Turning Return by Death into a weapon wasn't a simple matter.
It would take rounds of testing before he could use it cleanly. The setting mattered too, along with whoever happened to be in range. The application window was narrow: cramped spaces, or fights where the enemy count could be counted on one hand.
Those details could wait.
With Roswaal finally laying everything out, the threat he posed had shrunk considerably. The man had given up on his original plan and was now forced to actually rely on Emilia or Felt. Bringing Echidna back hinged on his chosen candidate taking the throne, which made the two girls his best remaining hope. If he didn't throw himself into the work with real sincerity, neither of them would lift a finger for him even if they won the crown.
"That said."
"I haven't been hiding anything about the Trial."
Once Subaru and Gojo finished their quiet exchange about Return by Death, Roswaal turned to the room with a more serious expression.
"The Trial was designed for those of mixed blood from the start. There's no one better suited to take it on than Lady Emilia."
"Are you joking?"
"Have you even looked at her right now..."
Subaru's glare sharpened.
"Subaru, I understand your concern for Lady Emilia."
"But there's something I'd like you to consider."
Roswaal met his glare without a flicker of disturbance.
"While you're here, yes, you can use your ability to correct the world. You can shield her from trouble. You can make the decisions she can't bring herself to make."
"But Lady Emilia is a half-elf. You are human."
"The average citizen of Lugunica lives to around thirty years of age. Given your circumstances, better nutrition, better living, perhaps you'll stretch that to sixty."
"Do you know how long Lady Emilia, as a half-elf, is going to live?"
The anger on Subaru's face froze. He hesitated. Then fell silent.
"The longevity of elves is common knowledge. I'll spare you the lecture."
"Even a half-elf outlives a human by a wide margin."
"And after you're gone? What will the Lady Emilia you've coddled do then? Will she even be capable of ruling?"
"I've done what I've done to harden your resolve to support her. But what about her resolve?"
"Look at the result. She wasn't physically harmed by the Trial. She was only shaken emotionally."
"I can't think of a better proving ground. Nothing better suited to her."
Subaru had no immediate answer.
And the quiet around the room suggested he wasn't the only one. Roswaal's argument had weight. Emilia was a grown woman with a sound mind, not some overgrown infant. She had to carry her own capacity for action, especially if she was going to sit on the throne of Lugunica. A monarch unable to stand on her own two feet would be a disaster for the kingdom.
"But... Emilia, right now..."
Subaru started, then faltered, words drying up.
"Subaru."
"What I'm trying to tell you is this. Lady Emilia doesn't have much time left."
"Leaving Miss Felt aside, none of the other candidates have slowed down. Every one of them is working, doing what they need to do."
"You may not see the gap yet. But when the results begin to show, you'll realize how far behind she's fallen."
"There's no more time for her to take it slow."
Subaru didn't speak.
Gojo kept out of it too. This was between Subaru and Emilia. None of the rest of them had any real stake in it.
"I don't think you should be making these decisions for her, Subaru."
Felt looked at him, her voice quiet but unflinching.
"Everything you've done up to this point has been one-sided. What are you to Emilia anyway?"
"We're friends..."
"Are friends supposed to make decisions like this for someone? Even Old Man Rom knew enough to respect what I wanted."
Felt spread her hands and shook her head.
"I'm not saying your intentions are bad. But caring that wears the label of friendship shouldn't be this heavy."
"You can help Emilia. That doesn't mean you get to decide for her."
Subaru's face burned. He couldn't muster a single word in his own defense.
She was right. Reverse the roles and anyone in his position would resent it. Even children bristled when their parents crossed that line. And what right did he have to begin with?
"I understand."
After a long pause, he nodded slowly.
"I'll respect what Emilia wants. If she wants to keep going, I won't stop her."
"A wise decision, Subaru."
The dust settled.
Elsa and her kind were no longer a threat. Roswaal's machinations had finally been dragged into the open and dealt with. Between the Emilia camp and the Felt camp, every internal mess had been untangled.
"All wrapped up. Guess I can finally get some rest."
Gojo's shoulders dropped the moment the conversation with Roswaal ended.
"Who said anything about rest? Don't forget what we're here for."
Felt walked beside him, arms tucked behind her head, her pace leisurely.
"I haven't forgotten. But after this trip, I'd say we're quite a bit closer to the goal, wouldn't you?"
"Satoru's right. Of the Three Great Mabeasts, only the Black Serpent remains, and that one hasn't surfaced in years. Among the Sin Archbishops, only Wrath and Gluttony are left. Lady Felt has dismantled the greater part of the Witch Cult's strength."
"That accomplishment alone puts her well ahead of the other candidates."
Reinhard's tone was warm, his smile gentle as he looked down at Felt.
"Ha ha, right. Yeah."
The praise threw her off. She managed a thin laugh and nodded along, feeling the guilt bite. When Roswaal had pointed out that he couldn't see any ambition for the throne in her eyes, she'd been terrified Reinhard might catch onto something.
Thankfully, he hadn't.
"Now we just wait for Ram and the others to get back with the Holy Gold Coins."
"Once we've got those, we can head home."
"What about Subaru?"
Gojo glanced toward the corridor Subaru had disappeared down, the one leading to Emilia's room.
"You tell me."
Felt lobbed the question right back at him.
"The way he looks, I don't think he wants to leave. Drag him along now and he'll just spend every day worrying. And Roswaal's been brought to heel. There's no reason he can't stay. No reason for us to fret about it."
"Your call. Doesn't matter to me."
Gojo rubbed his chin. She had a point.
Subaru in his current state would never stop fretting over Emilia. If they dragged him home, he'd be useless, pushing food around his plate and losing sleep. Better to leave him where he wanted to be.
"I'll ask him tonight."
Gojo gave a small nod.
"See what he wants to do."
A lovesick idiot like Subaru, a man with his head stuck that far in the clouds, was beyond what friends could fix. And what made the whole thing worse was that he happened to be sheltered by the Witch of Envy, handed a reset button, stripped of most ordinary fear of death.
Handing that ability to someone like him.
It wasn't right.
The recent incident had been a clean demonstration. Subaru, unable to stand the sight of Emilia in distress, had come running to Gojo begging to be killed so he could start the whole thing over.
Gojo could picture it already. This wouldn't be the last time. Every time something happened to Emilia, Subaru would come sniveling back, pleading to be cut down.
The thought alone made his head ache.
"Tch. Lovesick fools. They really do ruin everything."
The Ram sisters returned three days later aboard a Dragon Carriage, a wagon's worth of Holy Gold Coins stacked up behind them.
Felt heard the news and barreled out to meet them. She latched onto a bulging sack of coins and refused to let go.
Ram and Rem, meanwhile, had no idea what had unfolded while they were away.
They didn't find out until Felt, riding high on the haul, spilled the entire affair to them.
And then both sisters were left reeling.
Rem had known none of it. Not her sister's Vow with Roswaal, not his plans to resurrect Echidna. The blindsiding was total.
Ram, at least, had the context. She'd signed the Vow, sworn to back Roswaal's moves so long as they tracked the Gospel. But even she hadn't expected the whole business to wrap up this quickly.
"Hey, Ram. Looks like the tables have turned, doesn't it? Roswaal answers to you now. How's it feel?"
"Going by the terms of that Vow of yours, if you wanted to take a whip to him, no one could stop you, you know."
Felt hugged the coin sack and grinned at her, eyes glittering with mischief.
"After all, if Satoru hadn't taken care of Elsa ahead of time, your little coin run would've ended with both of you dead."
Ram went quiet.
She'd made her peace with the arrangement a long time ago. But hearing that she'd been lined up as a sacrifice, with Rem thrown in for good measure, all to steel Subaru's resolve... that landed differently. Even as loyal to Roswaal as she was, something about it didn't sit right.
Felt watched her silence and pressed harder, thoroughly enjoying the fire she was stoking.
"Look, I get loyalty, Ram. You sign a Vow with Roswaal, he uses you as a chess piece, fine. Your call."
"But Rem had nothing to do with any of it."
"Rem is willing to give her life for Lord Roswaal as well."
"Our lives belong to him. He gave them to us. Dying for him is only..."
"Everything we are was offered up long ago..."
Rem's protests came in a rush, almost frantic.
Felt wrinkled her nose at that.
"If you really felt that way, you wouldn't be getting this worked up about it."
"Eh, not my problem. That's between you and your master. I was just running my mouth because you hauled all those coins back."
She hoisted the sack higher with visible effort.
"Anyway, that's all from me. Good work, ladies. See you."
Watching her walk off, neither sister quite knew what to do with her face.
"Let's go. Time to see Lord Roswaal."
As the elder, Ram held herself together better. She spoke softly and started toward Roswaal's room, tugging Rem along.
"Oh, right!"
Felt turned back before she'd gotten far.
"Roswaal's room's gone, by the way. He's staying over there now."
She jerked her chin toward the new location. Ram managed a polite nod through the awkwardness, then steered Rem away.
Felt lugged her coins the rest of the way to her own door, swaying under the weight, and arrived just as Gojo opened it from the inside mid-yawn.
"Why are you always slouching around like this? Get over here and help, would you?"
She gasped out the words, glaring.
"If you had a teacher squeezing every hour of your life and piling on assignments, you'd look like this too."
Gojo stepped out, scooped the sack up in both arms, and whistled at the weight.
"Nice haul this time."
"Eh, about what I expected."
Felt let out a long breath and pounded her lower back, smug.
"I'm not the wide-eyed kid I used to be, you know."
"Eight hundred Holy Gold Coins? That's nothing. Compared to jobs pulling in thousands, this barely registers."
"Fair enough."
"I'll ask Subaru tonight whether he wants to come back with us."
"A princess only needs one knight. I'm not about to plant myself here forever."
"No argument there."
He helped her stow the coins inside her room, and a quiet certainty settled on him.
The companions he'd moved alongside ever since first landing in this world were about to go their separate ways.