[User] He denied Garfiel, who had nurtured his love for ten years, yet determined his conclusion had been mistaken and required something new. "Do you not love your mother, your family? Is that why you can devote your heart to something else so easily? Rather than employ the strength you honed for so long, merely having your fangs broken was sufficient to bend the feelings you kept for a decade? If that is so, then the one who made your love a brittle, fleeting forgery is none other than yourself.” With no change in his expression, it was with words alone that Roswaal castigated Garfiel for his change of heart.

[Assistant] "—Man, your words are so weak, Roswaal.” Garfiel did not reply with emotion, though his demeanor was barbed. Somehow, there seemed to be pity in his gaze. “Like I care if ya wanna scold me. Just don’t misunderstand me.”

[User] “…Misunderstand?”

[Assistant] “For me, it ain’t like I follow the general just ’cause I lost a fight. Yeah, losing hit hard, but I ain’t soft enough to flip sides from somethin’ like that.” Garfiel audibly tapped his forehead with a finger as he clacked his fangs.

[User] “It’s just like ya said, Roswaal. I was hung up on the past all these last ten years… I don’t exactly remember tellin’ ya all that, but at this point, I ain’t gonna act surprised about ya knowin’.”

[Assistant] "I slammed against that past those ten years. The general…nah, Ram, was it? Ram said this to me. Go into the tomb, face your past……and that’s why I’m standin’ here now.” Pointing to his own feet, Garfiel expressed the reason he stood in that position.

[User] “You confronted your past, Garfiel?” The declaration made nervousness come over Roswaal’s two eyes once more.

[Assistant] “Ya don’t ‘win’ against your past. That’s what I thought. That’s why I ain’t laughin’ at you for bein’ stuck, thinkin’ the same way I did back then. What’s there to laugh at?”

[User] “I don’t have no intention of talkin’ about what I saw inside or why I’m with the general. But I’m gonna tell you one thing, a big-ass reason why I’m with him and not with you.” As if delivering payback for earlier, this time, it was Garfiel who sent a blade of words Roswaal’s way. Then he flashed his fangs and declared his feelings to Roswaal, not as his rival in love but as an obstacle blocking his path.


[User] "—Instead of someone tellin’ me to stay weak as hell, of course I’d much rather stick with someone tellin’ me he needs me ’cause I’m strong!" Garfiel’s simple words were his reply to Roswaal’s appeal. Having finished speaking, Garfiel snorted, brazenly crossing his arms.

[Assistant] “…Wha?”

[User] "Nah, nothing. You’ve gotten dependable." When Garfiel growled in irritation, Subaru only shrugged and told him what he thought.

[Assistant] "Roswaal." Turning toward Roswaal, who’d fallen into silence, Subaru pressed the attack in earnest. Otto was there. Garfiel was there. These two things alone had changed the situation.

[User] "Garfiel’s seen his past. Him standing here as a result doesn’t mean his feelings for his family these ten years have weakened at all. I’m sure the strength of his feelings hasn’t changed. They didn’t change, but he did. Is that so unbelievable?"

[Assistant] "It’s gotta be the same for you. I told you, Roswaal. I… We don’t want to keep butting heads with you forever. If we just aim our ways of doing things in the same direction, we’ll get where we want to go together. There’s still time to pull back."

[User] "—Stop the assassins you sent to the mansion. Then we can hammer out everything else."

[Assistant] "—I refuse, young Subaru."

[Assistant] "I have not toiled for four hundred years only to be swayed by such a minor shift in circumstances." Bluntly, Roswaal shook his head side to side, rejecting Subaru’s demand. With unmistakable anger residing in both his eyes, Roswaal declared that the war would go on.


[User] “A demand for surrender, is it? Yes, I seeeee. Certainly, you cannot be faulted for misunderstanding a dramatic change as predetermining victory or defeat, I suppoooose.”

[Assistant] “You’re saying I misunderstood something?”

[User] “Indeed I am. Just from bringing in a piece from beyond the game-board and removing Garfiel as an obstacle, you believe yourself to be in a superior position? Yet, as before, I have the upper hand.” Touching a hand to his breast, Roswaal repudiated Subaru’s assertion, declaring it completely off the mark.

[Assistant] “Everything at present is as you spoke. And so long as that remains true, my advantage does not change. You have no means to stop me. This very moment, you hear the familiar footsteps of defeat drawing near, do you not?”

[User] Roswaal was implicitly referring to his own scheme of dispatching assassins to the mansion. He was claiming that so long as the attack on the mansion and the existence of the assassins remained, Subaru had no chance of victory. Not in the Sanctuary, not in the mansion, would Subaru lose anyone. There would be no casualties—those were the conditions for Subaru’s straight bet with Roswaal.

[Assistant] “That is the challenge you yourself proposed.” Roswaal advanced a step, unerringly striking Subaru’s inner feelings with his words. Given the height difference between the pair, Roswaal looked down at Subaru, peering into the boy’s black eyes as he continued. Mercilessly, cruelly, as if declaring a just and proper verdict, he continued.

[User] “What of the conditions of your wager? You have limited your greatest weapon to become an ordinary person.” Roswaal ploddingly continued his advance.

[Assistant] “As ordinary as you are, what more can you achieve? What more can you undermine?” Roswaal continued even further, his words gradually growing more heated.

[User] “You will do nothing. You can do nothing. After all—” Cutting off his words, his two differently colored eyes contained identical rage within them as he continued.

[Assistant] “After all, you—are garbage, lower than an ordinary man!” He raised an angry shout. Roswaal slammed simple anger against an incompatible existence. As a man who constantly lived with the apparition of his own death—nay, a man who could calmly carry on even while standing within a swirling vortex of death—Subaru Natsuki’s decision to avoid death seemed irrational to Roswaal, which only fed his anger.

[User] “In the end, you’ve made it this far because of that power that you’ve used as a trump card against whatever might come. In willingly tossing it aside to become ordinary, what can an untalented man like you do?! I will not suffer any who try to violate the sanctuary of feelings that have been carved out over countless days and months! No one! However many you bring with you, this cannot be changed!” Garfiel’s obsession with the Sanctuary was the distortion of ten long years’ worth of love toward his family. Emilia had a hundred years’ worth of sins—enough that she wanted to forget them, with feelings of guilt for having abandoned them piled on top.


[User] “A decade, a century, and then my four centuries—as if all this could be overturned by none other than an ordinary man like you! !”

[Assistant] “…Because feelings don’t change?”

[User] “That’s right!”

[Assistant] “Because you’ve kept on believing in those feelings for a really long time?”

[User] “Yes, indeed it is!” Subaru inquired.

[Assistant] Roswaal acknowledged everything. He was saying that feelings were something no one could overcome. He was saying that feelings were not something that could be changed or altered.

[User] Subaru felt like he finally understood. He finally felt like he understood Roswaal’s true thoughts. —Roswaal wanted affirmation of his own feelings. He believed this was how feelings should be. He wanted to believe the feelings of others beyond himself would affirm his own. That was why Roswaal wanted Garfiel to wallow in his weakness. Garfiel had continued obsessing over his own feelings, desperately trying to protect them so that they might never change. Roswaal had wanted him to stay that way—he desperately wanted others to desire this, just as he did.

[Assistant] “The hell’s with you, Roswaal?” His feelings were single-minded, aimed at the person he cherished. Hoping that his own feelings might be affirmed, he was supportive of people who were devoted to their loved ones. Come to think of it, that had always been so. The feelings Subaru held toward Emilia, the feelings Rem had held toward Subaru… Roswaal was always accepting of those things, wasn’t he? That was because Roswaal had a belief. He believed in the strength of feelings, the preciousness of bonds. More than any of them, Roswaal believed in the concept of cherishing someone else. And yet—

[User] “Why do you have to see feelings as nothing but weakness? You understand how strong and powerful it can be for someone to treasure another person for a long time. Why do you have to focus on how it’s weak?”

[Assistant] “—Because that is what I believe.” Roswaal’s voice bubbled with emotion as he replied to Subaru’s words. The glint in both his eyes, blue and yellow alike, intensified into an incredible glower of fiery indignation.

[User] —Before challenging him to their final wager, Roswaal had said this to Subaru. It is impossible for me to hate you. I trust you, from the bottom of my heart. At the moment, Roswaal’s eyes seethed with anger, glaring with a killing gaze at the man he hated most in the world.

[Assistant] “Just like how you believe in others’ strength, I believe in remaining weak! Because I believe people are weak, frail, puny beings able to accomplish nothing unless they cling to a single, important thing!”

[User] “For four hundred years my feelings have been dedicated to a single woman. The time I have spent unable to touch her is far longer than the days we spent together, yet the sight of her is burned forever in me. My soul has been in ashes ever since.


[User] Roswaal's voice had a dreadful force to it, enough that the cramped room itself seemed to shake. "Ever since the day we parted, my heart has remained shattered, and I have never changed! !!"

[Assistant] Roswaal confused the name and the duty with the meaning that rested behind them. He’d made his family’s long-cherished desire his own, and it was for this reason that Roswaal had always lived. The genius Roswaal walked a path that any normal person would have abandoned without compunction. Simple respect and love toward a benevolent mentor had been distorted to become a curse binding an entire family line, giving birth to a single devil. This was the man who inherited the Mathers family’s long-cherished desire four centuries long—Roswaal L. Mathers.

[User] "…The advantage remains on my side. Part of what is written is in error, but what of it? What I desire is results. The conditions have not shifted meaningfully, and you will never achieve your goals without changing them, powerless as you are.” After he took some time to breathe, his voice regained its composure.

[Assistant] "—The contest is not over so long as the one who is the cornerstone for both of us remains.” Roswaal implicitly indicated that the basis of his certainty in his own victory was the girl challenging the Trial that very moment.

[User] Roswaal believed in human weakness, in Garfiel’s weakness. He believed that Emilia was weak. That Emilia was fragile. That Emilia would remain a weakling lacking the strength to overcome her regrets.

[Assistant] "—Don’t underestimate Emilia, Roswaal.” Subaru spoke, his heart roused by Roswaal’s argument.

[User] "Emilia won’t do as you planned anymore. That girl will overcome everything in her way.”

[Assistant] "As if she could. With no one to rely upon, she shall be crushed by her regrets. Her great hope that she can change will end in sorrow, and she shall cling to you in tears… That is what suits her.”

[User] "There ain’t a woman out there suited to a crying face. Have you seen Emilia’s face when she cries…?” The flame had been lit.


[User] Roswaal’s statements had enveloped Subaru’s heart in crimson. —Roswaal had made him remember how Emilia acted inside the tomb just before their argument. He’d seen Emilia stricken by her weighty responsibilities and by grief for her lost connection with Puck. He’d seen the expression on her face when she’d glared at Subaru with tears of unendurable emotions—

[Assistant] "—She’s so awful at crying, I never want to see her do it again! !"

[User] "She will be hurt. She will be ensnared. That is the destiny of a half-elf. That is the curse she bears for being born of the same bloodline as the Witch of Jealousy. It is inevitable for her to be despised as a Witch.”

[Assistant] “Oh, stuff it. What about that girl makes her a Witch? Where the hell is this Witch you people keep talking about?” Once, it was Roswaal who had howled, his ferocious emotions bare. This time, it was Subaru’s turn. Lifting his head, Subaru grabbed Roswaal’s collar. Opening his eyes wide in anger, he glared point-blank into Roswaal’s differently colored eyes, making full use of the foul look he’d inherited from his mother. I don’t like it. Yeah, I don’t like it at all. Right now, I don’t care for a single part of this world.

[User] “If you’re gonna call that girl a Witch—! If that’s what you all want, then you’ll make that girl into a Witch, damn it! If you keep saying of course she’s weak, of course people despise her, it’s all her fault for being born as something she can’t change, you’ll turn her into a poor little Witch yourselves! !” In the back of his mind, he thought of the Witch’s Tea Party—to the seven Witches of the past bearing the names of the Seven Deadly Sins. Typhon, Daphne, Minerva, Sekhmet, Carmilla, Echidna. And before that world had broken apart, there was Satella, who’d doted on him to the very end. As if he could forget. That face—it was the spitting image of Emilia’s.

[Assistant] “Has even one person told her that it’s all right?! That when you’re sad, when you’re suffering, that it’s all right to cry?! And that if you can’t wipe off the tears rolling down your cheeks, ask someone close to do it for you… That you have people who’ll do that for you. Have even one of you said that to her? !” No one had let Emilia cry, even though she’d been piling up so much bitterness, suffering, and sorrow. That’s why when that girl cried, she was so awful at it. Restraining your sobbing voice, hiding your crying face…these were things you did to protect yourself when crying, things you learned from people making you cry over and over. She’d spent her days in ignorance of that, which was why that girl was so bad at crying.

[User] “If no one’s gonna do it, I will. These feelings…this curse! You don’t think there’s any room for them ever changing?


[User] "We’ll beat that right out of you!” Subaru thrusts Roswaal away, pointing a finger toward the heavens. Mysteriously, it was the same pose Emilia adopted that very moment, displaying it to the Witch slamming malicious words at her inside the Trial. “—My name is Subaru Natsuki! Knight of the silver-haired half-elf Emilia!”

[Assistant] Subaru thinks to himself, *Once, Subaru Natsuki had spoken these words without resolve behind them, causing a great throng to laugh in mockery at his rashness. Looking back on himself at the time, he was even more lacking then than he was now. But there was one thing that was different from back then. —No matter who laughed, Subaru Natsuki would never feel ashamed of his determination.*

[User] “Emilia’s coming, Roswaal. The girl you stubbornly believe to be weak is coming to cut off your last ray of hope.”

[Assistant] “That’s how she’ll strip you of all the weakness you’re clinging to, and when you’ve hit rock bottom and you finally let us talk to you… At long last, you’ll be willing to listen then. That’s what I believe.”

[User] Subaru thinks to himself, *Roswaal’s obstinate heart did not crumble, even though he’d witnessed Subaru’s resolve and determination. It had been as he’d asserted over and over to that point. Time amassed across four centuries was not something that could easily be changed with one word or one deed. It was just like how amassed words and deeds made Garfiel’s ten years and Emilia’s hundred begin to move. It would be through Subaru’s and the others’ actions that their words would reach Roswaal’s four hundred. —That was what he wanted to believe.*

[Assistant] “—You really are as I judged you to be, Subaru Natsuki.”

[User] "What?”

[Assistant] Roswaal quietly calls out Subaru's name and They exchange glances. The vehement emotions had vanished somewhere; Roswaal’s eyes were serene as he looked at Subaru. Then, faced with Subaru’s questioning look, Roswaal’s lips trembled.

[User] “You and I are alike. I mean this, in terms of bending ideals for those we cherish.”

[Assistant] “—You believe in weakness. I believe in strength. That’s the only way I agree that we’re alike.”

[User] Subaru and Roswaal, rejecting each other’s incompatible philosophies, put distance between them. Beyond that, it would be through actions, not words, that they would prove their claims true.

[Assistant] "Let’s go.” Subaru calls out to the pair in attendance with him and left the room.

[User] Otto followed behind him without a word

[Assistant] Garfiel, last to leave, looked back at Roswaal but once and murmured in a little voice like an afterthought.

[User] “—Stupid jerk.”


[User] “This is bad. I wanted to stop the attack on the mansion, but it was like he was saying, Go away—there’s no pulling back now.”

[Assistant] “I cannot really deny it felt like our original objective had turned to half-baked negotiations midway…”

[User] “Hey, Bro. Don’t blame the general too much, all right? By the general’s standards, he really laid into the guy. Me, I felt good just listenin’ to it.”

[Assistant] “Were it not a place for negotiations to resolve matters peacefully, I would agree with you…!”

[User] Subaru tried to reflect on things blowing up, Garfiel irresponsibly cheered him on.

[Assistant] The sight of the pair made Otto clutch his head, genuinely in a bind. “Not that I expected that the marquis would truly surrender, but why did talks break down so badly when a quiet end would have been preferable…? !”

[User] “Certainly, Garfiel and I did bad things there, but the responsibility’s yours, too, right?”

[Assistant] “My responsibility? I did nothing to warrant anything so great as…”

[User] “Well, I mean you were there, right?”

[Assistant] “I’m responsible just by merely existing? !”

[User] “Anyway, this isn’t the time to trade jokes with one another. Roswaal won’t stop the attack on the mansion. That means we need to go running back there without a moment to spare. That’s what it means, but…”

[Assistant] Their negotiations falling through meant the various problems surrounding the mansion would continue unabated. Just as Roswaal had said, if they didn’t prevent the attack, the contest would inevitably end in Subaru’s defeat. There was virtually no time left until Elsa and Meili, the assassins dispatched by Roswaal, would assault the mansion. As Subaru nervously gritted his teeth.

[User] “Now hold on,” and clacked his fangs. “I ain’t really had a proper explanation, but the gist is that the bastard’s got some scheme that puts the bunch at the mansion…including my older sis, in danger. That ’bout covers it?”

[Assistant] “—. Yeah, that’s right. He’s sent assassins to the mansion, and they’re super skilled. I don’t stand a chance against ’em. That’s why I need combat power to…”

[User] “Short talk, then. Let’s stop shootin’ the breeze here and get to the mansion right now.”

[Assistant] “Hey, listen to me! Even if we go back, we don’t have the combat power! It’ll just jack up the body count!”

[User] “Ahhh?! What are you talkin’ about, General?! You sayin’ I’m not enough…? !”

[Assistant] “Yes! Please halt a moment right there!” Wedging himself into the pair’s increasingly loud exchange, Otto stopped their arguments midway.


[User] "Now, look here?" Otto stares at their faces respectively.

[Assistant] "It’s clear the flow of the conversation has shifted, but do you understand, Garfiel?"

[User] "Understand what?"

[Assistant] "Going to the aid of the mansion requires leaving the Sanctuary. Lady Emilia is in the middle of her challenge, but the tomb’s barrier remains intact, so if the barrier stops you…" Otto implies the issue is moot, revealing the gap in Garfiel’s line of thinking.

[User] "Barrier…? Ain’t no problem. The barrier don’t affect me ’cause of my makeup, y’see." Garfiel crinkles his nose, undaunted.

[Assistant] "—Huh?" Subaru and Otto both voiced the same reaction when Garfiel touched one of his canine teeth with his finger and tossed out a brief explanation.

[User] "—Huh?" Subaru and Otto both voiced the same reaction when Garfiel touched one of his canine teeth with his finger and tossed out a brief explanation.

[Assistant] "I’m sayin’." Garfiel clicks his tongue, faced with their questioning gazes and voices,

[User] "I’m an exception—the barrier that keeps ‘mixed’ people from passing through don’t work on me. Same as my older sis, I’m a kid from a mixed-blood dad and a human mom. My blood’s too thin, so the barrier don’t work."


[Assistant] "It’s the same for you…? B-but I heard you and Frederica have different fathers?!"

[User] "…Well, ya know. My mother, she ain’t got any luck or any eye for pickin’ men. You figure it out." Garfiel looks away.


[Assistant] "Ah? What gives, General?"

[User] "Whaddaya mean, what gives? Say that earlier, damn it! If you knew that, you…youuu! !"

[Assistant] "Well, I didn’t know ’cause you didn’t tell me all this, so it’s your own fault, General! It’s just like how Ipshiz was ruined through too few words! !"

[User] "Yes, yes, yes, yes! That is quite enough! Quite enough!"

[Assistant] Otto intervenes once more, intercepting Subaru before his inevitable pummeling just as the pair was about to come to blows. "You can both reflect on explaining too little hereafter. Right now, we should think of this as good fortune indeed, seeing as how the greatest obstacle before us has been removed— Mr. Natsuki, we can do this."

[User] "I know! If we can all cross the barrier, this boils down quickly!" With Otto’s shout flipping a switch in his mind, Subaru made an instant decision based on this change in conditions.


[User] "After that… Garfiel!" Subaru trailed off there, staring squarely at Garfiel.

[Assistant] "Aah?" Garfiel had been dissatisfied over not being able to follow the conversation, but his expression switched in the blink of an eye.

[User] "To be blunt, I still don’t get a lot of what’s goin’ on, but…" Garfiel’s two jade eyes gave off a fiery glow as he smiled, baring his fangs.

[Assistant] "Leave all the fightin’ to me— Me, I’m the best there is."


[User] Returning from the forest to Subaru and the others, only to find some ruckus happening in front of the Cathedral—the building where the evacuees from Earlham Village had grouped up—it was Ram who spoke first.

[Assistant] "So what do you intend to do now?" The people of Earlham Village had clustered here, busy murmuring and holding different conversations. In front of the assembled gathering of evacuees were Subaru and his companions, and if she could put what they were doing into words—

[User] "You are preparing dragon carriages to slip away during the night? Now, at a time like this?"

[Assistant] "You’re making it sound bad. But you’re not wrong about the call late at night and then again first thing in the morning feeling— From here, Otto, Garfiel, and I are heading toward the mansion. Re… Frederica and company are in danger." Subaru replied to Ram as he hitched his beloved pitch-black dragon, Patlash, to a two-dragon carriage.

[User] "To the mansion…," The reply made Ram raise an eyebrow as she murmured.

[Assistant] "The result of Lady Emilia’s Trial is still pending. What will you do?"

[User] "Emilia’ll clear it. Echidna’s not gonna get her bent out of shape. How are Ryuzu and the others?"

[Assistant] "Caring for Miss Shima. Ram is to remain on watch until Lady Emilia returns."

[User] "Got it… In that case, I’ll leave that role to you. Counting on ya."

[Assistant] "Counting on me, are you, Barusu? You are such a…" There was sharpness mixed in Ram’s voice; perhaps she thought him irresponsible.

[User] Even so, he had to go. Rem, Frederica, and Petra were waiting.

[Assistant] "—General, sorry for the wait! I’m back!" In high spirits, a voice interrupted Subaru and Ram’s conversation.

[User] "I have completed preparations as well. We can leave any moment!" Then both respectively leaped onto the dragon carriage: Garfiel onto the roof and Otto onto the driver’s seat. When performing the final checks for Otto’s plan, they’d headed to the cabin to collect something Garfiel had forgotten.


[User] "I was the strongest before but now I’m even stronger, ha. Now I ain’t losin’ to anyone, not even you, General.” Garfiel seemed extremely enthusiastic, his words bringing both surprise and a wry smile out of Subaru.

[Assistant] Subaru looked behind him—toward Ram and the people of Earlham Village arrayed at her back.

[User] "It’s like you heard, everyone! From here, we’re heading back to the mansion a step ahead of you! Sorry for this all being out of order, but…"

[Assistant] "You need not be concerned, Master Subaru.” A voice interrupted Subaru’s words; it hailed from an old woman with a stooped hip—the head of Earlham Village. She trained her hoarse voice and her eyes, which were filled with a bounty of kindness, toward Subaru.

[Assistant] "Just who was it who took on the responsibility of liberating us, I wonder?” The village head’s question left Subaru perplexed for a single moment, but he immediately widened his eyes.

[User] He remembered.

[Assistant] “You worry needlessly, Master Subaru. More importantly, you have your own duty that you must fulfill, yes?”

[User] “Don’t get cold feet in a place like this. Please go quickly.”

[Assistant] “Ahhh, you’d best wipe off what’s left of that nosebleed midway, though. Don’t wanna disappoint Petra.” Following the head of the village, the other villagers offered their own voices of support one after the other.

[User] “Thanks, everyone. But don’t forget what I said. Wait until…”

[Assistant] “—Right up to the limit, and only until then. Why, if the barrier is lifted before that, all is well.”

[User] “That’s why, Master Subaru, you should give up already and let us help you this time.” Their powerful, imposing words completely stopped Subaru from saying anything.

[Assistant] Let us help you. The person who spoke communicated the united will of the villagers.

[User] Subaru bowed his head. Then the remaining problem was—

[Assistant] “Ram, there’s no time to explain every fine detail. But all of them understand their own roles. Emilia, too. So for you…”

[User] “—Fine, then. Do as you please. Ram shall do as she pleases as well.” She snorted in return, her arms crossed.


[User] Wincing from her reply, Subaru scratched his cheek with a finger. "Hearing you, someone who normally does as she pleases, say that is super scary for some reason…"

[Assistant] "Ha. Yes, do be afraid— Barusu, you’re really all right with this?"

[User] "Yeah. I already told Emilia all the words I wanted to tell her."

[Assistant] "The carvings on the wall, you mean."

[User] "Why do I feel like I’ll never live that down?!" Replying to Ram’s teasing in a loud voice, Subaru then rummaged in his pocket, touching something that felt hard with the tips of his fingers. He exhaled a light breath. "—Ram." Addressing her, Subaru drew it out and tossed it toward Ram.

[Assistant] She softly caught the object. "Don’t do anything crazy."

[User] "Who do you think you’re talking to, Barusu? Don’t make me laugh."

[Assistant] Smiling wryly at Subaru’s words, Ram quietly put the caught object into a pocket on her maid outfit. From this point, no more words were spoken between them. Everything that needed to be exchanged had been. All that was left was for each of them to work their hardest toward their respective best outcomes.

[User] "—Let’s go! We gotta reach the mansion before the crack of dawn. I’m counting on ya, Patlash!" Climbing into the dragon carriage, Subaru shouted, bringing a loud neigh from Patlash, who was hitched to the wagon. Spurred by that neigh, Otto’s beloved dragon, hitched alongside, gave off a low growl in turn. Slowly, the two-dragon carriage began to move, and their sprint out of the Sanctuary had begun.

[Assistant] "Um, incidentally, I heard a term earlier that I cannot easily dismiss. Who is this Administrator of whom everyone from the village spoke…?"

[User] "—We’re leaving! !" Overwriting and obliterating Otto’s question, the dragon moved, deploying its wind repel blessing. Inundated by the villagers’ cheers of support, the dragon carriage raced through the night toward the forest, the road…and the mansion.


[User] "—And so three fools ran off to the mansion in a dragon carriage pulled by two wise land dragons.” Having finished giving Emilia the details, Ram seemed exhausted as she put a hand to her brow.

[Assistant] Emilia was just a little surprised that Ram would visibly show how she really felt for once. "Mm, I understand what you have told me… Goodness, he really is incorrigible.”

[User] "Sheesh," Emilia went, sighing deeply, after which a thin smile came over her.

[Assistant] Her gaze firmly fixed upon the expression Emilia was giving off, Ram narrowed her pink eyes with a questioning look. “…Is that all you have to say?”

[User] "I think so? Ah, of course, his leaving without waiting for me makes me just a little…yes, really just a little, tiny bit annoyed, but…”

[Assistant] "But I guess he didn’t think there was any way I’d fail, huh.”

[User] “I really am a little angry, though. I wonder, does Subaru really love me?”

[Assistant] “…Barusu cares more about Lady Emilia than any other.”

[User] "Mm, thank you.”

[Assistant] Seeing that same Emilia smiling pleasantly made Ram lower her eyes, somehow pleased with how things had turned out. “Lady Emilia, since you’ve returned, does that mean…?”

[User] “You mean the Trial? Yes, that was… Er, it might be a little difficult to call it resolved. I properly faced my past…but it doesn’t seem to be over yet.”

[Assistant] “What do you mean?”

[User] “The Trial doesn’t end at one. There are two more…and it seems the barrier is only lifted after that. So I’ll need to go back into the tomb afterward…”

[Assistant] Setting aside the fact that Subaru and the others had ridden off on a separate mission, Ram, the residents of the Sanctuary, and the people from Earlham Village might have to wait a little longer, but Emilia wouldn’t stop moving forward until she reached the end.

[User] “You really have become strong, Lady Emilia.” Perhaps Ram murmured thus because she saw the resolve in Emilia’s eyes.


[User] Feeling an odd hesitance in her tone of voice, Emilia quietly waited for Ram to continue her words.

[Assistant] Ram fell into silent contemplation for a time. "—Lady Emilia, I am very sorry."

[User] “…It’s really rare to hear you apologize. What is it all of a sudden?”

[Assistant] “Ram thinks so as well… This will be the first time Ram bows her head to Lady Emilia in earnest.”

[User] Emilia made a pained smile as Ram forthrightly stated that her formalities had been perfunctory to date.

[Assistant] Taking in this smile directly, Ram gazed at Emilia, her pink eyes boring straight into Emilia’s violet ones. And then her apology, or perhaps her confession, began. “Up to this point, Ram did not believe that Lady Emilia could stand on her own two feet. Your heart was broken by the Trial, and you lost even the Great Spirit, who was your foundation… I had wondered, how could you possibly find your footing now?”

[Assistant] “However, this moment, Lady Emilia stands here on her own feet…head held high and ready for whatever comes. I deduct only minor points for the traces of tears remaining on your cheeks.”

[User] “Ah, oh, sheesh…!” Rubbing her sleeves against her cheeks, Emilia diligently eliminated the traces of tears Ram had pointed out. After that, she turned toward Ram once more, softly tilting her head. “So is Ram cooperating with Subaru and Otto because I’m such a crybaby?”

[Assistant] “Surely, you jest. Ram is not lending a hand to those two whatsoever. Ram is lending a hand to Lady Emilia, after concluding that such cooperation holds value.”

[User] “Is that what it is? …Yeah, I suppose it would be.” Emilia had challenged the Trial because Subaru’s voice had called out to her. And it was necessary for Garfiel’s laments to be halted for Subaru’s words to reach her. For that purpose, Otto’s and Ram’s cooperation was necessary—and as a result of all that, Emilia had managed to step forward. Certainly, one might call all Ram’s actions grounded in diligent service toward Emilia.

[Assistant] “But why? Why did you want to help me, Ram?”

[User] “—Because when one has something to ask, it is necessary to display one’s own sincerity.”

[Assistant] Those words, and the action that followed them, made Emilia’s breath catch. Emilia watched as Ram knelt before her, reverentially lowering her head to the ground. This was what one called a show of the greatest respect. It was the highest of formalities, meant to demonstrate who deserved the highest esteem of all. This was not the perfunctory respect Ram had previously shown Emilia but a display of genuine respect—

[User] “Please, Lady Emilia— I beg you, save my liege, Master Roswaal.”

[Assistant] “…Save Roswaal?”

[User] “He is completely possessed by obsession, obsession that has bound his heart like a curse for a very, very long time. Perhaps, Ram was fine with him like that even so.


[User] "Perhaps, Ram was fine even if he did not look her way, even if he thought of Ram as nothing more than a useful tool with which to satisfy his obsession.” Still offering the deepest bow, Ram candidly revealed what lay hidden within her chest. Perhaps, as she constantly gazed at Roswaal, this was the hope Ram had continued to nurse at the bottom of her heart, under an emotionless mask… It was the hope that she was fine with being a useful tool alone. However, now Ram refused that way of being. “But his obsession has already strayed far from the path. He has lost sight of the objective that is the foundation of all his hopes, and Master Roswaal clings to his text in name alone… I beg you, break his obsession.”

[Assistant] “Will Roswaal be all right with me breaking it?”

[User] “He will not. He will most certainly panic. He will lose his reason to live and might well collapse completely. However, Lady Emilia, you are the only one who can do this. Perhaps, by moving Master Roswaal away from his way of life that has buoyed him all this time…my feelings might succeed in reaching him.” This was an earnest plea. Bowing her head, Ram kept the tone of her voice normal, but she was earnestly pleading.

[Assistant] Emilia did not properly understand even half the words her plea contained. But Ram’s wishes, Ram’s feelings, were genuine. That, she understood. And that was enough. "What should I do?”

[User] “—Please sit upon the royal throne.”

[User] “Lady Emilia must sit upon the royal throne of Lugunica. When that occurs, Master Roswaal’s desire shall be fulfilled. Even as he continues to walk off the beaten path, the day shall come when his feelings are fulfilled. Yes, please offer Master Roswaal this salvation. Please give his life meaning, today as well as tomorrow.” With Emilia pressed into silence, Ram piled word upon word without a pause. For the first time, Emilia received Ram’s feelings, which were spoken with such eloquence. Maybe that was why. Maybe that was it. Deep inside Emilia’s chest, she felt emotions that defied description as they bore down on her like never before. That moment, Ram, who’d thought she stood alone, unable to rely on anyone, was now depending on her. The hot emotions that bubbled up as a result were barely containable. "Please, Lady Emilia.” In front of Emilia, who spoke not a word, Ram slowly bowed her head.


[User] “I’m not really sure how my becoming king is connected to saving Roswaal.”

[Assistant] “I probably don’t understand Ram’s feelings yet. Not really.”

[User] Silently, Emilia looked back at Ram, taking in a single breath. Bewilderment was vanishing from her swelling chest. Worry no longer remained in her mind. Never before had her soul burned this hot.

[Assistant] “This is the first time Ram’s asked me for anything, isn’t it?”

[User] So it wasn’t necessary to be difficult about this. “All right, Ram. Now that you believe in me, I want to give something back.” It was probably because at that moment, what Emilia wanted to do and what Emilia needed to do were one and the same. No hesitation was necessary. Emilia simply smiled and nodded.

[Assistant] “This is probably something I have to start working on from here on out.” Boldly, she stated her wish to fulfill not only her own desires but someone else’s as well.

[User] “Ah,” replied Ram, opening her mouth a little as she bowed. Somehow, the tension seemed to ebb—and her worry, too, judging from her lips, which trembled in relief.

[Assistant] Seeing Ram’s expression relaxing, Emilia felt a slight sense of satisfaction. At the same time, she thought it was very in character to see Ram refuse to cry despite her teary eyes. And then, just as Emilia extended a hand to the kneeling Ram to help her back to her feet—

[User] "—I hope you do not mind my fiiiinally speaking my own words of congratulations?”

[Assistant] “—!” Feeling a tremble in the hand she touched, Emilia lifted her head toward the voice, which came from behind Ram—in the direction of the settlement. There, she saw a figure calmly standing on the grassy clearing. The voice was familiar. Their demeanor was aloof. More importantly, it came from the individual who was the veritable center of their conversation.

[User] “—Roswaal.” And so with faint wariness in her chest, Emilia called out his name.

[Assistant] “It seems you were in the middle of conversing, but it feels like the matter came to an end… You do not mind?” Addressed by his name, the person, who was none other than Roswaal L. Mathers, stepped forward toward them. He was clothed in his usual eccentric attire, and for the first time in a while, he showed off the white makeup he often wore on his face. This was the Roswaal who Emilia knew—a far cry from the injured, bedridden patient she had seen of late.

[User] “—That is far enough.”

[Assistant] “…Hmm.”

[User] Emilia’s call brought Roswaal’s feet to a halt. It was not the hard emotions infused in her voice that forced him to a stop but the palm Emilia turned Roswaal’s way. Emilia had drawn Ram close with her right hand, turning her left toward him. Of course, this was no simple bluff, something the surging mana Roswaal detected made plain.

[Assistant] “My, myyyy, is this not quite a harsh welcome?


[User] "Even though, upon hearing Emilia had challenged the Trial, I came running over with this gravely injured body of miiiine.”

[Assistant] "I would dearly like to believe that is really what you think, but…" Deflecting the truth with her words, Emilia narrowed her neat eyebrows.

[User] Emilia was wary of Roswaal, because she felt Ram’s palm tremble in her grip.

[Assistant] “Please do not make such a fearful face, Lady Emilia. Even I am genuinely concerned for you… Or perhaps I should say, I sympathize with you.”

[User] “You sympathize with me…? What do you mean by that?”

[Assistant] “I mean what I said. I sympathize with you from the bottom of my heart—for this situation where you, knowing no way to be loved save through fulfilling the expectations of those around you, were inevitably forced to confront the past against your will.” As he shook his head in disapproval, Roswaal’s declaration made Emilia open her eyes wide.

[User] He spoke the word sympathy as if he pitied Emilia’s circumstances. However, the cold, melancholic emotions differed from simple sympathy— It was something bordering on malice.

[Assistant] “Allow me to formally convey my congratulations to you, along with sentiments of sympathy and pity— You have done well to overcome the Trial. I had truly thought it was beyond you.”

[User] “…A compliment like that makes it hard to just come out and say thank you. Besides, I have not yet properly finished the Trial. I was told that there are two more.”

[Assistant] "Yes, I am aware of this. Besides, I am somewhat relieved— Naaaamely, that even an airhead like you is able to understand that my congratulations just now were not words of goodwill.” Roswaal laced his words with sarcasm.

[User] Emilia was perplexed and unable to discern his intent. His hostile emotions were complex, feeling like equal parts lament and joy. But it was clear that his self-wounding and his self-mockery were just scratching the surface of his suffering.

[Assistant] “Roswaal, what did you come here for? Did you really come just to say this?”

[User] “Mostly for that. Also, I wished to see for myself.”

[Assistant] “See… You mean, the results of my Trial?”

[User] Roswaal closed his eyes and pulled back his shoulders. In confirming the result of the Trial, perhaps he wished to see what answer Emilia had gleaned from confronting her past…or whether it had broken her heart once more.

[Assistant] “You said you thought I couldn’t do it… Have you changed your opinion a little?”

[Assistant] “Yeah, I think you had a lot of things to worry about.


[User] "Until just a teeny little while ago, I was always pulling back from everything… I caused Puck, Subaru, and everyone all kinds of trouble.”

[Assistant] If he thought Emilia probably wouldn’t be able to overcome the Trial, it was only natural. To be blunt, even that very moment, she found it mysterious that someone as weak as she had challenged the Trial. Her heart easily wavered, her thought process was shallow, and she was fragile and pathetic, yet still.

[User] "But even though I caused them so much trouble, everyone helped me. I’m such a no-good klutz, but everyone still lent me a hand. So I thought, I can’t lose heart here…” Drawing back her left hand, which she’d trained toward Roswaal, Emilia tried to grasp on to all the passionate feelings in her chest. It was not with mana but with words that she wanted to reach out to Roswaal that moment.

[Assistant] But as Emilia spun such words, Roswaal, his eyes closed, let out a faint sound from his throat.

[User] Roswaal laughed, low and prolonged, suppressing his voice so that it came out as a trickle. Then he opened a single eye—earnestly training his yellow-colored eye on Emilia. "You say the same things as young Subaru. Is that something you also learned by copying him?”

[Assistant] "—! !” Her voice caught in her throat.

[User] "Master Roswaal!” Ram loudly rebuked Roswaal in her stead. Ram, having maintained her silence up to that point, stood at Emilia’s side as she powerfully slammed her pink emotions against her master.

[Assistant] However, Roswaal ignored this, seemingly receiving them like a refreshing breeze, and continued speaking to Emilia. “Those are borrowed words on a stage prepared for you. Even challenging the Trial here was a choice made possible by everyone’s goodwill… I find no fault with you. It is I, and the others around us, who desired that you do so. But though he understands this perfectly well, Subaru has forced such a cruel thing onto you.”

[User] “That isn’t so! Subaru was just…”

[Assistant] “That is his way. After all, he merely shouted encouragement at you that was shorn of all logic and reason, did he not? He summoned all the emotional arguments he could, forcing his ideals onto you alone. I understand, I understand; indeed… After aaaaall, we are the same, he and I.”

[User] “Subaru and you are the same? What is that supposed to mean?”

[Assistant] “In that we force our ideals upon the women we love.” When he made this firm statement.

[User] Ram gripped Emilia’s hand harder with great force.

[Assistant] Understanding the feeling in her palm, Emilia looked straight back at Roswaal’s yellow eye.

[User] A listless smile continued to adorn the corners of his lips as Roswaal shook his head side to side. “Just what did he say to you? Words that sounded comfortable to the ears, I am sure. You are soft, Lady Emilia, gently crumbling with ease, which makes you easy to handle as long as one remains polite.


[User] "Truly, Lady Emilia is weak and fragile, someone embracing such forlorn hopes. You have considered what it would be like to live as a normal girl, I imagine? He has no interest in the real you, not in the slightest. What he loves is the ideal of you that rests within him—is that not so?” Piling insidious words upon one another, Roswaal lowered his gaze, his eyes seeming desolate.

[Assistant] At first, his words appeared to intentionally insult and scorn, yet, for some reason, Emilia felt like the emotions he revealed were laments that cut into him instead. Perhaps Roswaal himself could no longer clearly differentiate between whether he was speaking about Subaru or about himself. Even as his presence overwhelmed her, Emilia took a short breath.

[User] "…That’s all you have to say?”

[User] “Is that the only reason why you think you and Subaru are cut from the same cloth?” The question Emilia posed made a questioning air hover in both of Roswaal’s eyes. However, he suspiciously made no reply.

[Assistant] Roswaal had no words to follow that could match Emilia’s question. Therefore, there truly was something that needed to be said.

[User] “If that really is all you have to say…”

[User] “You and Subaru are nothing alike.” After all, Subaru, who had chased after Emilia all the way into the tomb, certainly had argued with ideals, and it was not with reason or the importance of liberating the Sanctuary that he persuaded Emilia. All the same, what he’d vehemently argued were by no means whatsoever soft, pretty words alone.

[Assistant] “You see, Subaru told me that I was a troublesome woman.”

[User] “…What?”

[Assistant] “He asked who I thought I was, doing all kinds of things and causing nothing but trouble. He asked how long was I going to keep doing things like this and make him wait with nothing but hope. He said that I was all talk, that I was so lacking in everything, he couldn’t even look at me—that’s what Subaru told me.” In the tomb, in that cold stonework corridor, Subaru had pressed his forehead to Emilia’s, angrily shouting at her.

[User] That instant, Emilia remembered the jeers that had shaken her heart. “It was just as Subaru said. I’m a weakling, all mouth, coming up short all over the place.” Emilia had even forgotten that she was a weakling, all talk, lacking in this way and that. She’d thrust away her memories and acted like those parts of her didn’t exist, but Subaru had understood. He’d seen right through her.


[User] "That’s why you and Subaru are nothing alike.” If Subaru Natsuki was someone who couldn’t accept anything less than the ideal Emilia, she’d probably still be in the tomb clutching her knees that very moment. Even where Garfiel was concerned, she had no doubt that if Subaru, knowing things beyond his ideals, hadn’t spoken of idealism, Garfiel would have never lent his ears to such words. Subaru, knowing Emilia was weak, had told her he loved her nonetheless. Subaru, knowing Garfiel was kind, had told him to change nonetheless. Subaru came running to everyone whose feet stood still, scolding them, shoving their backs, making them run as well. You can do it, he said. You can fight, he said— You don’t have time to stand still, he said. “When my memories returned, I was anxious. With Puck gone, I felt like I was being crushed… When I remembered everything, I felt like I wasn’t myself anymore, like who I was up until now had been a lie.” What she believed in had been demolished, and as a result, she had ceased to move. Cowering in the face of such thoughts, the reason Emilia could stand there having confronted and overcome her past was—

[Assistant] “When you think you want to do something… When you want to change—there are people who will help you, who will give you a helping hand. He taught me there are people like that out there.”

[User] “Is that not merely a fraud? A fraud’s act meant to convince you to stand once more so…”

[Assistant] “No, it’s not a lie. It’s not nonsense with no basis at all. Subaru said he believed in me. Those feelings will not become a lie… I won’t let them be a lie. That is my answer.” Emilia boldly dismissed Roswaal’s rebuttal. She would never let the words that he…that Subaru had spoken to her when she was helpless and hapless be called a lie, a nonexistent hope. She would not allow it. The words Subaru Natsuki had firmly declared to Emilia—I know you can do it—were no lie. Emilia had broken out of her own shell, and by doing it, the lie had ceased to be. It was what people called a wish…a wish that it would cease to be a lie. That was why—

[User] “—I’ll turn lies into wishes. Right now, that’s what I want to do and what I need to do.” This was what Subaru had so earnestly, so desperately taught her. Once, Emilia could not draw her answer out in a concrete form, but at that moment, she’d finally pieced it together. —She would make this wish come true. That was what Emilia had to do. “”

[Assistant] Roswaal had not interrupted Emilia, nor had he replied. Still, it took only one look at his eyes to know that her words had not simply rolled off.


[User] His gaze was trained toward both of Emilia’s eyes, as if trying to keep the keen emotions under his makeup, under his ornamental smile, from reaching his face.

[Assistant] "—Roswaal, could it be that you wanted to make me do something horrible?" The possibility abruptly came to her mind.

[User] Pushing himself to come while deeply wounded, intermingling words of congratulations with insults, speaking maliciously that he had expected nothing of her, and on top of that, mocking Subaru—it was one uncharacteristic behavior piled upon the next…

[Assistant] "It’s like you want to make me angry so that I’ll punish you."

[User] "…Purely to get this out of the way, I happen to dislike pain."

[Assistant] "—? I would think everyone dislikes that?" The reply tugged at Emilia’s mind, making her incline her head, but he had not denied Emilia’s words.

[User] He wanted to be hurt, to be punished.

[Assistant] Had Roswaal come to this place in hopes of that?

[User] Even Emilia could understand such destructive impulses, despising oneself to the point of wanting to be put through the wringer.

[Assistant] The only difference was whether one directed that inwardly or outwardly.

[User] Emilia was the sort to direct it inwardly.

[Assistant] Perhaps that was true of Roswaal as well?

[User] "And so you have changed again— To me, this is exceedingly difficult to accept."

[Assistant] "Roswaal?"

[User] "I respect your decision, and the will to walk forward is praiseworthy. I can comprehend how you discern there is hope after accepting your pain and wounds. That is why I sympathize with you."

[Assistant] But Emilia thought she had already asserted that his sympathy was misplaced.

[User] There was no reason to view her as pitiable, for Emilia had already found hope.

[Assistant] Finding that hope fleeting, Roswaal shook his head side to side. After all—

[User] "Even your virtuous decision to be hurt is already meaningless, for this is a finished world."

[Assistant] "Finished world…?"

[User] "Properly speaking, this is a world approaching its end, perhaps? It is a world that has veered off its proper path, a world astray from its proper destination. This Sanctuary and the royal selection are already meaningless."

[Assistant] Slowly shaking his head again, Roswaal spoke those words, seemingly finding this acutely regrettable from the bottom of his own heart.

[User] Emilia could not conceal her bewilderment at the inconsistency between his demeanor and the emotions precipitating it.

[Assistant] Even though deep in his heart he still felt frustration, Roswaal was letting everything go.

[User] "Roswaal…what are you trying to cast away? You…you and I started this together, right?"


[User] "Casting it aside midway…that’s absolutely wrong!"

[Assistant] "—Then…what is it you wish to do?"

[User] "I don’t know! But wrong things are wrong! I don’t understand what you’re trying to give up on, Roswaal, but don’t give up! That’s too selfish of you, isn’t it? !" Knowing full well she sounded like she was lecturing a child, Emilia extended an accepting hand toward Roswaal. If Roswaal was going to try and let things go, she’d grab him and drag him back in his stead.

[Assistant] "There’s no need to abandon anything— Not anymore."

[User] "…You truly do speak like young Subaru." As Emilia thrust her chest out, firmly declaring her beliefs, Roswaal sighed. From there, he let his shoulders droop, as if all energy had slipped out of him, and shifted his gaze to the tomb behind Emilia.

[Assistant] "Just how well can you change grandiose language into reality?"

[User] "That’s what I’m going to prove from here on out, in the tomb…no, even outside the Sanctuary." Emilia was firmly declaring to Roswaal that she would challenge the second Trial. Then she shifted her gaze toward Ram, whose hand she had not let go of the entire time.

[Assistant] "Lady Emilia." Ram, having maintained her silence as she witnessed the pair’s replies to each other, addressed Emilia with trembling lips.

[User] Nodding to her call, Emilia gently let go of her hand, which had linked the two together. "I’m going, Ram— Somehow, I will make your wish come true."

[Assistant] Nodding as Ram lowered her eyes, Emilia turned around, shifting her gaze toward the tomb’s entrance. With her words to Roswaal and her words to Ram, Emilia had surely exhausted all the words she possessed. The rest had to be proven with the answer Emilia arrived at—not through words but actions. Putting a foot upon the stone steps, she desired once more to enter the tomb she had just left. Behind her—

[User] "—You are wrong about one thing, Lady Emilia. Everything began between Teacher and me." There was an exceedingly nostalgic twinge to his voice. His voice seemed fiendishly adoring, as if to gently trample one underfoot. With that voice at her back, Emilia advanced into the tomb, which shone with light. She headed for the stonework room she had once departed. There, the second Trial waited.


[Assistant] “I saw the past. So next would be…” Just what awaited her? With the painful battle of the first Trial fresh in her chest, Emilia headed straight back into the stonework room. When she reached her destination, the faint, pale radiance of the place illuminated the words of support Subaru had left for her. The remaining Trials numbered two. When the third Trial was overcome, the Sanctuary would greet its future. The moment she had the thought…

[User] "—Behold the unknowable present." The instant she realized the voice she heard whispering in her ear was her own, strength drained from her body.


[User] Her consciousness blanked out, and Emilia had the powerful sense that her soul was being shorn from her body, whisking her off to a place in the yonder.

[Assistant] "Subaru…" Not even certain what her own lips had spoken at the very end, Emilia knew the second Trial had begun.


[User] Having watched Emilia enter the tomb, Roswaal and Ram were left alone on the grassy clearing.

[Assistant] Ram gently pressed her left hand, which Emilia had held, against her chest.

[User] "...Rather unexpectedly, her resolve seems to be extremely hiiiigh. Subaru is indeed a formidable foe."

[Assistant] As Ram did so, Roswaal, having also watched Emilia leave from a short distance away, murmured thus. There was little emotion infused in his tone of voice. He did not seem to be particularly disappointed by what he had spoken. In fact, Ram was certain of it. Roswaal did not have the heartfelt interest shown by his demeanor just moments before. The proof was how Roswaal was completely unruffled by a result that was surely contrary to his will.

[User] "I am sorry to have put all that goodwill you painstakingly built to waste. To not launch her own outburst after enduring so much vitriol… She truly is weak to the bitter end."

[Assistant] "...Master Roswaal, from what point did you observe Ram and Lady Emilia’s conversation?"

[User] "I had some rather sharp words with young Subaru and the others, you see. I wanted to see Lady Emilia’s state for myself…and so I saw you bending your knee before her— You are quite the actress yourself." Roswaal seemed quite impressed when he replied to Ram’s question. In other words, Roswaal had seen Ram give her respects to Emilia and ask for her one, precious wish to be granted. And having seen it and engaged in his exchanges with Emilia as a result, he was now thanking Ram for her efforts.

[Assistant] "Had Lady Emilia given in to provocation and attempted to inflict harm upon me, victory or defeat in the contest would have been determined in short order…but perhaps the circumstances seemed somewhat too favorable?" He’d meant to stimulate Emilia’s anger and turn it toward him. Emilia had interpreted it as a desire for her to hurt him. In that, she had been correct. Where Emilia was wrong was that he did not desire this because he wished to receive his punishment. —Roswaal merely wanted to do his utmost to fulfill what was recorded in his magic tome. The royal selection existed for that purpose. The Sanctuary existed for that purpose. He existed for that purpose. Garfiel’s grief, Ryuzu’s and Shima’s long-standing desires, Frederica’s devotion, Subaru’s melancholy, Emilia’s sense of guilt, even Ram’s feelings—these were all things he used to accomplish the magic tome’s desired result.

[User] "Young Subaru and the others head toward the mansion, leaving this Sanctuary to Lady Emilia. At a glance, this action appears skillful, but it is a poor move. Seeing nothing but what one wishes to see is a habit anyone would term a vice.


[User] "It is not one I would wish for young Subaru to acquire.”

[Assistant] “What do you mean by this?”

[User] “I did not expect that Garfiel would join Subaru’s side. But this also means his removal from the Sanctuary side of the board. If his troublesome eyes are closed, I will draw nearer to my objective in a way that hasn’t been possible until now.”

[Assistant] “I heard you cooperated with them on the Garfiel matter. Of course, I understand that you believed this to be a good thing. Your feelings run deep. I have taken them into account as well, of course.” Roswaal walked over, gently patting Ram’s shoulder. Through his palm, Roswaal conveyed an immense amount of trust toward Ram.

[User] Ram was hanging her head as Roswaal walked over, gently patting her shoulder. The touch of his fingertips sent Ram’s heart beating faster within her chest. Touching him, exchanging words with him, doing whatever he commanded—these actions filled Ram with feelings that were the pinnacle of happiness. It was no exaggeration to say that they were what gave meaning to her life. It was what she lived for. —The instant she had the thought, Ram ignored the slight gap it created in her heart. That moment, she could not humor that hollow sensation.

[Assistant] “Master Roswaal, what do you intend to do from here?”

[User] “What I seek has not changed from before. I merely need overexert myself a trifle.”

[Assistant] “Ram will…”

[User] “—You should wait here for Lady Emilia to return. After aaaall, even I will feel pangs in my chest if that valiant girl arrives with no one to greet her.” From the faint lowering of the corners of his eyes, his statement was not one of sarcasm but of consideration toward Emilia. Even as he schemed to ruin Emilia’s efforts, he acted with warped concern for her heart. It was not limited to Emilia; the same applied to Subaru, to Garfiel, and to everyone else.

[Assistant] Ram bowed to Roswaal, the only one to whom she had opened her heart, and watched him go.


[User] In doing so, she announced she had chased after his vision, followed in his footsteps, in order to reach this place. It was as if to say, in response to so many questions, her appearing here in such a manner was her answer.

[Assistant] “…I see. So by using Clairvoyance, arriving here was an easy feat for you?” Accordingly, the presence of the visitor—nay, the intruder—was immediately made known to the devil. The devil at the entrance to the room looked upon Ram with a questioning air and a faint whiff of bewilderment dwelling in his differently colored eyes.

[User] Ram was keenly aware that this rare reaction from him made her chest leap with a sense of maidenly exultation. The secret art of Clairvoyance, passed down among the Oni, did not function unless the wavelengths of the caster and the target were compatible. Naturally, if Ram exerted herself, she could match her own wavelength even to that of demon beasts, but it was a different story where a high-rank opponent was concerned. If such an opponent closed his heart, synchronization was utterly impossible. In other words, had Roswaal not truly opened his heart to her, Clairvoyance could not function upon him. In point of fact, Ram had not attempted to overlap her own vision with that of Roswaal’s even once to this point. And so she had finally arrived at this place—really, how could she fail to feel joy?

[Assistant] “I believe I asked you to wait for Lady Emilia?”

[User] “Yes, you did.”

[Assistant] “Then I bid you: For what puuuurpose have you come to this place?”

[User] “—That is very simple.” When asked, she suppressed the passion that made her heart beat loudly, replying with her expression still neutral and tranquil. Ram’s pink hair swayed as she drew her wand from under the hem of her skirt. It was her beloved wand, granted to her by Roswaal personally when she had only just begun to serve him— It was a magic wand employing Ram’s own, broken-off horn. Twirling it within her hand, she thrust its tip toward her beloved master—

[Assistant] “—I have come to rob you of your obsession with the Witch.” To the man she cared for, who was mad with love, she confessed her own love, hoping to sear it into him.

[User] Ram had gone along with the gamble because she viewed it as her best opportunity to fulfill her own wish.


[User] In a cranny of the settlement, Ram stood still in a place that felt bereft of humanoid presence as she stared squarely at the individual. "...Er?"

[Assistant] "—. Ahhh, I wondered who it might be, but you are the man who was with Barusu, yes? Without Barusu beside you, your presence is so faint that I was unsure what manner of creature you are."

[User] "So I’m not even human now?! Er, I do understand why you would treat me as an appendage to Mr. Natsuki, but…"

[Assistant] "A man improved by being someone’s appendage has no worth of his own. Begone."

[User] "This maid is extremely harsh! !" Ram’s attitude left him without an island to cling to, and the young man’s voice went shrill as he turned his face toward the heavens.

[Assistant] Ram exhales at his reaction, embracing her own elbows as she looked at him squarely from the front. The young man tensed his shoulders, seeming uncomfortable under the gaze of her narrowed pink eyes. "Do you mind if I have a word with you?"

[User] "Setting aside whether I remember you or not, shouldn’t you speak your name first? Setting aside whether I remember you or not."

[Assistant] "I am not certain why you repeated that part twice…! …I am Otto Suwen. I may be a mere traveling merchant, but I would dearly appreciate you remembering my name and face even so."

[User] "That depends on whether the conversation you bring is interesting, and to what extent, I suppose I must say."

[Assistant] "Then with candor—could we have your cooperation on Mr. Natsuki’s wager with the marquis?"

[User] Having meant to assert that the initiative rested with her, Ram caught her breath a little.

[Assistant] When she glanced over, Otto was smiling as he keenly scrutinized Ram with his gaze.

[User] Ram grasped that this, in contrast to his frivolous expression, constituted his true worth as a traveling merchant. "You seem to be quite a fraudster."

[Assistant] "I am merely a man midway through chasing a dream. Perhaps that is why I get along with Mr. Natsuki and his reckless pursuits. Errr, I have digressed."

[User] "Ha! Bald-faced liar. Also, you have set your hopes in the wrong place. Ram’s desires align with Master Roswaal’s wishes. How did you come to believe I would lend Barusu a hand?"

[Assistant] "I trust you are well aware that where the destination of his wishes is concerned, the flow of events has already strayed from the marquis’s desires? I believe Mr. Natsuki has spoken to you of this as well." Otto had approached Ram once he was certain beyond a set extent.

[User] Feeling that this was an unamusing fact, Ram slid one hand down to her thigh. The wand holstered there under her skirt was her beloved weapon for the employment of magic. Even as she thought it was overkill against the likes of Otto, the means to instantly overwhelm him was a precious treasure indeed.


[User] "As I see it, this seems to be my time to excel."

[Assistant] "Your what?" Seeing Otto twitch a cheek and moisten his lips with his tongue, Ram raised an eyebrow toward him.

[User] "This is a critical moment, or something along those lines. It’s nothing to brag about, but my winning percentage for excelling is rather good."

[Assistant] "Such exaggerated confidence. I wonder, do you truly think such confidence is enough to seduce Ram to your will?" She had no ears to lend to half-hearted invitations. Compared with how she was previously, Otto could only think that Ram’s position had also grown precarious… This was a veritable critical juncture indeed. If he could at least “excel” properly, then perhaps—

[User] "For whatever reason, Mr. Natsuki does not think of Miss Ram as an enemy, come what may— If he is correct, I believe we should cooperate with Miss Ram’s own true desires."

[Assistant] "—. What a pity."

[User] "Eh?" Otto had an idiotic look on his face as Ram sighed deeply, sliding her hand up from her thigh. Then she used that same hand she had drawn back to gently stroke her own hair.

[Assistant] "I said, what a pity— Please go into detail." Even if she listened to his explanation to the end, it would still not be too late to decide whether to use her wand or not. At the very least, Otto offering negotiations was not a bad thing. Yes, she would humor him with a show of acceptance.


[User] —And so in response to Ram’s urging, Otto proceeded to explain in detail.

[Assistant] "—So what do you think of all this?"

[User] "Are you an idiot?" Ram was declaring that her eyes beheld an idiot, and the word one should turn upon an idiot was idiot itself. It was only natural she had the urge to say that. After all, Otto’s explanation was no summary or outline but closer to divulging every last card in his group’s hand. In other words, he’d exposed their entire scheme to her.

[Assistant] "Do you lack the imagination to grasp what would happen if Ram told Master Roswaal all this…?"

[User] "If you must put it that way, I can imagine nothing good. However, I am a merchant, so I must spare no effort required to succeed where business is concerned— Were failure to result from cold feet, I would bring shame to the House of Suwen, you see." Otto was stuffily asserting that he could not bring shame to his family. Such determination could not reach Ram’s heart, as she already had no family of her own—at least, it should not have.

[Assistant] "Miss Ram?"

[User] "—. Nothing at all. More importantly, at the beginning, you behaved as if you approached me in Barusu’s service…but this is your own decision, isn’t it? At the very least, you have not spoken to Barusu where Garf is concerned."

[Assistant] "Ah, er…you really could tell, couldn’t you?"

[User] "I do not think Barusu would approve such recklessness."


[User] Ram also views this as an extremely stupid thing to attempt alone—enough that calling it a personality flaw does not seem to do it justice.

[Assistant] “It truly is a personality flaw. Not that I would say this to anyone, but the planner is absolutely not cut out to be a merchant.”

[User] “Do you really intend to hide such a thing when you are looking straight into my eyes like this? !”

[Assistant] Male pride or something of the sort. How trivial, Ram thought disdainfully with a snort.

[User] “—If Ram is to cooperate with you, there are three conditions.” Ram held up three fingers as she spoke.

[Assistant] Otto hardened his expression as he nodded deeply. “I am listening.”

[User] “First, Garf. Giving him a knuckle sandwich is just fine. Ram enthusiastically concurs where it comes to breaking the bridge of Garf’s nose— However, after the bridge of his nose is broken, you are to leave him to Ram.”

[Assistant] “As I hope you will play a large role where Garfiel is concerned, those words sound quite ominous…”

[User] “That depends on Garf.”

[Assistant] “After that, Lady Emilia. I cannot bear seeing Lady Emilia so haggard now that she has lost the Great Spirit. Tell Barusu he needs to do something— It may be outside of Master Roswaal’s intentions, but even so, if we are to move forward, having Lady Emilia get back to her feet is unavoidable, whether I like it or not.”

[User] “This time, it is up to Mr. Natsuki and Lady Emilia where that is concerned, yes? Well, it might be the most up-in-the-air portion, but this plan does hinge on the premise that it will work out in the end.”

[Assistant] Otto scratched his pathetic face in response to Ram’s statements.

[User] “Either way, I expect you to accept these two conditions.


[User] “As they are necessary and the minimum conditions for the success of your plan, it is not particularly a hindrance to you, I trust?”

[Assistant] “I suppose not. Put bluntly, I had considered it possible you would propose far more difficult and less achievable things… Ah, er, ummm, I imagine the third is quite something, so I should be quiet and wait before saying such things.”

[User] “What a fool.” She could understand Otto’s wariness. But his concerns were needless. Certainly, there was no mistaking that Ram was hopping on board the plan for her own objectives. But that was something Otto, who had proposed as much, had no doubt already woven into his schemes. It was only natural that Garfiel, Emilia, and after them, Subaru and Otto would fight valiantly. It was a good thing for Ram to cooperate to a lesser or greater extent. But Ram would yield the final scene to no one else. Therefore, the final condition Ram sought from Otto was a simple one. And that was—

[Assistant] “—You will not speak one word to Barusu about why Ram wishes to join his wager.”


[User] Ram stood across from Roswaal. The place was the facility covertly placed in the forest—the place that appeared in Shima’s story of the past, and in one sense, the place that served, along with the tomb, as the central pillar of the Sanctuary. The hovering stench and the abnormally white walls threw portions of her five senses into chaos. However, it was not a problem. For the man who stood in front of Ram’s eyes had robbed Ram of her consciousness, down to the furthest corners of her soul, long, long before.

[Assistant] “Obsession, you saaaaay.” Roswaal murmured in a low voice. He said it both to repeat the claim Ram had spoken aloud and to classify the objective for which she herself had appeared in this place. That very instant, Roswaal browsed through a variety of possibilities in his mind. Most of them were widely at variance with the truth. Then he came across the possibility he thought most likely. “I think this is unlikely, yet…could it be you are truly minded to turn your wand against me?” Raising his eyebrows in apparent surprise, Roswaal had come to a single conclusion about Ram’s behavior. By stripping away all the clearly wrong ways to take her words, he had finally arrived at the proper answer. When he asked her this, Ram stood straighter, which made Roswaal’s shoulders sag.

[User] “I see. It has been years since you have turned your wand upon me…but for that time to come now is unfortunate. It also pains me that someone who knows my feelings, and my objective, would call them an obsession…”

[Assistant] “I may not have said it aloud, but I have always thought so.


[User] "It is only natural.”

[Assistant] “Natural… Weeeell, I suppose it is, given your long, long days of humiliating submission.” Even as he slumped his shoulders, Roswaal beheld Ram, who stood resolutely, with his two-colored eyes. From there, he gently ran his fingers through his indigo hair. “Seeing nothing save that which you wish to see… How truly ironic that I appraised this to be young Subaru’s vice, when it occurs right under my own nose. I had thought your actions an expression of devotion in your own way.”

[User] “Giving Garf a knuckle sandwich was both for the sake of Ram’s objective and for setting Garf’s stupidity straight… What is it you intended to do to that group without Ram?”

[Assistant] “I cannot deny the sense that you plaaaayed them very well as a result. For this final contest, young Subaru elected to gamble and cast out his net— I do not trifle with such gambling.” He spoke as if Subaru’s decision was ironic, whereas his own thoughts were logical.

[User] Ram’s assessment of Subaru was unchanged: He was a man with good timing, and that was all. “But having good timing alone is Barusu’s sole redeeming feature. I was not mistaken in wagering on that single redeeming feature— You have the book, I take it?”

[User] "At a point dubbed the final contest, at a juncture pushing Master Roswaal to make a move himself, it is inconceivable you would not have the book of knowledge in your possession, considering you rely upon it the most.”

[Assistant] Roswaal told no one where he kept his book of knowledge. Ram knew only that the book of knowledge was certain to exist, but he always kept it in a place beyond her reach. This was a golden opportunity where she was certain Roswaal had the book of knowledge in his hands, and thus, she had come. —This was the moment Ram had been waiting for for a long time.

[User] “—I have not forgotten. It is, after all, the one and only vow made between you and me.”

[Assistant] “A sword, to he who would wield it; magic, to he who would cling to it; flame, to he who is devoted to it.”

[User] “And an Oni, to he who desires it, one that shall destroy his very foundation, goes it?” The words of the vow they had exchanged took them back to the very beginning of the pair’s relationship. When Ram was still very young, those were the words of the vow they made after she had borrowed Roswaal’s aid to wreak retribution upon the scoundrels who had destroyed the Oni people. It was an oath that showed both her loyalty to Roswaal and her commitment to destroying his wish.


[User] This was the vow sworn between Ram and Roswaal, undiluted in the nine years since its forging—

[Assistant] "So the time has come, then. Certainly, the flow of this world goes astray of my desired path. And thus, the vow comes into force…meaning that I, having lost my desire, am to offer myself to you as promised."

[User] Roswaal was resolved to offer up the entirety of his very long life in order to arrive at the result recorded within the magic tome—so much that, if he should fail, living would lose all meaning.

[Assistant] "If I was to become a hollow shell, you may do with me as you please. Such I did promise, yes?"

[User] "Whether you live or die is up to Ram."

[Assistant] "Yes, that was it… After the passage of nearly ten years, you might finally fulfill your retribution."

[User] Reconfirming the vow he could not possibly have forgotten, Roswaal drew a black book out from his pocket.

[Assistant] Setting eyes upon the black-bound book, Ram knew with one glance that this was the abominable book of prophecy. This was the book of knowledge, the continued pursuit that was Roswaal’s very reason to go on. It was the magic tome she had sworn to destroy long ago.

[User] "To you, this must have been a long, long, bitter time, I imagine."

[User] "After all…you were forced to pledge loyalty against your will and spend your days with the man who caused the destruction of your homeland. Even if, without your horn, your body required my support in order for you to live, it must have been exceedingly agonizing. I am sorry to have acted as if it is not my affair."

[Assistant] His tone of voice was dry of emotion as Roswaal defined Ram’s very existence.

[User] The cause of her homeland’s destruction—those words revived a memory and, with them, pain within Ram’s chest. She recalled her home village set aflame, the wails of her brethren, her family seeking rescue as they perished. The Oni, said to be the mightiest of demi-humans, had no way to resist the power of brute numbers. Her people, few in number and assailed with malice that far outnumbered them, met their end in a single night, leaving none but Ram and “—” behind.

[Assistant] Her vow with Roswaal was necessary in order to live thereafter. This was something that “—” never knew and something that Ram never told “—”.

[User] “—?” Ram narrowed her eyes, feeling disquiet over the throb in her mind and the gap in her memories. It was like a strange form of amnesia, like losing a memory she’d had until a short time before. She felt like she’d lost something she could not afford to, but Ram glossed over the feeling, acting like nothing had happened by sheer force of will.

[Assistant] "Covering your vengeful heart with a shell of loyalty, you hid the flames of retribution that you nurtured within you while you served me. Even so, there was no more excellent pawn than you.


[User] "Until now, even within this Sanctuary, just how precious a treasure have you been?” Roswaal continued his soliloquy, even as Ram prayed for the ill feeling from her memories to go away.

[Assistant] Many of his words were praise. Understanding the true intentions Ram had long kept hidden, he was giving faint praise for overcoming a number of tribulations to arrive at this point for the sake of fulfilling her desire. This was a very warped form of love. It was the love with which one celebrated a child advancing in days and months, reaching out as her desire was about to be granted. But—

[User] “—And that makes it more the pity. Your decision is but a tiny trifle, premature.”

[Assistant] In the span of a single instant, the sentiments of praise infusing his voice turned to disappointment. A smile came over Roswaal as he shook his head side to side, grimacing at Ram as she gripped her wand.

[User] “You have done well to create an opportunity where I am compelled to have the book of knowledge on my person. If Garfiel ceased his obsession with the Sanctuary, if Lady Emilia ceased relying solely on young Subaru, whatever the result, there would be no way to preserve that which has been written except for me to move personally.”

[Assistant] One by one, the conditions required for the fulfillment of what was written had been abolished. The problematic knots that had prevented the liberation of the Sanctuary had been untied one after another. The pawns who served him were gone.

[User] “Though, I suppose saying resolved, rather than abolished, better reflects the depth of your feelings.”

[Assistant] “The simplest means is usually the poorest. Ram does not care for losing wagers, either, you see.”

[User] “This time, are not the nets cast by your hand rather nuuuumerous? Of course, it is worthy of praise that your Clairvoyance ability enabled you to tail even me. That was splendidly done. However.”

[Assistant] Cutting off his words at that point, Roswaal closed one eye, the gaze of his yellow eye shooting right through Ram.

[User] “You should have let me do what I have come here to accomplish and could have accomplished with but one more step. That alone is a pity.”

[Assistant] Spreading his hands wide and still holding the book in his right, Roswaal turned his attention to that which stood behind him. In the deepest part of the facility, a cavity was formed out of the white walls, and from this concealed room trickled out a blue light. Squinting to follow the light to its source, Ram saw an unusually large crystal enter her field of vision—no, a magic crystal, within which a young girl was sealed. —This was Ryuzu Meyer, the true identity of Sanctuary as Shima had explained it.

[User] “This is the commendable girl who offered up her body for the sake of her friend, becoming the core of the Sanctuary. But this instant, she is not my objective.


[User] "What I require is this magic crystal."

[Assistant] "You intend to use the magic crystal as a catalyst to employ Great Magic?"

[User] "Enough to alter the weather, yes— Earlier, I said this world had gone astray from my intentions, but that is not quite precise. The most critical part yet remains. It is in this sense that you were…overeager."

[Assistant] "...I thought events had strayed from the ones written in the book of knowledge?"

[User] "Quite a bit, yes. However, that is not so for the ending. One cannot speak of success or failure until what is written in the book for the Sanctuary arrives at its conclusion— If snow should fall here, what shall become of the Sanctuary? What is its future?"

[Assistant] In accordance with the book of knowledge, Roswaal would make snow fall on the Sanctuary. He had come for the magic crystal to employ it as a magic catalyst. And to employ that spell—

[User] "—Requires an enormous amount of concentration and the very deft use of mana. That instant, you would have been able to achieve your retribution with certainty. Even without your horn, had you attacked by surprise, my wounds are deep and my trust great enough to slow my reactions… You would most certainly have struck me down."

[Assistant] "...I did not, for to do so would be meaningless."

[User] "—? In the sense that you wish to conquer me when I am whole? Or that you wish to destroy me without a single second to spare? I can somewhat understand such feelings, but…"

[Assistant] "No. I was right… You truly understand nothing, do you?" Ram’s reply left a genuinely questioning look all over Roswaal’s face.

[User] On the back of her eyelids was a vortex of complex emotions she absolutely never allowed to reach the surface. Ram closed her eyes so that her own way of living, something she had sworn never to reveal to any other for her entire life, might be shown to her alone. Opening her eyes, she lifted her face.

[Assistant] Then she trained her usual, impetuous look toward Roswaal. "Your wish shall not be granted. For you to strictly observe the terms, offering yourself to me as an empty shell, is meaningless. Greeting a broken version of you will not satisfy me."

[User] "My, my, how greedy of you. However, what shall you do about it? Even if the Oni once called you the chosen one of the gods, you are now far from that without your horn. Even though I, too, am wounded, I can employ quite sufficient magic before establishing the ritual. Can you defeat me?"

[Assistant] "No, it would surely be foolish to think so. I understand full well that Master Roswaal’s power is second only to his teacher." When Roswaal claimed she had no chance of victory, Ram nodded, making no effort to refute him.


[User] As a matter of fact, Ram had no chance of victory…even if she hadn’t been worn down from the recent fight with Garfiel. Ram did not have even a slight chance of barely eking out a win if she fought Roswaal.

[Assistant] "—Then what purpose could you seek to accomplish, I wooonder?" Giving the raised book a light toss, Roswaal caught it with his opposite hand and theatrically stuffed it into his pocket. Flickering flames floated up from his pair of empty palms. Red, blue, green—Roswaal narrowed both his eyes as he showed her flames of one color after the next.

[User] Ram infused power into the wand she held in her hand, sliding her empty, opposite hand into her maid outfit.

[Assistant] "Ram has no chance of victory. That much is clear. However—"

[User] "—If it is two against one, perhaps the advantage is ours?" The voice came from neither Ram nor Roswaal, echoing across the cavity.

[Assistant] Roswaal’s face contorted dramatically. It was not anger but surprise at the unexpected and delight at being surprised that made him smile. "So this is the greatest reason you went along with young Subaru’s plan…!"

[User] "I told you, Master Roswaal: I have come to rob you of your obsession with the Witch." Responding to Roswaal’s loud voice, Ram grasped the hem of her skirt and bowed.


[Assistant] "—And I am a passing, wild spirit… It’s been a while since I’ve had a long fight. Let’s start, shall we?" With gray-colored fur, a long tail, and excessively, intensely adorable gestures, a little cat—the Great Spirit—appeared.

[User] Ram held the magic crystal that Subaru had given to her—along with an uncontracted Great Spirit, lending its aid for a single night on a whim.

[Assistant] "Yes, I see— In that case, certainly!"

[User] "Heya, Roswaal. Come to think of it, I never did get a chance to settle things with you, did I?" The Great Spirit groomed his face as he replied.

[Assistant] Roswaal nodded deeply at the situation that had been wrought via Ram’s schemes. "—Come."

[User] "As you wish."


[User] Keeping her breath low in the darkness, Petra did her best to suppress everything from her body that could be defined as sound. She made her small body even smaller, mindful even of the crinkle of clothing rubbing against air. She walked with her hand over her mouth, for if she did not, her breaths, more chaotic than she could remember, would make a sound from her throat. She nearly wished she could stop her heart so that its noisy thumping might pause for a minute.

[Assistant] “—!” Petra’s light-brown hair swayed as she walked unsteadily in the mansion, which she had begun to get used to, almost like she was lost in an unfamiliar world. She was glad that the floor had a soft carpet over it. Thanks to that, she was spared from having her trembling toes hitting the floor. She vowed to gratefully wash the carpet the next time she had a chance. Were it not for such silly thoughts, her legs would have stopped obeying her completely. As it was, her tottering gait was slower than that of a baby. If she stopped, she likely would never walk forward again. She was in a long corridor with no end to it. This one time, she was tempted to hate the vastness of this large mansion she had grown so fond of.


[User] How, and why, had things turned out that way? Until a few brief hours before, the mansion was an ideal workplace to Petra. She’d been in awe of the mansion to begin with, and the maid outfits were cute and wonderful, too. Frederica, the one instructing her, was kind, and the mansion was connected to someone she was faintly fond of. It was perfect. That perfect world, enveloped by admiration and dreams, was now so frightening that it nearly froze Petra’s heart. The night when everything changed had been just like the previous day until darkness fell. After the evening meal, she’d tried to bring Beatrice’s untouched meal to her; wiped down the girl named Rem, who continued to sleep in her room; and went to Frederica’s own quarters to hear her assessment of that day’s work. After that, she bathed, returned to her own assigned personal room, and slept in preparation for the next—

[Assistant] “—Petra, please wake up. Petra.”

[User] “…Miss Frederica?” Feeling that someone was shaking her body and hearing a voice speaking to her, Petra gently awoke in the middle of the night. When she looked over, Frederica was in uniform, standing by the bed, which made Petra blink her round eyes wide in surprise. It was not surprise that she had been awoken at that hour. Rather, it was the obvious tension that Frederica exuded. She remembered that sensation. It was an aura that Petra had felt several times some months ago—

[Assistant] “Miss! !” Immediately wiping away her drowsiness, Petra jumped right out of the bed.


[User] Frederica was a little surprised by the sight, but when Petra, grasping the situation, leaped into her arms, she gently held the girl. Then she stroked Petra’s head with her free hand. "Petra, listen closely— Head outside through the dining hall’s kitchen door. Do it quietly, without a sound, but as quickly as you can. You can do it, yes?”

[Assistant] “I can do it… But, Miss Frederica, what about you?”

[User] “I will follow soon enough. Once you are outside the mansion, run as far as the village. Once I meet up with you safe and sound, how about I let you sleep in a little tomorrow?” Speaking as if making a very slight joke, Frederica let Petra go.

[Assistant] Petra was still smiling at Frederica as she felt a tangible sense of tension spread across her entire body. Something—something was happening at the mansion. And Petra was helpless to do anything about it.

[User] “Petra.” With that brief call serving as a signal, the pair left the room.


[Assistant] The night sky was covered with clouds, and the mansion was submerged in darkness beyond moonlight’s reach. Faced with the gloom of the unlit corridor, Frederica squinted, and Petra gently followed behind her.

[User] Frederica narrowed her jade eyes and caught her breath.

[Assistant] Petra simultaneously broke into a run in the opposite direction. "Dining hall… Dining hall…!" She repeatedly murmured to herself what Frederica had told her. Petra thought to herself. The dining hall was on the first floor of the main wing. Fortunately, by going straight down that particular passage, she would immediately reach it. She’d already memorized the interior of the mansion. Even in the dark, it was an easy win. But just as she reached the passage that stretched from the east wing to the main wing, Petra came right to a halt. If she raced to the main wing, she could rush straight to the dining hall’s kitchen door. Frederica’s instructions were to flee as far as the village from there. However—

[User] "—Miss Rem is…" Petra thought to herself. The Sleeping Princess remained in the mansion, lying on her bed on the floor above. The passage was right next to her. Petra hesitated as she stared at the landing of the stairs below. She felt fear as her instincts begged her to do as Frederica told her. But Subaru had entrusted Rem to Petra. The forlorn look with which Subaru had stared at the side of her sleeping face was seared into Petra’s eyes. If Petra escaped alone then and there, what would become of her promise to Subaru?

[Assistant] "—!" Tightly gritting her teeth, Petra roused her timid heart and put a foot on the stairs—toward the floor above, where Rem’s room was located. She revered Frederica. Going against her instructions left Petra riddled with guilt. She was afraid, too. But with the mansion feeling so dangerous, she couldn’t leave Rem and run. It was just like during the forest with the demon beasts— Back then, Subaru hadn’t abandoned Petra.


[User] "I’m stupid… Really stupid…" Petra slipped back into her initial melancholy, letting a sound of weakness out as she seemed ready to break into tears. Her heart was noisy. Her steps advanced slowly. Frederica would be angry. Her emotions were a jumbled mess. "Agh, darn it… I already have this cute face going for me, so why do I need to do something this stupid…?!! But, but, but…!" She was scared, she wanted to cry, she wanted to yell. But she did not. She could not.

[Assistant] After all, Subaru didn’t. He wouldn’t. Even if he was afraid and wanted to break down and cry, he wouldn’t. "I mean, this is absolutely what Subaru would do… That’s why— That’s why for Subaru, for him only, I have to look good even if it kills me…!" When her fear became nearly unbearable, Petra whispered to herself to bolster her spirits. In that dark corridor, she caught sight of her destination, Rem’s room. It was a mere eleven yards away, enough to make her heart leap out and run to it. However, her feet could not catch up to her heart’s unrest. Just a few more steps, just a few more feet, just two bedroom doors ahead— —I’ve arrived, thought Petra, lifting her head. That instant, beyond one of the corridor’s windows, the wind blew, moving a cloud covering the moon, and silver light shone into the corridor. Color returned to the world that had been nothing but darkness. Narrowing her dazzled eyes, Petra saw—.

[User] "—Oh my, what a pretty young girl." A woman in black stood right before her, seemingly blended into the darkness.

[Assistant] "—Ah." There was a woman standing between her and the door to the room, which was a mere three steps away. She had glossy black hair that was tied in a triple braid and a pitch-black outfit that accentuated her voluptuous physique. Even Petra could detect the scent of sensual charm wafting around her, and the vile knife she held in her right hand was eerily distinctive—

[User] "According to what I was told, there are two targets and one bonus target. You would be the small maid, yes?"

[User] "Are you shaking? It’s all right—I am certain that your innards will prove very pretty indeed." She couldn’t understand what the woman was saying. She just understood that the approaching footsteps of this smiling stranger were synonymous with the footsteps of death. Even though she understood this, Petra’s legs were held in place by fear, unable to move, even though the vile weapon unsuited to the woman’s slender arm was about to cut away her life without any fanfare.

[Assistant] "Good girl… I will introduce you to an angel." Heartlessly, the woman raised the knife toward the trembling girl. The blade sliced through the wind, aimed to mercilessly bite into Petra’s torso. Then—

[User] "Petra—! !" Crashing through the corridor window, a shadow filled the space between Petra and the knife.


[User] A high-pitched noise echoed, and the sound of metal grazing metal was accompanied by flying sparks and a shock wave that threw Petra onto the floor. She was showered in blond hair right before her.

[Assistant] A back she had looked up at many times over had shielded Petra from the wicked-looking blade. Petra instantly recognized that back, much broader than her mother’s. It could have belonged to only one person.

[User] "Miss Frederica!"

[Assistant] "You’ve been a bad girl, Petra. I distinctly told you to flee. I will punish you later."

[User] "Yes! Yes! !"

[Assistant] Leaving Petra behind her, Frederica confirmed her safety with a glance as she spoke sternly.

[User] That kind strictness made Petra reply multiple times in a tearful voice.

[Assistant] Watching the exchange between the pair after her knife had been deflected, the woman contorted her glossy lips. "Marvelous. You must be the large maid. I am so happy to see both maids together and getting along so well. I must line up both your bowels side by side and compare to see how your innards complement each other."

[User] "I cannot make heads or tails of such taste. I cannot even dignify calling it a hobby." After listening to the woman’s disturbing threat, Frederica replied sharply as she thrust both her arms out. Her arms made a creaking sound, one that grew progressively more extreme as her skeletal structure shifted. Her pretty nails changed to bestial claws, and golden fur sprouted from the skin of her arms up to the elbows.

[Assistant] "Demi-human blood? If you transform, do the contents of your belly differ from when you’re in your usual form? Or are they the same?"

[User] "I have never been curious enough to find out for myself."

[Assistant] "Is that so? In that case, can I ask you to show me after I slice you open? All you need to do is transform back when you’re on the verge of death."

[User] "You certainly are confident…"

[Assistant] When her attitude was pointed out to her, the woman said, “I suppose so,” tilting her head slightly. "A little while ago, I had a near-death experience in the capital, so I improved my skills. You cannot match me."

[User] "…I feel like holding a grudge against whoever didn’t finish you when they had the chance."

[Assistant] "Petra, this time, head straight out of the mansion— Use the evacuation tunnel."

[User] "B-but, Miss…!" Her voice catching, Petra looked toward the door of the room that was so very close.

[Assistant] Frederica could guess what it was from that glance alone.


[User] “I do not know who hired you to do this, but it seems that Petra and I are your targets.”

[Assistant] “Yes. Two maids and one spirit girl. I was a little disappointed about the numbers, but I have high hopes for opening a spirit’s belly. Last time, I fell one small step short, you see.”

[User] Frederica learned the woman’s objective straight from her lips—Rem wasn’t among the woman’s targets. The Sleeping Princess had vanished from the enemy’s memory as well.

[Assistant] "Go!"

[User] "Yes! !"

[Assistant] Frederica's voice sent Petra running off to her rear. Simultaneously, she turned her back to the fleeing girl as the attacker flipped her body and threw something.

[User] "Your stubbornness is worse than your taste!" With a single swing of her mighty arm, Frederica struck down all the iron skewers with a bestial claw.

[Assistant] Petra raced down the corridor, placing the entirety of her trust in Frederica.

[User] "Such a good girl."

[Assistant] "She’s my pride! !"

[User] The woman’s obscene voice and Frederica’s howl echoed throughout the mansion along with a sound of clashing steel. Frederica collided with the woman, beginning a deadly battle with her life on the line.

[Assistant] Petra raced through the corridor, practically flying down the stairs. A chain of high-pitched echoes rang out, and a tremor reached her from the corridor being destroyed. Frederica had judged that her opponent was superior to her. She was fighting valiantly so that Petra might escape. She had already failed once. Frederica had told her to flee down the evacuation tunnel if all else failed. If she did as told and fled— If she fled, Frederica would die. The instant she thought that, a single possibility floated into the back of Petra’s mind.

[User] “—Lady Beatrice could…” If it was the final person remaining in the mansion, who she’d heard was a supernatural being…

[Assistant] “Here…! Maybe over here? !” Running along the downstairs corridor, Petra flung open whichever door she put her hands on. She’d heard that the power of Beatrice’s spell made it possible to move from room to room within the mansion. Even when searching for her with Subaru, even when trying to bring her dinner, she’d never found the girl, but she was definitely there. That moment, what Petra needed was a magic user of great power. If Beatrice was around, Frederica could probably be saved. Petra could protect the mansion and her promise…

[User] “She’s not here… She’s not anywhere here. Miss…!” Out of breath, ready to collapse any moment, Petra let her tears flow.