue.
Cold.
Smooth in her palm.
I took it carefully.
The moment my fingers closed around it, I knew exactly what it was.
The key.
The thing that would matter later.
The thing that would open the way into the Sanctuary.
Frederica watched me closely. "Master Roswaal said you would understand its importance."
"I do," I said.
That was an understatement.
I understood far too much and far too little at the same time.
Frederica nodded once, as if satisfied. "Then I will leave the rest to you."
I tucked the crystal away.