The apology died on his lips. Subaru swallowed back the word he was about to say and changed his approach.
"…Thank you. For everything. After all that, I think I have my head on straighter."
"It doesn't seem you're completely over it, but I'm glad you think you're getting there. Mm, if I was able to help a little, that's just fine. If you feel whittled to the bone again, just tell me. Your sister will gently console you."
Emilia teasingly put a hand to her chest and winked.
Surely she was acting this way to lighten Subaru's feelings of guilt. But when he gazed upon her happy, older sister–ish look, the fact that she kind of seemed serious made him tremble a bit.
"The main thing is that you're feeling better. You have to work hard today, you know? Are you sleepy? You slept at such odd times."
"No need to worry. A shut-in like me holding down the fort sleeps all day and is up all night to begin with. Well, it got a bit healthier as of late."
"Just to ask, what is a shut-in anyway?"
"He is the Guardian of the Culture, always immersed in an ocean of information about the state of the world and the global economy to better protect the home day and night… The upper ranks never set a foot outside the house and even commemorate their lovers' birthdays through their screens."
To be blunt, the souls of those who did that had long risen to a higher plane of existence.
The oddness of Subaru's explanation seemed to tug at Emilia a little as she made a lovely smile. Seeing Emilia's reaction, Subaru suddenly had a thought.
"Hey, Emilia-tan, what kind of magic do you use, anyway?"
"Err, strictly speaking, I'm not a magic user. That's because I'm a spirit mage, including my pact with Puck here. What I use isn't magic but spirit arts. The principles are largely the same, though…"
"So how are magic users and spirit mages different?"
Subaru turned his neck and looked at Puck sitting on Emilia's shoulder. The little cat, realizing the conversation had shifted in his direction, stroked the fur over his belly as he explained.
"Magic users use the mana inside them when they use magic. In contrast, spirit mages use the mana in the air around them. The process is fairly different, even when the effects are the same."
"So what kind of differences are those, sensei?"
When Subaru raised his hand and asked his question, Puck, sitting in the lecturer's role, grinned like a cat in a good mood.
"Technically, it's whether a gate is used or not. The size of a gate depends on the individual magic user, but that doesn't matter much for
spirit mages. That's because you're using external mana."
"I see. So magic users bring in mana from around them through the gate, then send it back out the gate when they use magic, but spirit mages can cut out the middleman." Subaru was digesting the explanation when he tilted his head halfway. "Mm? But then that makes spirit mages way too powerful. Magic users are limited to the amount of fuel they can store inside them, but spirit mages have a free pass to use as much as they want.
There's no contest."
"You understand quickly. But it isn't quite that convenient. In the first place, the mana in the air isn't infinite…"
Puck's words trailed off as he looked up at Emilia. The girl nodded as she took over.
"And the strength of the spells a spirit mage can use is dependent on the spirit you've formed a pact with. The predisposition needed to form pacts with spirits is rare to begin with, and powerful spirits are even rarer. It's difficult to say which is better."
Subaru replied, "Mm-hmm…but it must feel pretty good to get a pact with a strong spirit, right? You must really be hot stuff, Emilia-tan. Seems like Puck is hot stuff himself, though…"
"Well, I can't really deny that I'm above average."
"Man, you just said that with a straight face; no hesitation at all rating yourself like that?"
Subaru thought his self-consciousness outclassed most, but Puck's bluntness was a level higher.
No doubt it was the age difference. A greenhorn had seen many fewer years than Mr. Great Spirit. Though, judging from the rather merry, blushy smile the Great Spirit was making, maybe he wasn't as used to flattery as he pretended to be…
"Oh, by the way, what kind of spirit is Puck, anyway? He made ice come out at the loot seller's place, but…if my memory's right, there's no ice affinity to begin with."
With the bath serving as a lecture hall, Roswaal had explained to him that the four orthodox magical affinities were fire, water, wind, and earth. The annoying light and dark affinities rounded out the six.
It was not Puck, still making a blushy smile, but Emilia who replied to Subaru's question.
"My specialty is ice, but it's actually fire mana. Fire relates mainly to temperature, so cooling that which is hot is classified as part of fire, apparently."
"Huh, is that so? Magical logic…? Magic…? Magic, huh?"
Upon hearing Emilia's explanation, Subaru felt a fondness for magic bubble up within him. Having withdrawn momentarily, Puck twitched his ears as he looked at Subaru's face once again and nodded.
"Hmm. By any chance, do you want to use magic?"
"Can I?! I mean…if I can! Super-powerful stuff, like calling down a meteor shower and—"
"Ah, well, no. Fundamentals are important, both for magic and spirit arts. Magic is not something you can learn in a day."
Subaru's hopes suddenly leaped up, only for Puck to smack them back down. Subaru wilted on the spot, then Puck twirled a whisker and added,
"But…if you simply want to experience it, we can do that." "Meaning…what?"
"Meaning, if you want to use magic, Lia and I just have to support you.
We'll use the mana inside you to use magic through you. The magic we use from the atmosphere is different from the mana inside you, so the magic
itself will come out of your gate. How about it?" Emilia rebuked Puck for his invitation.
"Puck, wait. Don't make it sound so causal. It might be dangerous." However, Subaru's feelings were set in stone.
"Sorry, Emilia-tan. I'm super happy you're worried about me…but I'm gonna do it!"
Subaru gave Emilia a congenial smile, complete with a glint of his teeth and a thumbs-up.
Subaru's action, meant to drive away all unease and anxiety, made Emilia's eyes go wide.
"Wh-why do you want to do it so much…?"
"That's obvious—so that I can live as the man I was born to be!" Subaru clenched a fist as he made the manliest cry he could.
To anyone born a man, ceasing to pursue your dreams was the same as death itself. Since arriving in another world, Subaru had never displayed as much courage as he had then and there.
—Besides, being able to use magic gave him one more option. Perhaps it would increase his chances of protecting Emilia and the others during the current loop.
Faced with Subaru's strong spirit, Emilia shook her head, abandoning all thoughts of stopping him.
"If you think it's getting dangerous, you will stop right away, understand?"
And so, with that warning, she resolved to see Subaru's battle through.
Subaru accepted Emilia's words of caution with a nice smile before turning back to Puck with bated breath.
"So what should I do first? Draw a magic circle? If you need a sacrifice, can I volunteer Beako?"
"I'm happy you seem to be getting along better with Betty. Yes, first, how about I see what affinity you are, Subaru? That's the first step to knowing what kind of magic you can use."
Subaru's expression, buoyant until that moment, instantly died when he heard Puck's suggestion. As Puck and Emilia blinked in surprise side by side, Subaru shook his head in robotic fashion.
"My…affinity…is probably…'fire'…?"
"Why the sudden pauses…?"
When Emilia asked, Subaru simply lowered his eyes. He didn't want to remember any further.
But Puck leaped off Emilia's shoulder and hovered in front of Subaru's face as he stretched his tail.
"All right, let's check. Myon myon myon myon…"
"I know the weirdo nobleman did the same thing, but isn't that, like, overkill?!"
The tip of Puck's long tail swished across Subaru's forehead as his mouth made the accompanying sound effects. Subaru wallowed in apprehension as he awaited the scan's verdict.
"Wait, I should think positively about this. Thinking back on it, Roswaal's behavior was unnatural, wasn't it? Right, he was jealous of the hidden magical talent within me. Yeah, it was jealousy. That's why he tried to convince me to just give up—"
"Wow, this is rare. Your affinity's pure Dark."
"Farewell, my magic-using life—!"
Subaru wailed at crossing into another dimension only to be blacklisted by someone else.
His glittering future was now closed, with the curtain rising on Subaru's life as nothing more than a debuffer.
"So all I need to do is practice saying, 'I've turned their defense to paper! Go, NOW!' Ha-ha-ha…"
"Ah, you have no talent at all, either. Your gate's small; at least the number is kind of okay…? But there's barely any opening, so not much is coming through."
"Shut up, I know that already! Incidentally, what does that talent thing mean, by the numbers?"
"If you spent twenty years in daily training, you might become a highend second-rate magic user."
"So I'd devote half my life and still come up short of top tier… I think I'd better give up now…"
Emilia finally wore an exasperated look when she heard Subaru hold back tears as he gave up on his dream. But it couldn't be helped. Yes, effort and trying your best were words prominently featured in Subaru's lexicon, but whether to give up on a man's impossible dream or not was a different subject.
"I just want to try the magic demonstration. What do I have to do?"
"Since it's Dark affinity, Lia can't handle it. How about something simple, like Shamak?"
"Ah, a magic smoke screen? I've never seen it myself," Emilia replied.
Apparently, it was something of such a trivial level that she'd never encountered it professionally.
The two continued their magic talk while leaving Subaru aside as he sank into deeper despair about his tiny skill tree.
"It's not fair you're in a world all by yourselves. I mean, we're talking about my magic, right? I mean, can I actually use that Shamak thing? That's kind of important here."
"Good point. Unknown magic is a scary thing. All right, this is
Shamak."
"—Eh?"
Puck, nodding in concession that Subaru had a point, made a brief incantation and waved a paw.
The next moment, Subaru's vision was shrouded in darkness. Instantly, the scene before his eyes was buried in pitch-black.
Startled, he abruptly raised his voice, but the sound never reached his ears. The profound darkness had cut off his vision from everything outside him. A shiver went up his spine at being severed from the outside world.
"There, all done."
When Subaru heard the clap of hands, he realized that he had returned to reality. Seeing Emilia in front of him when his sight returned put him at ease.
"That was just a moment, but he broke out in such a sweat… Subaru, are you all right? Do you want me to hold your hand?"
"I-I'm all right. I just lost my senses for a moment… Ah, I lost my chance to hold your hand."
While making his typically flippant comment, Subaru touched his own eyelids to make sure nothing had changed there.
"So that's a Shamak, huh? It's simple, but it's pretty strong stuff, isn't it?"
"Not at all. Anyone but a lower-grade opponent can brush it off with skill, and it can't be maintained for long. Although I could cast it on the likes of you so that you'd spend your entire life in darkness…"
"That's a scary thought!! I'd go crazy if I had to live one day like that, let alone the rest of my life!"
Subaru made a strained smile. He quietly hid his trembling fists behind him.
He didn't want to convey how the feeling of being momentarily cut off from the world had filled his entire body with terror. The instant he thought that he was alone in the world, with no one on his side, the sheer loneliness made Subaru's heart quake.
I'm pathetic. He bit the thought down and smiled to conceal his inner turmoil.
"Anyway, whether it's any use or not, I can use that magic, too, right? I wanna try that right away! I want to, but, um!"
"That's fine. I'll assist you. Lia, if his mana runs wild, it might blow up, so please move back. I don't want to get your clothes dirty."
"It's not like that's gonna happen, right?! That's, like, a super-rare case that basically never happens, right?!"
Puck smiled in silence. Emilia made a slightly sad face, counseling, "Don't be reckless, okay?" as she really did move away from him. The very outpouring of concern deepened his unease. Left in the lurch, Subaru was in an exceedingly uneasy position as events proceeded.
Puck sat down on top of Subaru's black hair and adjusted the position of his tail.
"What a prickly and uncomfortable head to sit on."
"Hey, it's not like I thought someone was going to sit on it someday! No one warned me to bring a cushion, but just, uh, help yourself, okay?"
"Nah, I'll be done and back to Lia's lovely hair in no time. So, ready to begin?"
When prompted, Subaru hesitated for just a moment, but a smile quickly came over him as he nodded. He was on something of a knife's edge of unease, but he just couldn't deny his curiosity. Having received Subaru's assent, Puck made a large nod of his own.
Then, Subaru suddenly felt his entire body get hot. He felt something besides blood running through his veins—no doubt it was the formless gush of mana stirring inside him.
He could tell that the energy inside his body was moving in accordance with Puck's hand.
"Subaru, try to picture it in your mind. Move the mana inside your body, flowing through me, by your own will. Push a portion of it out of your body through your gate. Picture it as a black cloud."
"Picture, picture. Trust me, daydreaming is totally my thing."
Subtly distorting Puck's advice, Subaru tried to picture where the energy wriggling inside his body was supposed to go.
He tried to picture the gate—the doorway at the center of his body. He pictured himself carefully opening a heavy door to make the energy inside flow out. Once outside, Subaru would generate the phenomenon by his own will—
Right around the last part, Puck murmured abruptly, "Huh, this isn't good. All of a sudden, the gate…"
Subaru didn't even have time to ask, The gate what…?
The next moment, Emilia cried out— "Are you two—?!"
A few seconds later, a black cloud spewed out with explosive force, shrouding the corner of the inner garden of Roswaal Manor.
He didn't blow up, but the result was a spectacular failure nonetheless.
5
"If I must make a conclusion, your control of your gate is too weak, so you shouldn't push it, Subaru."
"You see me like this and that's the first thing you say, damn it?!" Puck slapped his head and stuck out his tongue.
"Tee-hee-hee."
"That's not cute, you know!"
Subaru shouted at Puck as his whole body soaked up the sensation of the lawn. Lying atop the grass, Subaru felt his breaths were labored; his whole body felt unusually languid. He was as sluggish as if he had a high fever.
His limbs seemed to lack the will to move.
He'd felt something like this before.
Back on what was, in a true sense, his first day at the mansion, he'd felt
the same sluggishness after Beatrice drained his mana. That was to say, Subaru was completely out of gas at that moment.
Emilia interrupted.
"For better or worse, Subaru simply isn't used to using his gate. That's why it ignored the user's will and everything inside flew right out."
"So I didn't close the lid right… What am I, soy sauce…?"
He managed to voice his resentment, but the depletion of his strength was nothing to laugh at. He wanted to at least manage to get up, but he couldn't put any energy into his limbs or the rest of his body.
Subaru was still stuck lying on the ground when Emilia, kneeling beside him, met his gaze.
"You mustn't move. You're all out of internal mana, so behave yourself.
Maybe you should take today off work, too."
"—That's really bad!"
Emilia was scolding him like a misbehaving child when Subaru raised his voice out of the blue. Emilia blinked in surprise off to the side as Subaru deeply rued his own carelessness.
If he really did have to give up the whole day, it meant abandoning one more day he needed to put this loop in order. That was crazy, even fatal. And now his body felt like it was rusted over.
"Ughhhh…"
"Now hold on, I told you not to push it!"
"Now's when I have to push it. If I don't, I'm going to really seriously regret it later…"
It was by no means unusual for him to reap what he had sowed, but the timing was simply too awful.
Emilia, seeing Subaru's brow covered with sweat as he struggled with all his might, slumped her shoulders.
"Goodness, you really can't be helped."
Once more, Emilia's lips tapered as if she was upset with him. Subaru, not grasping the meaning behind Emilia's statement, could only lift his eyes to look at her.
"—? Emilia-tan, what's mnnff?!"
Emilia peered down at his face from above while suddenly stuffing something into his mouth. He felt something round and soft on his tongue.
Though bewildered, Emilia put a hand over his mouth and nodded to him. "Bite down."
"—?"
"Bite down…and swallow. Yes, there you go."
With Emilia tolerating no dissent, Subaru located the object in his mouth and bit down on it—hard.
A bittersweet taste swirled all around his mouth. He narrowed his eyes as his taste buds sensed it was some kind of fruit. The next moment…it hit him.
"Whoaaaaaaa—?!"
Subaru, feeling like his whole body was alight, got up then and there, practically leaping to his feet.
He felt like his blood was boiling as it coursed through his entire body, scalding heat reaching all the way to the tips of his fingers and toes. He exhaled hard, as if the air in his lungs was too hot to handle, and his knees were marching up and down all on their own.
It was around that point when Subaru realized he was standing on his own two feet.
There were still vestiges of sluggishness in every part of his body, but the crippling lethargy had vanished.
"Wh…? What was that…?"
"It's called a bokko fruit. When you eat it, it gives the mana inside your body a kick so that your gate powers up again, just enough to feel a bit better."
Apparently, the mysterious fruit was some kind of MP recovery item.
Subaru rotated his arms and, finding that nothing was wrong aside from a little fatigue, breathed a sigh of relief.
"Wow, I'm relieved. I'd never forgive myself if I got another BAD END on account of that. Thanks, Emilia-tan."
"I don't have many of them, and it's not good for the body, so I didn't really want to use it… You weren't bluffing there, were you?"
No doubt it was Subaru's genuineness that had spurred Emilia into using such a precious item on him.
Subaru responded to Emilia's prodding by sticking out his chest and boldly declaring, "Not one bit. I won't let you regret this." Then he immediately wiped all the sweat off his brow.
"But man, I was an idiot there… When this is all over I'm going to kick myself even more than before."
He carried the burden of having experienced numerous forms of death, something other people would only experience but once, but he wanted to avoid dying from embarrassment if he could at all help it.
In fact, he wanted his suicide by leaping off a cliff to be the last death he ever experienced.
The scars of having decided to end his own life ran deep. He didn't want to do that again, ever.
One death was enough for anyone. He wanted death to be the natural end of his life. Of course, the best result would be some crazy event that ended with Emilia embracing him, but—
"Man, I'm such a kid I can't even think about it, huh?"
Even though he was always so glib, he would never again casually speak the word death. Surely Subaru could only laugh at his own cowardice because he was reliving the same experiences, literally whether he wanted to or not.
Seeing the change in Subaru's expression, Emilia had a sullen look as she asked, "Are you all right? Do you think you can go to work?"
"I'll do work, and all the other stuff, too. Having you on my side is like riding an unsinkable battleship, so I'll give it all I've got."
"…Riding a… I'm not quite sure what you mean by that, but…"
"Hey, Emilia-tan, how you put that kind of makes me excited. Can you say that again?"
"You have a lewd look in your eyes, so no."
Their usual banter left Subaru laughing as he stretched his limbs and finally his back.
"Well, I'd better go face my seniors and turn over a new leaf!"
"I suppose so. I don't think either has spoken one word about you since yesterday."
"—Ah."
Subaru stretched his back as his hips made their own dull creak.
6
"Sister, Sister. The lout known as Subaru has come."
"Rem, Rem. The wage thief named Barusu has appeared."
"I'm very sorry about yesterday…! Please forgive me!"
Subaru sought forgiveness, bowing his head low in an earnest apology.
He felt like he'd done nothing but bow his head for half an entire day. He'd accounted for everyone at the mansion except Roswaal—meaning the entirety of the female population.
"I'm back to a route with all the girls looking down on me again… I've got some deep karma here."
"Sister, Sister. It seems Subaru is quite the pervert."
"Rem, Rem. Subaru is a masochist who likes being degraded."
"That's going too far, especially for you, Big Sis!"
Shouting in response to the sisters' sharp rebuke, Subaru used his arms as a fulcrum to go from his prostrate position into a handstand, twisting his body around and using the momentum to rise to his feet.
"Anyway, I'm sorry about being pathetic yesterday and annoying the day before… Well, a lot happened, but I've had a complete change in attitude, so it's a new me going forward."
"It was the lap pillow."
"The lap pillow, yes."
"Don't tell me everyone knows?! That's so embarrassing!"
Subaru hid his reddened face and crumbled as the twin maids met each other's gaze.
"It is time to begin the morning chores, Sister."
"It is time to begin our morning duties, Rem."
"No comment?! That puts me down even more!!"
With a wave, the two left behind Subaru and his pleas, heading off to work just as they had declared. As they did so, Subaru called for them to stop.
"Time-out, time-out. There's a favor I want to ask about work this morning."
Subaru's appeal made both twins stop, turn around, and tilt their heads in sync.
"A favor?"
"A hassle?"
"Weird, I haven't heard Big Sis's bluntness for a while and it's getting me all fired up…"
A pained smile came over him. Unlike the little sister, the older sister's unpleasant attitude was a lot easier to deal with, but he was glad he could talk to them like this at all.
He breathed out, trying to brush off the absurdity of it all.
"Actually, I'd like to go see the village. It's nearby, right? Isn't there something you need to buy there?"
Overnight, he'd formed a firm hypothesis in the archive of forbidden books, but he wanted to get to the village that day no matter what. That was what was on Subaru's mind as Rem put a hand to her chest, sinking into thought.
"Certainly, we are running a bit low on spices, so I was thinking of heading to the village tomorrow…"
"Let's change the schedule and do it today, then. Might as well get more before you're running out, and you can't just borrow some from the neighbors out here, can you?"
There were no other mansions in the first place, even if they had wanted to go see the neighbors.
Rem seemed to ponder Subaru's suggestion a little when…
"It's fine, isn't it?"
"Sister?"
In contrast to the little sister's pondering, the older sister stroked her own pink hair with a look of indifference.
"We have to buy them either way, and there are no other pressing matters. It is the perfect opportunity to employ Barusu as a mule."
"I was in bed with a gut wound just three days ago, so take it easy, okay?!"
Subaru had hoped for some warmth from the merciless Ram, but her cover fire still made him tilt his mind's inner head a bit.
He'd thought so, but this was vivid proof that the twin maids were not united in their opinions.
He remembered how, in the loop before last, Rem's coming to kill him had been on Rem's own judgment. Perhaps their thinking was even less on the same page than Subaru had assumed.
Either way…
"…If Sister…says so, then…"
After thinking it over a bit, Rem finally gave her own consent.
The majority of work at the mansion got done only because of Rem, but Subaru knew from long experience that she let Ram, the less accomplished of the two, make a lot of the decisions.
Whether mere coincidence or not, Ram's intervention had essentially settled the matter.
Subaru pumped a fist as Rem's face went from contemplation back to a calm, neutral look.
"However, either way, going to the village must wait until after lunch. Let us do it after Two Solartime…after we have finished all other outstanding work."
"It will be all right. Barusu has pledged to work until his body is ground to a pulp, yes?"
"Yep. Just watch what I can do now that I've been reborn. I'll work like a hot knife through you know what."
They corrected his corrupted idiom in unison.
"Butter."
"Right. That."
Subaru scratched his face as it sunk in that he'd succeeded in his negotiations. Now that the promise to go shopping had been made, it was finally time to begin servant time.
He watched Rem leave in a hurry, probably sorting out in her head the order of her chores, before shifting his gaze to Ram beside him.
Naturally, Ram had been given orders to stick with Subaru for another day and oversee his education.
No doubt it was best to avoid the tension that had built up the day before —or rather, the day before last. More to the point, finding himself had been so painful that re-creating the tension was a little too much to ask.
"Getting self-conscious of my own bad points in such a short time like that… It's a bigger shock than seeing an infant grow into a man in three days."
As Subaru sank into reflection, Ram folded her arms and gave him a cold look.
"Before we get to the issue at hand…"
For some reason, Ram's gaze made Subaru feel like he should straighten his back. He did so and turned toward her.
"About that magic in the garden earlier…"
"Ah, sorry for the mess. I can't use that thing right, so I'm not touching it for a while. I hear it'd take twenty years for me to learn the fundamentals right."
"A mess it may have been, but do not provoke Rem too much."
"…?"
Not understanding what Ram meant, a virtual question mark came over Subaru's face. Ram watched Subaru's inquisitive look before making a belated hmph.
"Rem was quite disturbed by the magic that covered a corner of the garden as well as Lady Emilia. You should be dancing for me in thanks for stopping her, Barusu."
"Ah… Ahhhh… Yeah, you're right…"
In his shock at the failure of his magic, Subaru hadn't noticed, but a third party was unlikely to see that situation as a mere failed spell.
He was truly grateful that Ram hadn't jumped the gun. On the other hand, he was aghast at Rem's willingness to make a snap judgment on the spot.
"Oh man, I was way too careless… I have to think ahead more after four Continues."
"What are you mumbling about…? If we do not get to work soon, both breakfast and dinner shall run late."
"Oh, I was just thinking about the shopping in the afternoon. Which one of you will be going with me?"
Under the circumstances, going with Rem would be a heavy weight on his mind. Either way, though, it made practical sense for Rem to be the one to go with him to the village. Subaru figured that he'd be going shopping with Rem, just like he had on two previous occasions. However…
"What nonsense are you speaking?"
"…Eh?"
Subaru inclined his head. For once, Ram's neutral expression broke into a smile—an extremely cold, malicious, devilish smile.
"You shall go with both of us. You will have a lovely flower on each arm, Barusu."
That would be nice, as long as the flowers aren't poisonous.
Subaru, now aware that the negotiations had gone a little too well, covered his face with a palm, looked up to the heavens, and groaned.
CHAPTER 3
THE MEANING OF COURAGE
1
From Subaru's perspective, it was his third visit to the village.
It was a village named Earlham, practically right beside the mansion, part of the territory belonging to Roswaal in his role as margrave. It was a small village, with about two hundred residents, give or take. In his original world, that wouldn't have been enough to fill an elementary school. And there was Subaru, walking around a village you could do a full lap of in twenty minutes, with two girls, "a flower on each arm."
"I must say, work was finished rather quickly."
"Barusu was so deft, it was revolting. What happened to him?"
"I won't blush, so praise me all you want. The latent potential sleeping in me has finally blossomed!"
Subaru was rather full of himself at the high praise for his work before noon. He'd focused on speedy work for the sake of the afternoon shopping trip, and it worked out well. Apparently, he'd been failing as a result of putting too much stress on himself; this time, a more natural approach seemed to work much better.
No doubt his ability to let go had something to do with the feel of
Emilia's lap…
That sure helped me relax, huh…?
Unlike before when he was under so much stress, the lying on Emilia's knees had made him able to smoothly converse with the twins. The remaining nervousness only bolstered his resolve, erasing his carelessness in the process.
Furthermore, at that moment, Subaru was calm enough that he felt like nothing could shake him. That was very fortunate, because he couldn't afford to behave like a troublesome eccentric here.
The Q&A session with Beatrice the night before had established that a shaman had to physically touch the target of a curse. That's what made curses a fairly risky means of assassination.
He compared having to get up close and personal to sniping from long range like someone would do from his world. The risk was probably offset by the curse being such certain means.
"Either way, I have an MO for the perpetrator. It has to be someone who touched me on the trips to the village before."
And if the person had arrived in the village in only the last few days, then his suspect was as good as found.
That said, Subaru couldn't rely on everything in the village being perfectly as he remembered. He'd learned that the hard way back at the mansion. It'd be very hard to go over the same things save for a few specific events.
"The ones who stand out are Muraosa, the acting headman, the granny touching butts in search of her lost youth, the leader of the young men with short haircuts, and the guy with a short cut leading the Ram-Rem Defense Force."
Subaru named all the people whose faces stood out to him and went over each one.
There was the guy who acted like he led the village, Muraosa, and the old woman who engaged in perverse behavior while laughing and saying, "Got me youth back, got me youth back." The two young men wore identical faces; they'd frequently butted Subaru's shoulders, perhaps out of jealousy for being so close with the twin sisters.
"I had to lead Muraosa to the john when he started flaking out… Now that I think about it, all of them touched me somehow. That's kind of suspicious…"
But all of them were native villagers through and through. They didn't fit the profile.
"That being the case, guess I'd better just hang around the same places…"
Subaru sighed at himself for his lack of any better idea. And as Subaru made that gloomy sound, a series of voices reached Subaru from above.
"What's wrong, Subaru?" "Are you hungry?" "Do you have a tummy ache?"
Subaru twisted his neck to see the multiple silhouettes glomping onto his back.
They were children who had raced to reach Subaru first before he'd even set foot into the village. There were seven in all, not just latched onto his back but his legs and hips, too.
Subaru, not finding the weight excessive for his build, cracked his neck. "I've got a connection with you across time and space or something…"
"What are you saying?" "Did you hit your head?" "Do you have a tummy ache?"
"Quit it about the tummy ache, geez. You make it sound like I've got diarrhea or something."
As Subaru spoke, the children all burst into laughter. No doubt it was less about his joke than the word diarrhea being funny in and of itself.
Apparently, hopping worlds didn't change the fact that kids of that age thought the cruder, the funnier.
"And I've got kids all over me, just like old times…"
The kids on his back were pulling on his cheeks. Subaru could only slump his shoulders at being a brat magnet.
"Why is it I get along great with brats and the elderly? I mean, it's like it's the only good point I have in this world."
He twisted his body to nuzzle the kids riding his back.
Subaru heard merry cries behind him, voices calling, "Me next! Me next!" as he marched around the village, children in tow.
At the time, Subaru was moving around by himself. Not that he actually was alone, but Ram and Rem were not with him.
When they'd arrived at the village, the maid sisters hurried off to go shopping, leaving ominous statements behind them.
"Sister, Sister. Let us gather all the light things."
"Rem, Rem. Let us leave all the heavy things for Barusu."
Subaru had said he wanted to have a look around the village, so no doubt they were being considerate, but he really did wish one of them had stayed with him. That way, the kids would have happily jumped onto her.
"And I managed to meet all the suspects without being super nervous, even…"
Subaru wiped some cold sweat off his brow, breathing heavily as he continued using himself as a decoy.
Subaru had opted for the extremely risky method of searching for the shaman. It was near suicidal behavior to put himself back on the chopping block, but if he didn't, he wouldn't be able to get a look at the face of the one responsible.
"At the very least, if it's just the rite, I can get Beako to lift it, right?"
As long as there wasn't some mistake and the curse activated right away, just having the rite embedded in him shouldn't be a mortal threat. If he got cursed, he just had to bow his head to the floor before Beatrice and beg her to take it off.
"Subaru, your face looks bad!" "Scary face!" "Weird face!"
"Geez, you make that sound awful. And that third comment annoys me just a little!"
Subaru continued strolling around the village, dragging the children along while bearing the brunt of their jokes. It wasn't like he could shake them off him, anyway, and they knew their way around the village, so they were somewhat useful. More importantly, to a shaman trying not to cause a fuss in the village, attempting to harm Subaru while he had a gaggle of children all over him was a poor option. So they functioned as human shields, too.
"Man, I'm getting pretty evil, too. I'm expanding my horizons here!"
"What's wrong, Subaru?" "What is it?" "Did you flake out?"
"Nah, it's nothing."
Subaru rubbed the heads of the children clamped on his legs and laughed at his own expense.
"Well, this is all for my happiness. You'll cooperate a little longer, won't you?"
Incidentally, he didn't think he liked children very much to begin with.
They were noisy, way too chummy, and completely self-serving. —Perhaps that was how he thought about himself, too.
2
Ram ran a hand through her pink hair as she sighed with exasperation.
"Free time was finally over, so we came to look, and this is what we see…"
Ram stared at Subaru as he raised both arms to the sky then and there.
"Victory!!"
After Subaru raised his arms and shouted, a chorus of voices rang out in celebration.
"Victory!!"
The people beside him spontaneously patted one another's backs as they voiced their admiration. Subaru, too, wiped the sweat off his brow, exchanging pleasantries and giving high fives as he caught his breath and headed toward Ram.
Subaru's buoyant approach was greeted by Ram's frosty gaze.
"What kind of attraction is this?"
"It's nothing big enough to call an attraction. I figured I'd kill time with the kids, and then the adults saw and jumped on the bandwagon, that's all."
Aerobics was his chosen method for playing with a bunch of noisy kids at the same time. The adults saw and they joined in, with the end result being a huge ruckus with almost half the village's population pitching in.
"Well, I've gotten so popular it scares even me. It's something fun for the young and old alike. Maybe it really is the secret to living longer!"
"I would not know."
"Geez, that's a cold brush-off."
Subaru gave Ram's unimpressed reply an exaggerated reaction. Upon seeing this, the children copied him.
"That's cold, Ramchi!" "That's awful, Ramchi!" "You're scary, Ramchi!"
"…You taught these children that manner of address?"
"Not so much taught them as, ah, made you more approachable? I mean, if you keep everyone at arm's length, they can't see who you really are. That's a lonely thing… That's what I think, anyway…"
"You certainly have an active mouth. I do not mind, but Rem may not care for it."
"Remrin?" "Remrin." "Remririn."
"—Ah, we kind of…crossed that bridge already."
Hearing from the children that her words of caution had come too late, Ram slumped her shoulders in resignation.
"So, did you look around the village as you desired?"
"—Yeah, that part went off without a hitch."
Subaru's cheeks warped into a grin in response to Ram's question.
His stroll around the village to come into contact with the people on his suspect list was a great success. More to the point, Subaru stood out so much that it was he who had the opportunities to touch them this time.
"The last, last thing on my to-do list was to high-five the guy with the crew cut after aerobics, and that's done."
Having touched all the obvious suspects brought him a measure of relief. Now his time in the village was at an end—in other words, time to say bye-bye to the kids.
"I've got work to do, so get lost, guys. Ahh, what a pity. If I had more time I could've played with you some more. Ha-ha-ha, too bad so sad!"
"He's smiling!" "He's laughing!" "Are you really so happy?!"
Subaru "regretfully" shook loose of the kids, sticking his tongue out in the face of their complaints. He did not consciously recognize the sense of satisfaction filling him at having regained even such mundane ground with his limited capacity as a human being.
Either way, he and Ram were on their way to the rendezvous point with
Rem when— "Ah?"
Abruptly, the girl wearing her brown hair in braids tugged on Subaru's sleeve, her face red.
Subaru was surprised, for until that moment, the braided girl had religiously maintained an arm's-length distance from the other kids while they'd piled onto him together, never entering the fray herself. Subaru crouched so that their gazes were at the same height.
"What is it? If you've got something to say, I'm happy to listen."
"Err, well… Come over here."
The girl led him by his sleeve to another place. Subaru, guided by the slender hand, looked back at Ram.
"—You may do as you please a little while longer."
"Oh, thanks, I owe you one. So, what is it?"
With permission having been granted, he continued to follow the little girl's hand. With her in the lead, the children from earlier followed them to a corner of the village.
"You'll be real surprised." "You'll love it." "You'll break out in a dance."
"Surprise, happiness, dancing? You sure are expecting a big reaction out of me here."
Surrounded by giggling children giving previews of how he'd react, they slipped past the houses of the village to a nook away from prying eyes.
Then his eyes followed the children's pointing fingers and saw it.
"Ah, yeah, there was this event, too, wasn't there…?"
Out of the blue, Subaru voiced his assent, clasping his hands together and nodding several times over.
The braided girl rushed over, picking it up in her arms, out of breath as she returned.
—This was the creature with brown fur that looked like a dog.
Its eyes were round and its fur soft, making it almost seem like a newborn pup. The latter quality appealed to a connoisseur of fur such as Subaru.
But unfortunately, the puppy did not respond to Subaru in kind. "Arf!"
"I figured this was coming…"
The moment Subaru reached out with his hand, every hair on the dog's body stood up as it barked out a warning. The children all wore shocked faces at how its small body shuddered, on guard against him.
"But he's always been so good!" "He's only angry at Subaru!" "What did you do to him, Subaru?!"
"That's what I wanna know—sheesh! This is the third time and everything. Just not compatible or what?"
The children booed behind Subaru as he turned toward the unfriendly puppy with a strained smile.
He'd encountered this puppy on both his prior visits to the village—in other words, during prior loops. Each time it had displayed a severe dislike of him, wounding his animal-loving heart.
"I guess in one sense, having something not change between loops feels about right…but I'd have liked a more friendly reaction, seriously."
In spite of Return by Death, many things had been repeated very differently, but the puppy's reaction was practically a broken record.
But when Subaru made a friendly smile, the puppy suddenly let down its guard. With the puppy curled up in the braided girl's arms, Subaru snapped his fingers, realizing this was his chance.
"Well, if you'll excuse me…"
He'd show this puppy his full range of the fur-stroking skills he had honed on Puck.
He rubbed the puppy in all the important places, like the head, neck, and the base of the tail, with the sensation bringing a big grin over Subaru.
"Heh-heh, I've been looking forward to this feeling. Pretty nice stuff for a stray. A little tender, loving brushing and this'll be a long, shiny coat. Hey, there's a bald spot on the head. This a wound? Where did you bump against
—?"
Maybe the puppy had a complex about the white scar; the instant Subaru touched it, the puppy's maw chomped hard on his hand. He quickly pulled his hand back, but it had a prominent bite mark on it nonetheless.
Subaru yelped at the sharp pain on the back of his blood-smeared hand as he stroked the wound.
"What an event with which to get a one hundred percent completion rate. You even got me in the same place. What, did you do a time leap just for this?"
Subaru smiled to put it at ease, but the puppy, back on guard, continued to snarl.
Watching relations between man and beast return to the gutter, the children observing the two nodded to one another.
"Yep, he got carried away." "It's because he touched it that much." "The puppy's a girl!"
"I feel like that's a weird tangent at the end there…and what, no one's worried about me? I'm gonna cry here."
Subaru lightly washed his hand at a watering hole and waved good-bye to the puppy and the frolicking children. The braided girl looked like she felt responsible, waving with a frail, bashful smile before returning to the others.
When he got back, he had a maid waiting for him, leaning against a wall with her arms crossed and a big attitude.
"Sorry for the wait."
"I sent you off thinking it would be a brief affair, but you come back with your hair disheveled, your clothes a mess, and bleeding from your left hand, of all things."
"Well, sorry about that! A bunch of things happened. You can tell just by looking, right?"
"I suppose so. One glance and I can largely tell what happened."
He saw a gloomy expression on her elegant face as she sighed a little.
Subaru raised an eyebrow at the odd nuance of her statement and her unRam-like demeanor, but Ram instantly gave her usual hmph, not allowing Subaru to voice his question.
"Your wound and clothes are both unsightly. We shall quickly rendezvous with Rem, because she can actually heal you."
"Ramchi, you don't use healing magic?"
"I can handle sealing a wound after an amputation." Subaru could not conceal his shudder.
"That's some really extreme first aid there!!"
Out of nowhere, Ram walked over and tugged on Subaru's sleeve. Subaru blinked, turning only his head to face Ram when she went, "Aren't you coming, Barusu?"
"It's with you, so yeah."
For a single, brief moment, he saw her lips slacken at his reply. Ram proceeded straight to leading him off by his sleeve.
He thought that she'd be really cute if she always acted this straightforward, but that might have been because his honesty with himself kept him spewing lines like that all the time.
Perhaps honesty, too, had a time and a place.
That was the thought on his mind as he and Ram walked toward where Rem was waiting for them.
For some reason, he sensed that the girl leading him was walking more slowly, more gently than usual.
3
By the time the three returned to the mansion, the sunrays were heavily tilted, as it was well into the evening.
As they stood before Roswaal Manor, bathed by the evening sun, a lone man collapsed onto the ground.
It was none other than Subaru Natsuki. He set the oversize keg aside and flopped onto the ground, breathing hard.
"I made it… I made it! …Good job, me! Totally good job!"
"Yes, yes, well done."
"Yes, yes, much appreciated."
The twin maids sandwiched the fallen Subaru as they gave him stiff, formal thanks for his labors.
Ram's coolness was entirely normal, but Rem's bluntness was no doubt due to her anger at seeing Ram leading Subaru by his hand when they met up after shopping in the village.
The first words out of Rem's mouth had been, "You and Sister seem to be getting along nicely."
That made Subaru regret the decisions he had made. He wanted to make up for it somehow, so when she'd made him carry a heavy barrel back to the mansion out of apparent spite, he hoped it would improve her impression of him just a little.
Rem spoke down toward Subaru.
"Well, then, we shall return to the mansion ahead of you. Take your time."
She then picked up the large barrel as if it were filled with feathers.
Subaru could bench-press about 175 pounds, but he had serious doubts that he could lift that barrel above his shoulders. And yet, he'd just seen Rem pick up the heavy object with one hand while still carrying miscellaneous objects in her other arm.
Subaru laughed drily at the pretty picture it all made.
"You didn't need me to carry that, did you?"
"As you can see, not at all."
Ram wasn't minded to pamper Subaru's inner boy at all. As he saw Rem casually walk off while carrying the cask, he was painfully aware that his grunt work had been meaningless.
"So why'd you make me do it, then? Was it seriously just a grudge against me? Stop bullying the new guy, sheesh."
"Do you not understand, Barusu? It is out of consideration for you, of course."
"I don't get what you mean by 'consideration' here."
"Barusu, what would Lady Emilia think if she saw you coming back carrying nothing but a small bag full of spices behind Rem while she carried a large, heavy object?"
"You're such a considerate supervisor, it leaves me speechless!"
As Ram knelt, he expressed deep gratitude toward her. If Subaru had come back full of himself carrying a little bag while a girl smaller than him lugged around something huge…and Emilia had seen… Just picturing it was enough to make him want to die.
Rem, who had gone to the mansion ahead of them, returned during their exchange, looking down at the two.
"Sister, Master Roswaal summons us."
Ram responded quickly to the mention of her master on her little sister's lips. Instantly, her usual laid-back attitude vanished; she straightened herself and looked down at Subaru.
"What are you doing, Barusu? Do you intend to make Master Roswaal wait?"
"Just because you two know something doesn't mean I do. Er, what, this is a meeting with all the servants?"
Subaru felt like he was being treated like a child who was slow on the uptake as he followed behind the others. Along the way, he straightened himself in accordance with Ram's lessons and opened the mansion's front doors. As he did so, Roswaal, the lord of the manor, awaited the three with open arms.
"Ohhhh, you were together, were you nooot? That indeed saves me some tiiime."
He had indigo hair and oddly colored eyes, one blue, one yellow. He had the delicate build of a pretty boy, but the clown makeup adorning his face put it all to waste. But all that included, the air he gave off felt different somehow.
"Are you wearing that to go out somewhere?"
"Precisely. I actually do not faaavor formal wear like this, either, but it cannot be heeelped. The other paaarty is troublesome to deal with in normal attire, so I am forced to go out wearing thiiis."
Usually, Roswaal indulged in his eccentric taste in clothing. It had been some time since Subaru had seen him wearing something with geometrical patterns, lacking the usual clownish spirit. Or rather, it was the very first time.
Subaru could think of only two possibilities as to why Roswaal would be wearing such an outfit. Ram and Rem, thinking the same thing as Subaru, aired both possibilities simultaneously.
"Entertaining a guest?"
"Going on a trip?"
Faced with questions from all his servants, a pained smile came over Roswaal as he pointed at Ram.
"Ram is correct… I am heading out. A somewhat troooublesome message has arrived, you see. There is something I must check in the
environs of Garfiel, though I do not plan on being very laaate."
Having never heard that particular word before, Subaru couldn't be certain whether it was the name of a person or a place. But given that the twins seemed to know what he was talking about, Subaru nodded without objection.
"For that reaaason, I do not believe I shall be back tonight, so…Ram,
Rem, I leave matters in your hands."
"Yes, if you command it."
"Yes, even at the cost of my life."
Roswaal acknowledged the pair's immediate replies with his oddly colored eyes alone before gazing at Subaru with them. Subaru, feeling backed into a corner by the differently colored glints, squirmed uncomfortably.
"Sorry, I'm not loyal enough to swear even at the cost of my life yet."
"That is fine and weeell. If you swore that all of a sudden, it would feel raaather disconcerting. But I leave things in yooour hands as well, Subaru."
Roswaal patted Subaru's shoulder, one eye closed, so that only his yellow iris was visible.
"This has a fishy aroma to it. I can cooount on you to take care of Lady
Emilia, yes?"
"Yeah, you can seriously count on me for that." That went without saying.
Subaru didn't know how much of a read Roswaal had on the situation.
He didn't know, but he'd picked up this much… —This had never happened before.
Perhaps it truly meant that Subaru's actions had changed the world around him.
Nodding, Roswaal gave Subaru a satisfied smile before giving his faithful twin retainers various instructions.
"Well, theeen, I shall be off. I pray that nothing shall occuuur."
As he spoke, Roswaal went out the entrance, with the three of them watching him go. But Subaru belatedly realized that there was no coach or carriage to whisk Roswaal away.
Surely Roswaal wasn't going to walk— "Well, I leave it in your hands—"
When Roswaal spoke, his overcoat flapped as he made a light leap. And then, Subaru saw: Roswaal's body sailed up into the sky, wind wrapping around it as he soared at high speed. Subaru's mouth opened in surprise as Roswaal rose almost as high as the clouds, heading toward the mountains, growing smaller, and finally vanishing from view.
"H-he flew… Geez, magic's amazing stuff."
Subaru voiced his admiration at the solo flying he had just witnessed. In contrast, the sisters, clearly accustomed to Roswaal's flight magic, quickly switched gears. They instantly established the order of affairs in the mansion in the absence of their master.
"Even if Master Roswaal is absent, our duties do not change. Indeed, the fact that he is not present means we must be even more diligent," said Rem.
"That's a nice professional attitude. Okay, then, let's get this started!"
Rem began divvying up work as Subaru rolled up his sleeves, burning with enthusiasm.
Of course, he wasn't just fired up about work but about the changing situation, too.
The change clearly made the twins expect a potential attack on the mansion. They would be securely guarding the mansion, but Subaru, who knew with certainty an attack was coming, was even more on guard than they.
He needed to discover the shaman's identity without a single moment to lose.
If the other side was acting faster, there was no doubt in his mind that the visit to the village that day had triggered it. In other words, Subaru's decoy plan had worked as he had meant it to.
All Subaru had to do now was confirm his suspicions and smoke the shaman out.
4
"So, it's that time again, Beako!"
Those were the first words out of his mouth when he pushed open the door and entered the archive of forbidden books.
His grand and very pushy entrance made Beatrice, sitting on the footstool as she read a book, slump her shoulders.
"Really…? How do you breach the Passage with such ease…?"
"Intuition. It's all intuition. I've got a sixth sense about these things."
Beatrice wore a very sour face as Subaru approached, and she abruptly narrowed her eyes, no doubt because she noticed the seriousness in Subaru's.
"Another half a day and you have yet a different expression. I suppose you are a busy sort?"
"Hey, I want to take it easy, too. But the world's enough of a mess that it's not exactly giving me the chance."
Subaru, an ordinary person, had been buffeted by one problem arising after another. But he was confident that, at long last, he was catching up to the problems, instead of them purely catching up to him.
"I want you to check something for me, so I finished cleaning the bath in record time."
"If cleaning the bath came first, surely it is no great affair?"
This applied to Subaru as well, but time in the bath was one of the few respites in a world of few pastimes. Just thinking of Rem's reaction if she found out he'd slacked off in cleaning that place of rest was enough to give him chills.
After all, Subaru getting along with her big sister had put his friendship rating with Rem in the dumps. Even if he located the shaman, poor relations with Rem meant Subaru couldn't escape a BAD END. Having to advance along both routes simultaneously made Subaru feel like he was walking a tightrope.
"If it was just a problem of which girl to get lovey-dovey with, I'd be real happy, but…"
"Are you wandering off topic again, I wonder…? What did you want of me, then?"
"Ah, yeah, about that…"
Subaru sank in thought in front of Beatrice, who at least seemed tentatively willing to hear him out. After hesitating about how to put it exactly, he nodded once.
"I think there's a little curse on me. Can you check?"
"…What are you saying, I wonder?"
"I think there's a little curse on me. Can you check?"
"I did not tell you to repeat yourself! Has it been even half a day since we spoke about shamans in detail, I wonder?! Even gullibility has its limits…"
Beatrice stormed over and yelled, probably thinking Subaru had some sort of persecution complex. But her expression changed midway to one of surprise; she looked up at Subaru as if some doubt had just been answered.
"I sense a curse rite… You truly have been cursed."
"Seriously? I mean, I figured as much, but having it actually said out loud is still kind of a shock…"
The whole point of the decoy operation was to get cursed, but it was still a jolt to know that he really had been. What brought a pall over his face was not only fear but his own thoughts—in other words, the fact that one of those lighthearted villagers had been an assassin.
"Do you know what kind of curse it is?"
"I can say nothing from merely seeing the rite. But as we discussed, the odds are extremely strong that it is a curse to take your life."
Subaru calmly accepted Beatrice's statement when she looked up at him with a blink of her large eyes in apparent surprise.
"You do not look like you think dying is a frightening thing, you know?"
"Huh? What a stupid thing to say. I'm super scared of dying. There's nothing more frightening in this world than death. People who say there's worse stuff than dying should say that after they've tried death once or twice."
It was the one unshakable truth Subaru had learned from that world: Death was absolute. He could not abide it being treated lightly. Nor could he stand comparing death to other things by those who had not experienced it.
After all, Subaru, having experienced death multiple times, had returned to the world to start over because he had himself tasted despair worse than death.
"That's why I'm going to get through it this time, Fate."
If there was indeed a deity that governed fate, Subaru had just declared war upon him.
Subaru Natsuki would snatch back his happy ending to make up for the agonizing times he had suffered.
Having finished his rant at the supernatural being, Subaru turned back to Beatrice.
"So, could you lift that little curse for me? I'm short on time here."
But at the very moment Subaru was burning from the chance to strike the perpetrator when least expected, the girl who should have been his greatest ally cut him off at the knees.
"…Why do I have to save your life, I wonder?"
Subaru scratched his head as he replied, "I thought you might say something un-cute like that, so I came beforehand with a way to convince you. If I die, it'll make Puck sad, too."
"…Would Puckie's heart be greatly moved by your demise, I wonder?"
"No, no, if I die, it'll be a pretty huge shock to Emilia. If it's a shock to Emilia, that'll hurt Puck, too. And especially you, the one who could've stopped it beforehand!"
"You are completely touched in the head, unable to distinguish begging for your life from using it as a threat!"
Beatrice stomped on the floor, but apparently a rebuttal to Subaru's declaration was not forthcoming. She sighed in annoyance and gave him a reluctant look as she beckoned him with a hand.
"I suppose I shall yield. However, do not bother me any further, ever!"
"To be honest, I can't promise you that, either. If I'm in trouble, I'll be back to ask for your help. I'll pick the scraps from your table if I have to."
"Are you even aware that I am saving your life, I wonder?"
"I'm super aware that I'm annoying you with weakling logic. Sorry."
When Subaru bowed his head in apology, Beatrice shook her head with a look of annoyance. After that, her palm glowed with a white light, which she gently touched to Subaru's body.
"I shall now destroy the curse rite. Bear in mind that it is implanted in the place where the shaman touches your body directly."
"Sure, don't worry, I'm all set."
Subaru checked his own body as he felt the light in her palm convey its warmth.
He'd kept track of where the suspects in the village had touched him. Only the granny searching for her lost youth had touched his butt. So, if Beatrice moved her hand to his butt, he'd know that the granny was the perpetrator. He'd also complain to Beatrice about sexual harassment.
"—Eh?"
But the place Beatrice's palm touched was completely at odds with Subaru's expectations.
He felt a swirling heat where the white glow leaped from her palm into his flesh. There was an itchy feeling where she had touched, but it seemed to ooze right out of his body as a…
"Black…cloud…?"
The light in Beatrice's hand directly caught hold of the black fog that had been the curse.
The itchiness vanished as Subaru shuddered from that wriggling cloud having been inside his own body. Then…
"Must you be so abominable, I wonder?"
Beatrice crushed it in her hand before it vanished, then shook her hand as if having touched something icky. Realizing Subaru had gone silent, she harrumphed.
"It is done. I suppose you will be fine now?"
When she said it is done, Subaru realized that he'd stopped breathing.
He rued his timid heart, but a more pressing concern came to mind.
"Hey, Beako."
"Would you stop addressing me that way already…?"
"Is the place you touched with your palm the place the shaman touched me?"
Faced with Subaru's grave question, Beatrice set her own complaints aside and reluctantly nodded.
Her nod affirmed in Subaru's mind the perpetrator behind the string of curses.
"I've got to…go to the village—!"
Now that he knew the culprit's identity, he had no choice but to act immediately.
He'd originally planned to wait until the next day, go to the village with Roswaal and the twins, flush the shaman in the village out of hiding, and deal with him. But he couldn't do that now.
Subaru's heart continued to race as he rushed to put his hand on the door. His breath was so ragged as he ran that he didn't even hear Beatrice call out for him to stop.
Fate's irrationality and poor taste in irony, dangling Subaru and the others on a string, filled him with rage. That anger gripped Subaru as he ran, yelling at the top of his lungs.
"Just how far are you gonna take playing me for a fool…?!" He kept running.
5
Subaru dashed through the hallway, leaped down the stairs, flipped around at the landing of the stairs, the heels of his shoes sliding to a stop at the entry hall as he raised his face and yelled out.
"—Ram! Rem! I've gotta talk to you!"
Ram immediately popped into view, responding to the shout that probably carried throughout the entire mansion. Apparently she'd been working quite close by. She looked at Subaru's red face and ragged breathing with her eyes narrowed in disapproval at the impropriety.
"What is it, Barusu? Your haste is quite unsightly."
"Sorry, I'm heading to the village. You can't stop me; I'll go even if you try. I just thought it'd throw everyone off even worse if I just left without a word."
"The village…? Why would you…? No, more importantly, do you intend to disregard Master Roswaal's instructions? Tonight, Rem and I are
in charge of this mansion. Surely you understand this?" Ram glared at Subaru even more sharply.
Ram's position was that whatever Roswaal wanted came first. Subaru's open disregard of her master's command really rubbed her the wrong way.
But Subaru wasn't minded to retreat an inch even so.
"Time's short, so I'll get right to the point. There's a bad magic user in
Earlham Village. I know who it is, so I have to go now."
"…You ask me to accept what sounds like a child's made-up excuse?"
"I can't help it; there's no other way to put it here. Go talk to Beako; you'll see I'm telling the truth… Besides…"
As he pleaded with the increasingly suspicious Ram, the great doors opened behind him as Rem emerged.
"Sister—"
When Rem saw the two speaking in the entry hall, she went to her sister's side like it was second nature.
"Sister, what is…?"
"He says he is heading out to rid us of an evil magic user in the village."
Ram bluntly conveyed Subaru's statement to Rem for him. Hearing it put that way, even Subaru thought it sounded like pure fiction. Apparently that was Rem's conclusion, too.
"Sister, Sister. Subaru's joke is not very funny."
"Rem, Rem. Barusu thinks he has a future in comedy."
"Ram, Rem. I might kid around all the time, but I talk seriously sometimes, too."
Faced with their twin-act lines, Subaru spoke to both at once. He took a step forward as if to emphasize that he wasn't cowed by the sisters' reactions.
"I know it's an unbelievable story, and it's asking too much for you to just take my word for it right now. But I'm not asking you to let me go without any conditions."
To Subaru, this was a crucial fork in the road.
Subaru wet his lips with his tongue, jabbing a finger toward the silent pair as he made his proposal.
"I'm going to the village. If you think that's suspicious, fine, tag along. Watch me and see. But I'm not going with Emilia left all alone, so it has to be just one of you."
"You cannot simply go off on your own… In the first place, neither
Sister nor I have any reason to go with you if we are to uphold Master Roswaal's command…"
"No, you don't, if Roswaal's command in the evening is the only one you're upholding. Are those the only orders Roswaal gave about me?"
"—"
Rem was at a loss for words.
Subaru's statement a moment before had been a mere bluff, but her uncomfortable reaction made it plain he'd hit the mark.
Piecing together info from the previous loops, Subaru had guessed that Roswaal had ordered the pair to keep an eye on him.
Rem looked like she was searching for an escape route, but Ram beat
her to the punch, exhaling.
"Understood, Barusu. We will accept your independent action."
"Sister?!"
Rem was in utter shock at seeing her sister wave a white flag so easily. But Ram indicated to her little sister to keep quiet.
"However, just as you said, we cannot allow you to go alone, Barusu. Allowing you to act alone here would in itself disregard Master Roswaal's commands."
"I figured as much. So what's our compromise gonna be?"
"Though it pains me, we have no choice but to go along with your prior suggestion. Rem will accompany you."
"Ask and ye shall receive, I guess."
Subaru thrust out a clenched fist to show his agreement with Ram's terms.
Ram sighed a little as she turned to her little sister, shunning Subaru.
"Rem, this is how it is, so, please. I shall confirm matters with Lady Beatrice and protect Lady Emilia myself—I shall be watching you from here."
"Sister, you must not use that eye too oft—"
"This is no time to say that. I will use it if I need to. The same goes for you, Rem."
The way the older sister put it left no room for Rem to question any further. Subaru was glancing toward their conversation, understood by only the two sisters, when Rem shifted an unfriendly glance at him.
"Subaru, I would like to hear the details."
"I'll tell you on the way. Things might've already gotten pretty bad, though…"
If Subaru's worst premonition proved true, there would be damage that simply couldn't be laughed off. Not to Subaru personally but in a much larger sense.
He gave Ram's shoulder a light, grateful pat as he headed to the entrance with Rem, who still didn't look on board. He was figuring it was fifteen
minutes to the village if they ran straight there, when— "—Subaru, where are you going?"
A voice clear as a bell danced down from above the great stairway of the entry hall.
Turning around without a thought, he looked up to see Emilia standing there, her silver hair swaying.
Judging from her heavy breaths, she'd heard Subaru's earlier shout and had come over to see the three of them below.
"I thought I'd come down because I heard a loud voice earlier… Did something happen?"
"Something…might've happened. You don't need to worry. Ah, I'll be happy if you worry a little bit."
Subaru was behaving casually on purpose so as not to make Emilia too anxious.
Though Subaru was acting in his usual lighthearted fashion, Emilia seemed to pick up on something.
"Your face says you're going to do something dangerous again." Emilia had a sullen look about her as she saw right through him.
Subaru wailed inside at how his grand act had been so easily foiled as he covered his face with his palms.
"That's what we were arguing about just now. We finally got everything cleared up, so…"
"There's no point trying to stop you, is there?"
"Well, not really. And if you succeeded, it'd only make things worse…"
"Yes, yes, I understand. I won't stop you."
Emilia walked down the stairs, stopping just in front of Subaru and placing her hands on her hips. Subaru was unable to look away from her glimmering violet eyes.
With Subaru unable to move, Emilia reached out and gently touched his chest.
"Even if I tell you not to be reckless or careless, you probably will anyway, won't you?"
"If that's what it takes… Ah, er, not that I want to do either, mind you."
Whether it was achievable or not, the best thing would be to travel a path free of worry and strife.
If, instead, Subaru was the only one who could change the situation, he had to act, even if it was recklessly.
He wondered where he'd picked up such a troublesome personality.
—Probably has something to do with the girl I'm staring at right now, he thought with a strained smile.
Emilia was still touching his chest as she murmured.
"—May the grace of the spirits be with you."
"What was that?"
Subaru tried to decipher the expression without success. Emilia shot him a broad smile.
"Words you say when seeing someone off. They mean 'come back safely.'"
"Ahh, I see. Got it, Emilia-tan. So when I do come back safe and sound, you'll gently hug me to your chest like a baby chick, right?"
"Yes, yes."
Letting Subaru's desire for coddling slide off her, Emilia shifted her gaze to include Rem. Rem, who had been silently watching the exchange, straightened her back in response.
"Be careful, Rem. Also, make sure Subaru doesn't do anything rash."
"Yes, Lady Emilia. As you wish."
Seeing Rem grab the hem of her skirt and make a polite bow, Emilia nodded to her in satisfaction. Subaru waved.
"Well, Emilia-tan, I'm heading off."
Emilia's voice had given him words of encouragement to see him on his way.
"Come back soon."
He pushed the doors of the entrance open and began to run toward the village side by side with Rem as the remaining two watched them go.
"So, I would like to hear the details now…"
"There's a shaman in the village to hurt Emilia's royal selection. He cursed me good, but Beatrice removed it. If we don't act now, the whole village could get wiped out."
Even while running, Rem's breath caught, her eyes going wide as she asked, "Are you…serious?"
Subaru replied with a silent nod as he focused his energy on getting to the village.
He wouldn't have had to imagine a shaman with human intelligence taking such a measure. But if Subaru's deduction was correct, he had to assume the worst.
And so, Subaru ran onward. Rem continued to silently sprint by his side, as yet unaware of the gravity of the situation.