[User] Maybe I should just talk to Todd and see about getting a second tent for tonight…

[Assistant] "But I wouldn’t laugh at your tears. I do find them unsettling… Unpleasant, even.” Action/Narration

[User] At that unexpected response, Subaru raised his face.

[Assistant] Rem was rubbing Louis’s head as the girl lay on her lap right in front of him. She was not looking at him but was choosing her words carefully.

[User] “…That is all. Please eat quickly. I am tired.”

[Assistant] “Ah, sure.” Rem looked away as she said those words quickly, and Subaru was slow to understand. But remembering the skewer on his lap, he quickly started eating again.

[User] “R-right. Yeah, tasty. Nice and salty.”

[Assistant] “That is because of your tears… Because of your stench, the food simply can’t be very tasty. It’s not fair.”

[User] “That’s…umm… Well, I’ll try to think of a way to improve it.” Rem’s response was cold and sour, but she had not told him to leave, nor had she complained that she did not want to eat with him. So it was up to him to think of some sort of plan. In order to protect a relaxing moment like this, Subaru could face any trial or tribulation.

[Assistant] “You’re kind, Rem.”

[User] “Please don’t say things that’ll confuse me. What is with you?” Her response was as cold as ever, and Subaru couldn’t help a wry grimace.

[Assistant] “…But if you want to talk about being unfair, then I have something to say, too.”

[User] “Something to say? What? If it is about your fingers, then…”

[Assistant] “…It’s her. The one resting on your lap.” Subaru’s lip curled as he pointed at Louis, who was enjoying the best seat in the house.

[User] At that, Rem’s eyes narrowed, as if she were saying Not this again.

[Assistant] “Don’t get ahead of yourself. You are always talking about my… I don’t really like calling it a ‘stench,’ so I’ll say odor. But she has a similar sort of smell. You’re going to ignore that?” He was talking about the Witch’s lingering scent, which grew stronger the more he died and reset. But that was connected to the Witch—and if it was related to the Witch Factor, then of course Louis the Archbishop should have had the same sort of stench. Remembering Rem’s extreme reaction to the Witch Cultists, that should have been inevitable…

[User] “…? What are you talking about? Please do not put yourself in the same category as her.”

[Assistant] “…Huh?”

[User] “She does not have the same smell as you whatsoever. Please do not say such strange things in desperation.” However, Rem’s response was entirely unexpected.

[Assistant] He stared back at her reflexively, but he didn’t see anything unusual in her gaze. She was not lying or trying to dupe him, either, from the looks of it.


[User] Meaning she really doesn’t sense any miasma or lingering Witch’s scent from Louis. “She can camouflage the miasma? But how?” In Subaru’s experience, there were not that many people who could sense the miasma that was the Witch’s lingering scent. There was Rem, who had the biggest reaction to it, and then Beatrice and Ryuzu—just a handful of people, really, who had ever reacted to it. And it was hard to imagine the cultists even thinking to hide something like that. They rampaged through the world like they owned the place. And yet…

[Assistant] “Are you done? If you are finished, I would like to put her to sleep.”

[User] “Ah, umm… What you said before, is that true?”

[Assistant] “Enough.” Rem completely shut him down. But her attitude just felt like proof that she was telling the truth. “I am sorry, but could you please put away the plate? I will prepare the beds.”

[User] “Uh, yeah, I got it. Umm, I won’t do anything, so don’t worry.”

[Assistant] “…You saying that only makes me worry more.”

[User] Struck again by that hard voice, Subaru dejectedly left the tent to deal with the plate. There were campfires visible here and there around the camp in the darkness. Subaru had not been given any orders, but there were people who would be on guard duty through the night. He only knew of it from manga and games, but preparing for war was a difficult thing. “…I’d like to get away from here as soon as possible.” Todd was an amiable guy, but Subaru couldn’t get used to the feel of the battlefield. He wanted to leave as soon as possible, and find a way to meet back up with Emilia and the others. Having come to that decision, Subaru clenched the plate, then noticed something. “…Huh? My fingers don’t hurt. Is that because the medicine’s already working?” Subaru looked at his left hand and was surprised by the medicine’s effects. His hand did not feel quite right yet, but the fact that he could feel warmth again was proof that his hand was starting to work again. “We were talking about healing magic and all, but this medicine is pretty damn fast, too…” Thinking back to his conversation with Todd, Subaru shook his left hand a little and then started walking. There were a lot of things he needed to think about. About Rem, about Louis, and about himself. There’s a lot to do, but let’s try and improve things one step at a time. As long as things can improve bit by bit, just like my hand, it will be fine.


[User] Subaru had been ready to continue the chore he’d been assigned by Todd, which was tidying up the black tents, but he had run aground before he could even start working again. It was nothing, just—the tent he’d worked so hard to clean up the other day had had its packed bags tossed all over the place again, and it was even more of a mess than before. “Even if everyone in the empire was messy beyond belief, it still shouldn’t end up like this…meaning this is harassment.”

[Assistant] “Aaauh.”

[User] “Right—there’s the possibility it was you revealing your true nature, eh, Archbishop?”

[Assistant] “Uuuh?”

[User] Picking the scattered things up again, he glared at Louis, who was staring at his hands. "…And how should I take what Rem said yesterday?”

[Assistant] Louis had tottered around following him this morning, as soon as she’d woken up. He could remember Rem’s grim look before she’d gone off on her own to work on rehabilitating her legs, but Louis was already getting in his way, so he couldn’t help protesting. Either way, what Rem had said last night—about not sensing any miasma from Louis—that whole tangent was bothering him. “There’s no way an Archbishop doesn’t have miasma coming off them. But Rem can’t sense any from you. So what’s the deal…?”

[User] “Aooh?”

[Assistant] While Subaru was at a loss, Louis looked dumbly up at him and made noises. Sighing at it all, Subaru started seriously working on cleaning up the tent. It was not Louis who had messed everything up; it was probably some soldier in the camp. Todd had acknowledged being an outlier, and he was right—most of the empire’s soldiers were not friendly to Subaru. “But it’s better than getting beat up out of nowhere or having a shoe shoved in my mouth.” He could tell his standards for happiness were slipping, but he was used to people thinking he was a nuisance. He had messed up his high school debut and spent almost two years feeling out of place in class. There had not been much active bullying, but he was used to the bitter treatment. Thinking about it, he even thought his old classmates had been sensible about it. “I hope all of you kind people are having a good life over there. Inahata in particular—always going to the effort of bringing me printouts. Hope you make it big.” Remembering the classmates whose faces were just fuzzy recollections at this point, Subaru undid the setback to his work. It was like digging out a hole that had just been refilled, so it couldn’t even be called net zero. In the past, Emilia had said something about people seeing you work hard, but… “At the moment, you’re the only one watching, and that’s not enough to motivate me.


[User] "If Rem at least was watching, it would be different, but…”

[Assistant] "Ooh, uaah." Maybe having learned a bit of a lesson from how Subaru had gotten angry, today Louis was not really getting in the way of his work. That, at least, was a relief.

[User] Subaru stepped outside to move to the next tent. "Whoooa? !" Just as he stepped outside, his foot caught on something, and he fell forward. He caught himself reflexively on the ground, and there was a slight ache in his left hand. It was starting to heal, but still needed some time. Grimacing at the pain, Subaru looked around. "You’re…” His eyes widened as he saw the epitome of a vulgar man standing beside the entrance of the tent. With an eye patch over his right eye and a rough five-o’clock shadow, the man looked like the very epitome of a ruffian, and he was also the person who had shoved his boot in Subaru’s mouth the other day. "If I remember correctly, you’re Jamal… Gah? !"

[Assistant] "Show some respect. You and that girl with you still don’t know your place.” The moment he’d judged Subaru had not shown him enough respect, Jamal shifted directly into action. Stepped on Subaru’s splinted and bandaged hand, grinding his heel into it.

[User] "Aauuuh!"

[Assistant] Louis clung to Jamal’s foot with a shout. But she was light—she couldn’t budge him.

[User] Jamal grabbed Louis’s long hair and forcefully tore her away from his leg.

[Assistant] "Hey! She’s just a kid!"

[User] "What about it? And from what I hear, you’re pretty damn cold toward the brat yourself. You suddenly find a new religion or something?"

[Assistant] "I… That’s too much, you’re gonna regret it."

[User] "Don’t waste my time. At least come up with a better excuse.” Jamal snorted and threw Louis to the ground.

[Assistant] Rolling around on the floor, Louis grabbed her hair and held her head with a groan while glaring tearfully at Jamal. "Undisciplined little brat. All three of you are a pain in the ass!"

[User] "Guoh!" Growing more annoyed as he talked, Jamal then kicked Subaru in the side of the head.

[Assistant] Subaru had opened his mouth without thinking, and his teeth cut the inside of his mouth, which caused blood to start flowing. "Bleh… Todd promised us that we would be protected, and that we could stay here, but…" Subaru’s voice was ragged as Jamal stepped toward him.

[User] "Ha—Todd, huh? As it happens, I’m higher rank than he is. It’s not like I won’t listen to his requests, but that doesn’t mean I have to do what he says."

[Assistant] Subaru immediately curled up to protect his head, but this time, the kick landed in his stomach.

[User] Jamal’s toes pushed into Subaru’s stomach as he relentlessly kicked Subaru, who groaned at the impact. "First, two of my men got busted up by your girl down by the river. Then I had to send those useless humps back and got chewed out for it.


[User] "Then when I wanted to settle up over it…that fucker Todd had to go find that damn knife.” “Ngh! !” “If it weren’t for that, I’d have torn you to pieces. It’s rough being a soldier, you see.” Relentless kicks while he tried to set Subaru off with his words.

[Assistant] Jamal wanted a reason, an excuse to kill Subaru. And also a reason to retaliate against Rem.

[User] If it was to keep Jamal’s maliciousness from targeting Rem, even if his fingers were rebroken, even if all the rest of his fingers were broken—he would win. If it was for that, he would hold on. Hold on as long as it took…

[Assistant] “—Hey, what’s going on over there?”

[User] Jamal scoffed and pulled his leg away, slowly stepping back.

[Assistant] Todd appeared—accompanied by the sound of footsteps. "I heard you came over here, even though you didn’t have to. So it was for this?”

[User] “Todd? You’re awfully protective. You that interested in that knife? Enough to curry favor with a coward like him?” Jamal scoffed.

[Assistant] Todd’s expression grew serious.

[User] “Screw it. You better learn to watch your feet when I’m around. If you fall like this again, who knows what’ll happen? Ha-ha-ha-ha.” And then, acting like he had done nothing to Subaru, he walked past Todd.

[Assistant] Subaru waited for Jamal to disappear from view, then sat up. “Aaagh… Damn it, that hurts… Man, he’s vicious…”

[User] “You all right? Getting mixed up with Jamal is some bad luck.” Todd grimaced as Subaru stood up unsteadily.

[Assistant] “I’m fine. More importantly, what about Rem…?”

[User] “The missy is helping out with cooking. She’s good with her hands if she can sit in a chair. Jamal won’t do anything with other people around…I think.”

[Assistant] Wiping the blood from his mouth, Subaru looked at his left hand.


[User] "Oof… Looks like we’ll have to take care of that again. Damn it, Jamal."

[Assistant] “…What’s with him?”

[User] "Jamal? Became a soldier at the same time as me. Brightest future of the bunch, too. A lower-tier noble, but with a real shot of making it to general third-class, even… Ah, do you know what that means?"

[Assistant] "No. That a rank or something?" Subaru shook his head.

[User] Todd nodded and held up his finger. "General first-class is a different level, and there are only nine in the whole empire. They’re the emperor’s personal warriors, called the Nine Divine Generals. Reaching that level isn’t just a matter of family or achievements, though." From his explanation, there were certain ranks for officers in Volakia’s army. There was private, private first-class, general third-class, general second-class, all the way up to…

[Assistant] "Skill, too?"

[User] "Yeah. So average folks like us aim to get to general third-class."

[Assistant] "You should warn him, Todd. I hear that lots of soldiers on the battlefield die from a stray arrow to the back."

[User] "That’s a scary thought. So what do you want to do about first aid?"

[Assistant] "Can I ask for some? …Right after I check in with Rem."

[User] "Sheesh, head over heels, aren’t you…? I feel bad for this little lady." Todd shrugged and looked over at Louis, who was curled up in front of the tent.

[Assistant] Louis's fingers were wrapped in the hair Jamal had pulled, and she was growling like a wild animal.

[User] "Looks like you don’t like letting things go, huh? I appreciate a kid who doesn’t like to lose."

[Assistant] "Aah! Uuh, aah!" Louis howled, as if answering Todd’s smile.

[User] Subaru started to say, “You can have her if you like her,” but he did not want to have to deal with Rem’s anger if she heard about it, so he zipped his lips.


[Assistant] "—That smell—did you hurt yourself even more?"

[User] "Ugh. You can tell?"

[Assistant] "I can. A child is watching you, so bear that in mind."

[User] He couldn’t bring himself to accept the implicit advice, but there was nothing to be gained by arguing, either, so he just nodded.

[Assistant] And, sitting beside him, Louis nodded as well, copying him.


[User] Of course, given that they were outsiders, the food itself was just leftovers.

[Assistant] “Not that we can complain too much. Just having something to eat is good enough.” Subaru carried his and Rem’s share and set them down on a small table at the edge of the space.

[User] Louis had impudently taken her own share, just like Subaru. “What have you been doing? Nothing too hard, right?”

[Assistant] “Not particularly. They were considerate of my legs as well… I only helped a little bit with cooking. While being taught along the way.”

[User] “Taught… Did that bring back any memories?”

[Assistant] “…It would be a lie to say I did not have some hopes of that.” Rem’s blue eyes narrowed, and her lips pursed at Subaru’s immediate question.

[User] Seeing that reaction, he worried he was pushing too hard, but Rem slowly shook her head.

[Assistant] “I tried several things, thinking there might be something that felt familiar. But that would have been too convenient.” Looking down at her hands, Rem sounded embarrassed by her shallow hopes.

[User] But who could call her hopes shallow? Who could do that, seeing her grasping for an answer when she couldn’t remember the building blocks of herself? “…Why do you have such a pained look on your face?”

[Assistant] “Why? I…” Subaru looked down. “…Did you not say just last night that you would wait for me to be ready?” He was stunned by her response.

[User] It sounded like the first hint of compromise from Rem. Enough to make the seed of hope sprout in his breast. However… “As I said yesterday, no matter how many times you call me Rem, I cannot accept that as my name. No matter what you might say.”

[Assistant] “Ugh…”

[User] “Perhaps it would be different coming from her.” Rem’s eyes softened, and she rubbed Louis’s head.

[Assistant] Louis just let her do it, focused on taking care of the food in front of her that she had obtained for herself.

[User] Unfortunately, even if Louis had been in her right mind, she couldn’t say anything about Rem. And even if she could, Subaru wouldn’t let her. The animosity that he just couldn’t shake wouldn’t let him. “What’s with the long face? This is a gloomy table.”

[Assistant] Todd casually interrupted their meal. Feeling like Todd might brighten the awkward mood some, Subaru welcomed the man who sat down next to him. Just earlier, and before that, too. He’s been a huge help. "Hmm? I’ve known them a pretty long time; a day or two not eating together won’t change things between us. I figured I should make a new friend.”

[User] “Not like I’ve got anything I can pay you back with.”

[Assistant] “You can repay it later. Think of this as an investment.” Todd lightened the mood with his easy wit, then wrapped an arm around Subaru’s shoulder. “Still, though,” he whispered in Subaru’s ear.


[User] "Looks like you’re getting along better than you were last night. Did you manage to make up?"

[Assistant] “…It’s hard to tell. I wanna say my sincerity has gotten through a little, at least.”

[User] “…I can hear you. If you believe I have lowered my guard, you are mistaken.”

[Assistant] “Uguu!” Rem made her dissatisfaction with their conversation known. She wiped Louis’s mouth, and the girl seemed to be in tune with Rem, as if siding with her.

[User] Subaru had complicated feelings about seeing them so intimate, and his expression visibly sank.

[Assistant] “Don’t get so down. At least she’s someplace where you can talk with her like this. Compared to me, that’s already a big improvement.”

[User] “Ah, oh yeah—you talked about being separated from your fiancée.”

[Assistant] “Yeah, she lives in the capital. That’s why I have to finish up this mission. We’ve been apart too long. Whoo, it’s lonely, I tell you.”

[User] “Is that why you’re looking after us?”

[Assistant] “Yeah. So just let me use you guys for a bit. Make it worth the effort.”

[User] Maybe Todd had only said that to keep him from feeling anxious, but Subaru was genuinely grateful for Todd’s consideration. It would have been tactless to just thank him directly. And Todd seemed to recognize that, too. The four of them ate with that sort of mood about them, and then…

[Assistant] “You mentioned us being able to catch a ride with the resupply wagon, but how long do you think this mission will take you guys?”

[User] “I told you—until we can find the people of Shudrak hiding in the jungle… If we don’t find them, we might be left out here for years,” Todd said glumly. “Serving the court isn’t easy.”

[Assistant] “People of Shudrak…” Subaru thought for a bit as he held the wooden spoon in his mouth. The people of Shudrak—when he’d first heard about them from Todd, Subaru had wondered if this maybe referred to the masked man he had met in the jungle earlier. Subaru owed the guy for the knife, so he had not mentioned him to Todd, but now that felt a bit ungrateful. At this point, Todd had done at least as much for Subaru as the masked man had. So how did it make sense to repay the masked man, but not Todd?

[User] “Hey, Todd, what are you guys going to do when you find them? You’ve got a camp like this set up…so are you going to fight?” He tried to do his best to feign simple curiosity. But he couldn’t totally hide the tension in his voice and body language. It wasn’t exactly a natural subject to bring up, and Rem’s expression changed when she heard it, too. Even if he was conspicuously ignoring it, she had an evasive reaction to the word fight.

[Assistant] Todd closed an eye. “The generals seem to prefer not fighting if they can avoid it. The Shudrak are a pretty powerful tribe, apparently.


[User] “It would be a difficult fight if it came to it, so it seems like negotiations are the goal.”

[Assistant] “Negotiations? With a jungle tribe?”

[User] “Don’t go asking a grunt for strategy! …It’s not like I really know, but probably swearing fealty to the capital, and by extension the emperor, I guess?”

[Assistant] “The Shudrak people haven’t submitted to the emperor?”

[User] “Some people don’t. That’s just the Volakian way, though, isn’t it?”

[Assistant] Subaru just answered with a “Hail Volakia” to Todd’s soldierly smile.

[User] “Uggh, this is hard. Either way is a problem…”

[Assistant] “…It feels like you’ve got a few more wrinkles than usual. It’s not like you have the nicest face in the world to begin with—should you not at least try to smile?”

[User] “That is a painful reminder! …Would you be nicer to me if I was all smiles, all the time?”

[Assistant] “Huh?” Rem’s genuinely perplexed response quickly broke Subaru’s heart.

[User] Todd laughed as Subaru’s smile twitched and his shoulders slumped.

[Assistant] “When were you going to start seriously going through the jungle?”

[User] “Word is, once the other camps are all set, we all go in at once. The jungle is big and deep. Who knows how much ground we can even cover in a single day…?”

[Assistant] “I see. Well, it’s not like it will go smoothly anyway. You never know what you’ll find in there. It’s the sort of place that would probably have big demon beasts, too.”

[User] “Demon beasts?”

[Assistant] But as he was thinking that, Todd’s eyes widened, his cup of water still at his lips. Wiping the water from the corner of his mouth, he looked at Subaru in shock.

[User] “Did you just say ‘demon beasts’? There are demon beasts in that jungle?”

[Assistant] “Eh?


[User] "Um, I mean, I did… What, did I say something strange?”

[Assistant] “Well, yeah, demon beasts aren’t the sort of thing you run into every day. Maybe in the demon beast capital, Lugunica, but we’re not even near the border.”

[User] "You’re kidding…right? Hey, missy." Todd’s voice grew more serious, and Subaru couldn’t say a word as he was just confused.

[Assistant] Todd turned his attention to Rem. "Tell me, please. Did you see a demon beast, too? In the Badheim Jungle out there?”

[User] “If you mean a large creature with green skin, then I did.”

[Assistant] “Was there a horn on its head?”

[User] “A horn? …Yes…a white and twisted one.”

[Assistant] The moment he heard that, Todd spun around to face Subaru. “What sort of demon beast was it? Do you have a description?”

[User] “A-a snake. A giant snake. Maybe thirty feet long. One big demon beast.”

[Assistant] “One, huh…? Damn it. There’s no way to know if there really is just one in this giant jungle. But you don’t seem to be lying. That changes things!” As he scratched his head roughly, Todd’s expression had completely changed. He turned away from them, but before he started running, he turned back. “Right—that was really valuable information. If it weren’t for that, things might have gotten bad. Thanks.”

[User] “…Sure.”

[Assistant] “Gather the squad leaders! I’m getting the general! This is big!” After letting a little smile break through the grimness, Todd clapped his hands and got everyone’s attention, then headed to the tent in the center of the camp—which was most likely the command tent where strategy meetings were held. Subaru watched him leave in a furious rush, half in shock.

[User] “…That was quite the reaction. That creature…demon beast…is it really so important? I understand it is a dangerous creature, of course, but…”

[Assistant] “…No, maybe I didn’t fully appreciate its danger, either.”

[User] “Haah…” Rem sounded, well…suspicious was probably the right word, and Subaru had not quite managed to wrap his head around all of it, either. That was just how out of left field Todd’s reaction had been. “I guess demon beasts are rare in the empire…” That was completely unexpected, and honestly something he couldn’t even have imagined. Demon beasts were inextricably bound up with his new life in another world. Setting the first day aside, demon beasts had played a big part in most of the events that had followed. Meili’s demon beast mess, Ulgarm, the White Whale battle to fulfill Wilhelm’s wish, and the rabbits trying to consume the Sanctuary. There had not been demon beasts in Pristella, but Auguria and the Pleiades Watchtower, where they’d gone to deal with the aftermath of Pristella, had been swarming with demon beasts. And the most memorable demon beast of them all to Subaru—the crimson scorpion.

[Assistant] “Got a little heavy there, but I never really thought of demon beasts as rare.” He had just seen them like the monsters in a video game RPG—creatures that just sort of appeared everywhere around the world.


[User] “This is the first I’ve heard of Lugunica being the demon beast capital…”

[Assistant] “Then if she went to a country without that many demon beasts, maybe she would be able to live like a normal girl…”

[User] "Um, pardon me." As he thought about Meili and her future, Rem suddenly interrupted, a thoughtful look on her face.

[Assistant] She pointed at the table.

[User] Looking down, he saw Louis sleeping there, having finished her lunch.

[Assistant] “It seems she is satisfied now that she is full… I resent it, but could I ask you to carry her?”

[User] Grimacing a bit, Subaru reluctantly picked Louis up.

[Assistant] “Are you all right, Rem? My back is free…”

[User] “What do you take me for? I can at least manage myself.” Rem took up the wooden staff—basically just a thick tree branch she had picked up somewhere—which was leaning against the table.

[Assistant] Using that, Rem stood up.

[User] “I…am fine.”

[Assistant] “…Really? You don’t have to force yourself. Just rely on me if you need help.”

[User] “I will not. I am fine with this much. Just do not drop her.”

[Assistant] “Haaah. I got it. But just remember, I’m not doing this because I want to, I’m doing it for you.”

[User] “What makes you feel the need to say that…?” Rem was clearly exasperated by Subaru.


[Assistant] —I am curious about Todd and the others, though.

[User] “…Curious about them?”

[Assistant] “…Hmm? Ah, yeah, sort of. I mean, I feel like I’ve been a bit ungrateful to someone I owe big time. And talking about demon beasts might have been unnecessary.”

[User] “…Someone you owe?” Subaru was feeling down, like he was a villain who kept lying about everything.


[User] Rem then sounded as though she were deep in thought. “Rem?”

[Assistant] “…No, it is nothing. Please pay me no mind.”

[User] “No, I mean, that’s asking a bit much, after that…”

[Assistant] “Really? Then please do not speak to me.”

[User] “You’re getting further and further away from me! If you were about to say something, then just say it! I’m curious!” He adjusted his speed to match hers, which made for slow progress.

[Assistant] Rem, seemingly annoyed by his doing so, let out a little sigh. “Umm, that Todd, was it? …I do not have a particularly good impression of him.”

[User] “Huh? Why not? He let us stay here when we didn’t have anything to fall back on, and he protected me from that nasty beast. Not feeling any gratitude at all for that is a little…”

[Assistant] “I did not say I did not feel grateful. I am grateful. However…” She seemed hesitant to continue. But after a couple seconds of silence, she let out a deep breath and said it. “It is difficult for me to trust someone who makes no effort to ask someone’s name.”

[User] Subaru’s breath caught in his throat. He was about to ask her what she was talking about, but then he thought about it. Someone who makes no effort to ask someone’s name. Thinking back on it, she’s right. Todd had not once called Subaru by name. All he said was “you.” And it was natural for him to do this if he did not know Subaru’s name. “B-but isn’t that just coincidence? You never say my name ei—”

[Assistant] “Subaru Natsuki. Knowing it but not saying it is not the same as never attempting to learn it. That is all.”

[Assistant] “Those are my thoughts on the matter. Either way, we have no choice but to rely on them.” With that, Rem moved past Subaru, who had stopped moving. Watching her slowly inch forward, Subaru couldn’t say anything. Unfortunately, he did not have the skill to melt her stubborn heart. And as had become obvious with the demon beast incident, Subaru was not really aware of what constituted common knowledge in this world. He was not even up to snuff in the kingdom, so the empire was as good as uncharted territory. There might even have been a different significance attached to whether you asked for someone’s name here in Volakia. Maybe it was rude to ask for someone’s name before introducing yourself, or something. But even if there were a rule like that, Subaru couldn’t explain it to Rem. He could only regret his lack of knowledge and education.

[User] “…How long are you going to keep standing there?”

[Assistant] “Ah…” Looking up, he saw Rem had turned around from a little further ahead. She had a mildly impatient look on her face and was glaring at Subaru while resting both her hands on the staff. His heart ached at the sight of her waiting for him like that.


[User] "Gh…"

[Assistant] "Wh… What is it?! Did your fingers…?"

[User] "No, just the thought of you waiting for me, it just…"

[Assistant] “…I shall not say what, but something just went to waste.” Unamused, Rem turned her back on Subaru again.

[User] Chasing quickly after her, Subaru apologized, then thought back on what she had just said, his eyes narrowed. He told himself that it was just Rem overthinking things.


[Assistant] "—Hey, wake up. How long are you going to keep sleeping?" Subaru was shaken out of sleep by a hand on his shoulder.

[User] "Nn?"

[Assistant] Waking up easily was one Subaru’s few good traits, but waking up yourself and having someone wake you up were two different things. Trying to get his heavy head into motion, he opened his eyes and saw Todd’s face. "...Todd?"

[User] "Yeah, you look tired. Makes sense, I guess, given you were doing work you aren’t used to. Either way, though, thanks to you…"

[Assistant] “…Subaru Natsuki.”

[User] "Hmm?" Todd was speaking quickly as Subaru slowly sat up. But when Subaru suddenly said his own name, Todd’s eyes widened slightly. For a second, Todd seemed confused. "Subaru Natsuki—that’s my name."

[Assistant] "Hmm… Ahh, did it bother you that I wasn’t calling you by name?"

[User] "Nah, it’s not that, but…I realized I hadn’t introduced myself, and thought I might have done something really rude."

[Assistant] "Ha-ha, you’re overthinking things. But it’s Subaru Natsuki, huh? I’ll remember that."

[User] Subaru gave a weak smile and looked down a bit awkwardly, but Todd just clapped him on the shoulder. It came as a huge relief to Subaru that Todd wasn’t acting any different. Apparently, Rem’s concerns from the previous day had just been her overthinking things, and Subaru’s gloom had been unnecessary, too.

[Assistant] "Messed up there," Todd muttered to himself—it seemed he’d just forgotten to ask for Subaru’s name before. "Anyway, that’s important, but I’ve got something even bigger to tell you. Thanks to what you mentioned yesterday, the generals have changed strategy."

[User] "Strategy… For dealing with the jungle?"

[Assistant] "That’s right. Venturing into unexplored jungle is a different story if there are demon beasts crawling around inside it. Our losses would be nothing to sneeze at. So…" Todd was wearing a big, satisfied smile as he grabbed Subaru’s face in both hands. "...they’ve decided to wrap up this mission nice and quick."

[User] "Nice and quick? So you’ll be able to go back to your fiancée, then?"

[Assistant] "Ha-ha, that’s right!" Todd nodded happily.

[User] Subaru cheered, too. Todd’s joy about having a deployment that was supposed to last for years changed so that he could return home was enormous. Grabbing each other’s hands, Subaru and Todd danced around in the middle of the tent. And as they were doing that, naturally…

[Assistant] “…Um, could you quiet down a little, please?”

[User] "Ah, sorry, Rem."

[Assistant] "Goodness," she said, shaking her head slightly.


[User] "Is there a strange smell?"

[Assistant] "Smell?"

[User] "Yes—one besides your body odor." Rem sniffed, then flapped her hand as if trying to clear the air.

[Assistant] "Sorry, sorry. I figured it would be fine given the distance, but with a good nose you can tell. But once something’s been decided, it doesn’t feel right to just sit around doing nothing, right?”

[User] "Todd?" Todd pulled back the flap of their tent and beckoned them outside.

[Assistant] Subaru met Rem’s gaze, then gave her her wooden staff, and went over to the tent entrance. He stood next to Todd, and then he saw it.

[User] “…Huh?” Dense black smoke was billowing into the sky, and there was a powerful charred smell. Badheim Jungle—the great jungle that extended as far as the eye could see—was being consumed by brilliant flames that were becoming an inferno.

[Assistant] "This is…” Rem was struck speechless, too, at the sight of it. They stood next to each other in shock, watching the burning trees—the jungle inferno, the world ending before their eyes, like a nightmare come to life.

[User] “If demon beasts are lurking in there, there’s no telling how many people we’ll lose. The commander, General Second-Class Zickle, came around once he learned that.”

[Assistant] "Thanks to your information, we can wrap this up without having to lose anyone. You’ve been a great help.” Todd smiled and gave Subaru a smack on the back.

[User] Subaru’s lips trembled as that friendly slap landed. His lungs trembled. His throat trembled. And his voice trembled. While Todd was acting just as friendly as ever, Subaru asked in a quivering voice…

[Assistant] “Wh-why…?”

[User] "Why…what?”

[Assistant] “You said they didn’t want to fight the Shudrak in the jungle, right?”

[User] “This is…”

[Assistant] “Yeah—they didn’t want to fight. There was no way to know how many losses we would suffer. Even I could have died. But that tidbit about the demon beasts was enough to convince the general, so the problem’s settled. The Shudrak won’t be able to go against the emperor this way, either.”


[Assistant] "And I’ll be able to get back to my fiancée soon, too. Seriously, you were quite the find. I told the general about you, so I’m sure you’ll receive an award, too. You might even get a second one of those knives." Todd said jokingly, giving Subaru another slap on the back.

[User] "Right—I was told to get back after I’d showed you what you’ve accomplished. Also, you don’t have to worry about cleaning up those tents anymore. We’ll be breaking camp here before too long."

[Assistant] "—Aah, eh?"

[User] "C’mon, man, get a hold of yourself. Don’t worry the little lady." With that final whisper in Subaru’s ear, Todd left, wearing a genuinely well-intentioned smile.

[Assistant] But as quiet as he might have been, and as much as his mind was ravaged by confusion, it did nothing to change the hellish inferno blazing in front of them. The flames consumed everything; they would scorch every living thing in that area. That giant snake, the masked man who had been camping in the forest, and the hunter who had taken aim at them. They would all be turned to ash.

[User] "Ngh!" As Subaru gritted his teeth at the impact of that thought, Rem—who was standing beside him—staggered. He immediately reached out to support her, but the moment he touched her, her body went tense. Looking up at him, her face was filled with terror and rejection.

[Assistant] "Aaah…"

[User] "I know it isn’t your fault… I know. But…"

[User] "Please don’t touch me." Biting back the fear that threatened to consume her, Rem gently pushed Subaru’s hand away. She didn’t shake him off, nor did she break his hand. She simply brushed him off. She was saying what she really felt. Rem understood that Subaru had not meant for this to happen. But that was a trifling consolation. In the face of what had, in fact, happened, it was all too trifling…

[Assistant] "…She’s woken up." Rem looked away from Subaru, averting her eyes from the blazing jungle, and turned to Louis, who was inside the tent, to avoid looking at something she did not want to see.

[User] Behind her, Subaru couldn’t respond immediately. He had not come to terms with what had happened himself. Everything he could think to say felt wrong. So he couldn’t stop Rem from moving away at a crawl. He couldn’t stop her…

[Assistant] "—Ah?" As he bit his lip and gazed at Rem’s back after having been rejected, Subaru suddenly felt something small hit his back. Turning around to see what it was, he couldn’t see anyone or anything there that might have touched his back. But then he noticed something just barely out of the corner of his eye. Something that moved when he moved as he kept turning around…

[User] "Uuuh!


[User] "!” The next moment, Louis shouted from inside the tent like a child throwing a tantrum.

[Assistant] Though it wasn’t like there was anything he could do about her making a fuss.

[User] “Uaah, aaaah!! !”

[Assistant] “Ngh! Be quiet! Everything’s fine! I don’t have time to deal with—” As he was shouting at Louis, Subaru’s brow furrowed.

[User] Rem was seated on the ground holding Louis, who was still fidgeting and struggling.

[Assistant] Her expression changed. It was not the fear or rejection she’d displayed before; it was pure and simple shock. She was looking at Subaru with blue eyes gone wide—no, it wasn’t Subaru she was looking at, but…

[User] “…My back?” Subaru figured out where she was looking from the angle of her gaze. Twisting his head, Subaru looked down at his back, and finally realized just what it was that had been moving behind him while he was turning.

[Assistant] “Arrow feathers…” That was what had caught his eye. And of course, the arrow feathers were attached to an arrow, and an arrow quivering in his back meant that…

[User] “…Ah.” …someone had shot him in the back with an arrow. He quickly lost his balance, and, unable to stand anymore, toppled over on the spot. He reflexively grabbed at the tent’s entrance as he fell, and the tent tilted as he collapsed.

[Assistant] “Ahhhhhhh!” Rem let out a shrill cry.

[User] Even as Subaru’s mind raced, he had the pointless, out-of-place thought that he had never heard Rem cry out like that before.

[Assistant] “Aaah, uaaah!” Crawling on all fours, Louis approached Subaru and started roughly shaking him, but he couldn’t muster the voice to yell at her to stop, or the strength to resist. It was just a single arrow.

[User] “Someone! Someone, please! …I-it will be fine! This wound is…” Letting go of her staff, Rem came closer, almost stumbling over herself in the process, and staring at his back, she called out desperately.

[Assistant] I can’t show her my weakness. It’s just a simple arrow. Show her you can handle it. Just stand up, Subaru Natsuki. You always thought people didn’t have enough guts, dying or getting knocked out by those little arrows in Taiga dramas and period shows and all, didn’t you? I mean, even if a giant arrow through the chest is different, Rem’s right—this arrow didn’t hit me that hard. It was so soft, it felt like someone brushing against my back, right? So why is it that… He vomited as heat welled up inside him.

[User] “Geh, gh, ugh.”


[User] "Is it poisoned?" Rem had come to the same conclusion as him.

[Assistant] It was not the impact alone that was killing him. It was the poison that coated the arrowhead. Subaru couldn’t move his arms or legs, and his head had stopped working, like he had a bad fever. Something spilled from his eyes, from his nose, from his ears, and his whole body started shuddering. There was an annoying clanging in his ears, and he couldn’t hear Rem’s worried voice. He couldn’t hear Louis’s annoying shouts, either. He’d stopped hearing at all. Poison. The poison. Someone had… Why? The arrow. The hunter. The forest, burning. Burning. My words… Demon beast, Todd, burning. Rem. Rem. Rem… His thoughts were jumbled, and he groaned while blowing bubbles of blood out his mouth.

[User] Opening bloodshot eyes, he tried to make out Rem’s face, and that was when he noticed it. —Maybe thirty yards from the tent—not even ten seconds away if he took the distance at a run—was a small shadowy figure, glaring at him.

[Assistant] A child. No bigger than Louis. A child with a nasty look on her face—no, it wasn’t a nasty look. She was glaring at him. Glaring at him, eyes clouded with hate. She clearly wanted him dead. Her hair and face were covered in soot, and she held a small bow. She had, by her hands, with her own will, shot a poison arrow at Subaru.

[User] It was natural she would hate him. It was natural she would want to kill him. What he caused had invited fate to set her on a course of hatred. Then this was just Subaru’s just deserts…

[Assistant] "No! Wait! Please wait! Wait…" He could hear a desperate voice in his ears. I’d love to wait. I’d love to just stop here. I’d love to hold hands and smile. But I can’t do that. I can’t do anything. Blowing out more bloody spittle, spasming, with his eyes rolled back into his head, Subaru passed out, vomiting his melting internal organs as he fell into shadow.

[User] "Wai…!" The hideous, unthinking fool slipped into darkness. He slipped…


[User] The pain ate away at his body, like his blood had become magma. It peeled layer after layer away from the being that was Subaru Natsuki, revealing his unvarnished self. The agony persisted. Was it pain? Grief? Sadness? Or something else entirely? Subaru couldn’t even tell that much. Before that hopeless feeling reached its logical conclusion, it suddenly cut out and he felt a sense of release—

[Assistant] "—Pipe down, asshole."

[User] "Mgh." Set free from his suffering, he opened wide the mouth that had been bubbling with blood. His body desperately sought oxygen, and just as he tried to indulge in that flavorless, unscented treat, something was shoved into his mouth. Recoiling from the unexpected feeling, Subaru coughed as an angry voice rained down on him. But he couldn’t tell what was happening. Or more precisely, he couldn’t see.

[Assistant] Feeling pressure on his face, he could tell something was wrapped around it, blocking his vision. No, it’s not just my face. My arms and legs are tied, too. Someone had shoved something into his mouth while he was tied up.

[User] “Ugh! Blegh! Wh-why am I tied… Gh? !”

[Assistant] “Why are you resisting, asshole? Don’t you understand what position you’re in?”

[User] “Ah, gah…” Right after he’d spit out the foreign object in his mouth, someone kicked him in the stomach. Subaru sucked in air and slumped to the side as his attacker spit on him. But as his darkened vision flashed red with pain, Subaru slipped into confusion. What had happened just a few minutes ago was still tearing through his mind.

[Assistant] He had been woken up by Todd, then brought outside the tent to see the jungle in the grips of fiery hands. And then, right after having realized that this had happened because of a slip of his tongue, he’d been hit in the back with a poison arrow and had collapsed. After seeing the seemingly very young girl who had shot the arrow, he’d lost strength in his body and started spasming. He’d suffered in agony while coughing up blood, listening as Rem frantically called out for help, had tried to hold on to his fading consciousness.

[User] “I’m…here…”

[Assistant] “Huh? How much longer are you gonna—”

[User] “C’mon, now, calm down! He clearly doesn’t know anything. Let’s at least undo the blindfold.” Confusion swirled, consuming his mind, but the conversation going on overhead brought him back to reality. He could hear two men.


[User] (Rough, coarse voice) Action/Narration

[Assistant] (Softer voice) Action/Narration

[User] "Tch." Action/Narration

[Assistant] Footsteps as the man who’d kicked Subaru backed off.

[User] "Sheesh, sorry about all that. I’m sure you can’t really tell what’s going on, but I’m going to take off the blindfold for now. Sorry, but I can’t untie your hands or feet." Action/Narration

[Assistant] The man walked over to Subaru and undid his blindfold. There was a little bit of pain and a sense of release. Subaru took a deep breath before indulging in that, though. And then another, and another, before letting his breathing settle down. Then, after patiently waiting for his vision to gradually come back, he opened his eyes.

[User] “…Just like I thought…” Action/Narration

[Assistant] As his fuzzy vision came into focus, he saw tents and campfires spread out before him, and imperial soldiers bustling all around. It was not exactly familiar, but he recognized the army camp—he had run all around it doing chores and getting by for a couple days.

[User] “…I…died?” Action/Narration

[Assistant] And returned by death. That’s the most natural explanation. And with bitter irony, he knew an easy way to make sure of that. He just needed to turn his head a little and see the green jungle on the other side of the camp. As a result of what he’d said before, the imperial soldiers had gotten permission to burn down the jungle. But the jungle that was supposed to be scorched by hellfire was still there, and still green. It extended across the horizon and looked just fine. Having confirmed that, Subaru now saw it clearly in his head. Rem crawling toward him after he’d collapsed from the arrow as blood bubbled from his mouth, desperately pleading with him not to die. Her voice, her presence, her plea. But Subaru had betrayed all of this, dying tragically right in front of her. How much fear, how much uncertainty had Rem felt, not remembering anything, in some unknown land, watching a man who knew her die, even if she did hate him? The thought of it made his heart ache. And at the same time…

[User] I’ll never let her experience that again.

[Assistant] "We found you when we went to fetch some water. Sorry, but you’re our prisoner." As Subaru’s heart filled with powerful emotions, a man crouched down in front of him. He knew the man who was looking at him with a gentle smile and kind expression. In this camp filled with imperial soldiers, he was the one and only person who had been friendly to Subaru and Rem. He had patiently dealt with Subaru, who knew far too little about the empire, and Subaru himself was grateful that Todd had been there when he’d woken up.


[User] Todd, who’d supported the decision to burn the jungle on the basis of Subaru’s words. “” It did not feel like it had even been ten minutes, but a chill ran down his back when he recalled Todd’s carefree report that they were burning the jungle. The Empire of Volakia respected the strong and tyrannized the weak. A powerful country whose national crest was a wolf with swords thrust into it, a symbol that taught only the swordwolf had the right to live. People with Todd’s mentality were probably not uncommon in the empire. The empire had a way of life that let its people quickly accept and casually carry out a plan to burn down a jungle after hearing there were demon beasts in it. Of course, Subaru did not see eye to eye with the people in Lugunica, either. The closest he came to that was maybe Roswaal, that pinnacle of rationalism. Either way, Subaru was not going to let them turn the jungle into scorched earth this time. “” Gulping, Subaru grasped the mistake he had made last time. Of course, he had been killed as a result, but even if the army had made the decision for the safety of their forces, burning down the jungle was way too drastic. If it had not been for Subaru’s comment, there was a chance Todd and the empire would have been able to negotiate in peace with the Shudrak people and resolve things without bloodshed. He had robbed them of that possibility and exposed everyone in the jungle to danger— No, don’t try to shirk responsibility. There’s zero chance no one died in that firestorm. Because of what he’d said, the people living in the jungle had died. Even if he could no longer influence the events of that world after dying and returning, there was no escaping that fact. He would never forget it. “” And so he resolved not to make the same mistake. Death was a heavy matter, whether it was his own or someone else’s, and not something he could let happen again. With that thought, getting at least the chance to redo his first encounter with Jamal and Todd was a faint silver lining. I’ll build a good relationship with Todd, and Jamal, too, if possible, and push them toward negotiating with the Shudrak in a way that won’t fail. And to do that…

[Assistant] "You listening? I get you’re confused at suddenly finding yourself a prisoner, but…" Todd crouched down in front of Subaru, who had been keeping quiet, seemingly considering what Subaru must have been feeling.

[User] “…Yeah… You’re right. I’m confused. I am. But, umm…” Subaru thought hard about what to say next. Last time, his relationship with Todd had been friendly. He felt he should try to maintain that, while keeping open the possibility of gaining accommodations for himself and Rem. Also, I have to be careful with what I tell him, to avoid any extreme actions on his part.


[User] "I’m surprised, but I get that I’m a prisoner. I remember jumping into the river. If you’re the ones who saved me from that, then I owe you—"

[Assistant] "Wait."

[User] "Huh?" Subaru calmly tried to perform the role of someone who had been pulled out of the water and saved. But Todd interrupted him, putting his hand in front of Subaru’s face. Subaru gulped as the open palm blocked his vision.

[Assistant] "Why did you look at me like that just now?" Right after he heard Todd’s cold, stiff voice, something sharp slid into his right shoulder.


[User] Unable to see, he was slow to react to what had happened. Then, feeling a strange sensation in his shoulder, he looked at it and realized what it was. The sharp blade of a knife was stabbing into his shoulder.

[Assistant] "ghhh? !" The moment Subaru saw what had happened, a howl rose in the back of his throat. A terrible heat erupted from the center of his shoulder, and a sharp pain and a tingling sensation spread through him. The shock of being unexpectedly stabbed was enormous.

[User] "Ghh, gaaaaaaaaaaaah!! !" A few seconds later, a clear and obvious cry of pain passed his lips. He wanted to twist his body, clutch his stabbed shoulder, put pressure on the wound, or do anything about the pain—but he was bound hand and foot, unable even to pull the knife out of his shoulder. It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!

[Assistant] "H-hey! What was that scream? !" Subaru writhed in pain, screaming over and over.

[User] Jamal—the rough man with the eye patch—hurried back. The eyes of the man who had just been kicking Subaru went wide at the sight of Subaru writhing on the floor, bleeding from where the knife was still sticking out of his shoulder.

[Assistant] "Hey—this isn’t what we talked about, Todd! You’re the one who told me to hold back ’cause he had that noble’s knife!"

[User] "Yeah, that was the plan before we knew his identity. When it comes to that, I can see why you’d be mad about how this hasn’t gone the way we’d discussed. My bad."

[Assistant] "...Meaning, you know who he is now?"

[User] "No clue." Todd’s answer convinced Jamal to calm down. But Todd just cocked his head. He said, before putting his foot on Subaru’s body while Subaru writhed in pain. "I didn’t ask who he was. But it’s likely he’s an enemy, so I attacked preemptively."

[Assistant] "Gh, gyaaaaah!"

[User] "Oh—that looks painful. Not much point making you suffer too much, but are you the type who can take a lot of pain? How would you rate yourself there?" Todd leaned onto the leg resting on Subaru’s body while talking to him in a calm voice. But Subaru was lying on the ground, and the increased pressure on him pushed the knife deeper into his shoulder, so amid the unbearable pain he couldn’t come up with a response.

[Assistant] "No response. Defiance."


[User] “…So he is an enemy.”

[Assistant] “…With him rolling around like that, he couldn’t answer even if he wanted to.”

[User] “Hmm? Really? Damn, I don’t really feel much pain, so I always mess this sort of thing up. My bad.” Todd finally removed his foot from Subaru’s body.

[Assistant] The extra pain faded, but the intermittent agony of having been stabbed was still jabbing at him. Subaru bit down on the pain, which was so difficult to endure, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth and tears welling in his eyes.

[User] “And you talk to me about my behavior being bad…”

[Assistant] “—? You beat prisoners and your subordinates just to feel better, right? Don’t get judgy with me. I’m just doing what’s necessary.”

[User] What is happening? Even considering the fact that mental resources were being diverted to deal with the pain, his thoughts were just not making any sense. Todd had been so good to them, so why would he…?

[Assistant] “So why did you stab him?”

[User] “When he saw me after I took off his blindfold, the look in his eyes was manipulative. Unease or nervousness, I could understand. Fear or tears would have been fine, too. But looking manipulative is weird, right?”

[Assistant] “Manipulative, huh?”

[User] “If you were kicked awake and then had a blindfold taken off, would you be able to think about using the first person you see? I mean, sure, there are some who naturally do that, but they’re scary, and dealing with them just means trouble. It’s better just to kill them.” Todd coolly explained his thoughts.

[Assistant] Jamal seemed to be considering what he was saying.

[User] What the hell?

[Assistant] “There’s no way you can tell if he was thinking that the moment he woke up, right? He might have woken up while we were carrying him and been listening the whole time.”

[User] “No. I was watching the whole time to see if he was faking it. If he’d regained consciousness at some point along the way, he should have had some basic biological reaction. And if he somehow managed to fool me…”

[Assistant] “Yeah?”

[User] “Then he was feigning sleep in order to deceive us and was planning to manipulate me from the start. That’s even scarier, so it’s better to just kill him.”

[Assistant] Subaru gulped with a shudder, even as he struggled against the pain.

[User] Jamal’s tone softened as he listened to Todd’s explanation. He’d been surprised and angry at first at the fact that Todd had stabbed Subaru, but his anger was gradually dissipating.


[User] Todd got close to people, making a point of being understanding, and then he proposed ideas that were beneficial to them. Once their initial momentum slowed down and they became more open to suggestion, those people would then think about Todd’s proposal and start coming around to it. That was what was happening with Jamal here, and it was exactly what had happened with Subaru in his previous run. "I don’t know about the two girls with him, either, but they’re easier to deal with. We should nip this potential complication in the bud."

[Assistant] "Well, I don’t really mind, but…"

[User] "Or do you want to do it? I stopped you from venting your feelings about that blue-haired girl messing up your men, but you could use something to work through that, right?"

[Assistant] "That’s true." Todd’s calm proposal brought a nasty grin to Jamal’s face. Jamal licked his lips and started giving off a more dangerous, violent sort of aura. But what made Subaru freeze up was the way Todd had said this. He’d offered Subaru up as a way for Jamal to vent, but also, even taking Subaru out of the picture here, Todd still planned to probe their motives in another way. Using Rem, and Louis. But they wouldn’t be able to answer, no matter what he asked them. No matter how badly she was tortured, Rem didn’t know anything she could tell him.

[User] "Ngh!" Gritting his teeth, Subaru used the taste of blood in his mouth as a catalyst, propelling himself forward in search of a way to save Rem. In just a few more seconds, Jamal’s assault would resume, and Subaru would either be killed by these barbaric attacks because he was no longer needed, or he would be left half dead. And even if Jamal had a conscience and didn’t finish him off, Todd wouldn’t let him live. Todd had set fire to the jungle, so he would have no qualms about ending Subaru’s life. Jamal approached, step by step. And in that moment, Subaru’s thoughts raced, searching for an answer within himself. A way out, some kind of plan, a possibility, a miracle to—

[Assistant] "Try to gimme a nice scream, brat. You’re gonna pay for what your girl d—"

[User] "The Shudrak." Just before Jamal could unleash himself on Subaru with that classic thug line, Subaru spoke. Jamal stopped suddenly, and behind him, Todd’s expression changed, too. Jamal’s surprise was evident, and Todd cocked an eyebrow and chuckled.

[Assistant] "Heh—looks like you know how to gamble."

[User] "Todd, don’t listen—"

[Assistant] "Now, now, give it a second, Jamal. You can punch and kick him later. But it’s hard to make out what someone says when their throat and mouth are busted up. Let’s listen first."

[User] "Fuck!" Suddenly having lost the outlet for his frustrations, Jamal kicked a nearby wooden shelf. Meanwhile, Todd faced Subaru again, and terrifyingly, the smile plastered across his face was the exact same one that Subaru knew.


[User] Subaru teetered on the precipice between life and death.

[Assistant] Todd smiled at Subaru in the same way he had while treating Subaru’s fingers, while having lunch with him, and while praising him for his contributions to burning the jungle. "So you brought up the Shudrak people without being prompted to. Is it safe to expect you’re about to say something we’d like to hear?"

[User] "...Yeah. I know where the Shudrak people are in the jungle."

[Assistant] "—! Well, that’s just great!" Todd clapped, a trace of joy in his smile.

[User] Seeing that reaction, Subaru was sure that the miracle he had dragged out of himself had worked. But it was a double-edged sword, too—since he did not actually know their location. The man who had given him the knife, and the hunter who had taken aim at him—he thought it likely that one, the other, or perhaps both were connected to the Shudrak, but he had no way to get in contact with them from here, and no clue where exactly they were. Which meant Subaru was staking his life on a major gamble.

[Assistant] "Why do you know that?"

[User] "...Because I’m one of them."

[Assistant] "I see—so you really are. Skin color aside, you’ve got the black hair. So I’d suspected that might be the case. The Shudrak are famous for having black hair."

[User] Hearing that, Subaru was greatly relieved and felt a sense of having been saved by luck. A greasy sweat joined the cold sweat that already coated him from head to toe thanks to the tricky tightrope he was walking. The pain in his shoulder was still growing, and the fingers of his left hand were starting to throb with pain, too. On top of that, his body had still not recovered from everything that had happened at the Pleiades Watchtower, nor from when he’d chased Rem through the jungle, then escaped into the river. Holding on as his consciousness wobbled and his mind threatened to give out, he now embarked on an interrogation where any mistake would mean death. All for the sake of survival—all for rescuing Rem. To return to Emilia and Beatrice, and to reunite Ram and Rem.

[Assistant] "In which case, are you some sort of scout? Are the clothes and knife a disguise so you could blend in with us?"

[User] "...I stole the knife from a traveler. Same for the clothes. And…"

[Assistant] "You tried to slip in to spy on us. That’s a bold plan. It looks like you really did almost drown, and there was always the chance of us not noticing the knife…"

[User] "But it feels more realistic this way, right?" When Todd pointed out the shoddiness of the supposed plan, Subaru laughed it off as intentional. He curled his lips, flashing his teeth to make his normal appearance look even nastier and lend his explanation even more credence.

[Assistant] Todd considered his claims

[User] The silence was heavy, dragging out Subaru’s suffering.


[User] Subaru couldn’t say whether his words actually were convincing, or whether his expressions were lending them any weight at all.

[Assistant] "Are you selling out your tribe in order to live?" Todd closed an eye as he asked that question.

[User] Subaru gulped. He had drawn out the question he had wanted to hear. Now he just had to not mess up the answer.

[Assistant] “…Y-yeah, that’s right. I’ll sell them out.”

[User] "Please, I’ll do anything. I’ll even lure them out if that’s what you want. Anything. Whatever you want!" Eyes swimming, cheeks tense, coated in a cold sweat, Subaru begged for his life.

[Assistant] "What a piece of shit. I don’t like those eyes.” Seeing Subaru’s act, Jamal grumbled in heartfelt scorn and anger.

[User] “…That desperation doesn’t look like a lie.” And, while Subaru was carefully performing the act of a groveling man, Todd finally spoke.

[Assistant] "You serious, Todd? !" Jamal erupted. "The sort of shit who would sell out his own tribe—”

[User] "Look, Jamal, he’s sniveling enough to sell out his tribe for himself, right? He’ll be desperate to make it worth our while. If he doesn’t, he won’t get out of here with the life he cares so much about keeping." Todd’s explanation made Jamal swallow his argument.


[User] A man who would sell out his comrades to save himself. To make them believe that the information he would provide had value, Subaru needed to lower their opinion of him as much as possible. On that point, screaming so pathetically when he’d been stabbed had probably worked out in his favor. Though he had a feeling the pain he’d suffered was too great for that knowledge to be much comfort. “Don’t blame me if anything happens!”

[Assistant] In the end, as Subaru had expected, Jamal was convinced.

[User] “Trust me, trust me." Todd said, slapping Jamal on the back in reassurance. "Valuing life is just fine. Even it’s just his own.” Todd looked down at Subaru, who was hunched over like he was groveling.

[Assistant] “Ngh! Wait! What are you doing to him? !"

[User] Rem grabbed the iron bars of her cell, her eyes flaring in anger as she shouted at them. The location of this scene was the imperial army camp. Having heard Subaru’s sniveling pleas, Todd and Jamal had begun marching him over to an area away from the camp. As she remained inside her cell, Rem’s gaze had sharpened when she’d spotted Subaru being marched away. Subaru looked completely battered and broken. His body had been pummeled from leaping into the river and being washed away, and he’d received only the barest minimum of first aid for the knife wound on his right shoulder. His broken fingers had been left untreated. The bindings on his legs were undone, but his hands were still tied. Subaru Natsuki was being led from the campgrounds, looking like a slave. Rem must have been confused and shocked. Of course, Subaru couldn’t explain the situation to her. After he’d died and come back, what little progress he might have made with her had been reset, too, and everything had to be redone. She thought him an enemy because of the Witch’s lingering scent, and he hadn’t been given any time or opportunity to clear up the misunderstanding, and on top of that…

[Assistant] “Ngh?! The stench is even worse than before… What is going on?” Picking up the miasma that grew thicker with each reset, Rem’s wariness had gone up another level. Subaru Natsuki was like devil spawn to her. And there was no point in correcting her impression, other than that it hurt his heart not to do so, and so he would simply do nothing.

[User] “…You must have a pretty complicated relationship. She’s reacting like that, even though she’s with you.”

[Assistant] “She…both of them… ”

[User] “Both of them?”

[Assistant] “…They’re both just tools I bought in order to make contact with you.” Unsure how to respond for a moment, Subaru decided to feign cruelty. He was supposed to be a cold-blooded guy who would sell out his comrades to save his own skin. Of course he wouldn’t feel anything for Rem or Louis. Everything had to be secondary to his own survival.


[User] “They don’t know anything. Interrogating them would just be a waste of time…but it looks like you already knew that.”

[Assistant] “Well, it didn’t seem like they were putting on an act. The little one, her head’s probably seriously messed up, and that other one wasn’t lying, either. Going on a rampage when you don’t even know why is dangerous in its own right, though.” Todd scratched his cheek with a wry chuckle.

[User] Jamal snorted in annoyance.

[Assistant] “If they’re in your way, I can take them off your hands once I’m free…”

[User] “That’s a little hasty. Positivity is all well and good, but don’t forget that what happens to you next depends on the information you give us. You should worry about your own predicament first.”

[Assistant] “Heh-heh, right, right. Just got a little ahead of myself, thinking about when all this is over.” If he focused on that now, it would just reveal his fixation with Rem, so he immediately changed tack. As his hands were tied up, he couldn’t rub them together greedily, but he answered Todd while doing his best to evoke that sort of feeling.

[User] Todd did not push any further, just giving Rem in her cell a little wave. "Just behave yourself, miss. For now, we won’t do anything if no one starts anything.”

[Assistant] "Do you think you saying that would be even slightly convincing?”

[User] “I couldn’t say. Whether you choose to believe me or not is your problem.”

[Assistant] Rem bitterly fell silent.

[User] I have to get her out of here, no matter what it takes. I should avoid getting any closer than necessary to any Volakian.

[Assistant] “All right, we’re heading out. None of you let down your guard.” Todd called out to his allies.

[User] “I give the orders here!” And as the soldiers responded, Jamal snapped back angrily.


[User] Proceeding through the dense jungle, Subaru kept an eye out for any sort of opening to escape.

[Assistant] "If I say we should leave her, Rem will never come with me…"

[User] “…Or maybe not, even for her. She can’t move her legs properly, after all.”

[Assistant] Why does it have to be so hard to give this deadweight dragging us down the slip? And…

[User] "So how long will it take to reach the settlement?"

[Assistant] “…Generally speaking, about two to three hours, I suppose.”

[User] "Two to three hours! That’s pretty quick. If that’s all, then that’s great to hear. It was looking like a yearslong mission on our end.”

[Assistant] Todd’s face softened at the windfall he’d found. He was wearing light armor and had a hatchet at his waist.


[User] "...I know it’s not for me to say so, but isn’t this a little careless? For you to only bring this many people to the Shudrak village?”

[Assistant] “You think you’re in a position to worry about us, huh? There’s no guarantee your head’ll still be on your shoulders at the end of this. You better work hard to humor us.”

[User] “Jamal, sir…”

[Assistant] Jamal:


[User] It was of the same species as the one Subaru had encountered earlier, and for the soldiers, who hadn’t known there were demon beasts in the jungle, it came as a complete surprise.

[Assistant] But attempting to immediately deal with the danger of the demon beast was both the correct judgment, and yet also a mistake.

[User] Because it was not the imperial soldiers the demon beast was after.

[Assistant] Its goal was none other than Subaru Natsuki, who was standing in a massive cloud of miasma.

[User] “Tsss!! !” The sword slash struck its scales, and the snake roared while sweeping the soldier aside with its tail.

[Assistant] Its yellow eyes gleamed ferociously as it hammered the procession with a tremendous roar.

[User] Having spent a year being a decoy for demon beasts, Subaru was a pro at it.

[Assistant] In most cases, demon beasts would proactively target Subaru, with all his miasma, but only until someone threatened them.

[User] It was the same for the giant snake as it had been for the White Whale.

[Assistant] The White Whale had targeted Wilhelm because he’d attacked it, and the snake had turned its fangs on the hunter who had shot it.

[User] And Subaru had used that law to his advantage here.

[Assistant] The snake now turned its attention from Subaru to the soldiers in armor, who were directing their malice at the snake.

[User] “Ngh! A demon beast?! No one mentioned anything about that!! !” Facing down the giant snake’s animosity, Jamal shouted these words while drawing a pair of swords.

[Assistant] And surprisingly, he displayed a genuinely high level of skill, boldly attacking the demon beast with swift and agile movements.

[User] However, Subaru wouldn’t support Jamal’s unexpectedly difficult fighting.

[Assistant] Subaru had spent a few hours tromping through the jungle with the soldiers, aiming for this exact outcome.

[User] The soldiers did not know there were demon beasts in the jungle.

[Assistant] Demon beasts that were drawn to Subaru by his miasma.

[User] He’d used his body’s smell to control demon beasts like always, making him a skilled demon beast master, too.

[Assistant] When I meet up with Meili again, I should challenge her to the title of demon beast master by comparing our stats.

[User] But I don’t have time to worry about that right now.

[Assistant] “I have to…”

[User] …use this opportunity to get back to camp and free Rem.

[Assistant] Just as he was about to start running, he felt a terrifying chill at the nape of his neck.

[User] Reacting immediately, he frantically ducked his head.

[Assistant] Just then, a hatchet swung right through where his head had been and landed in the trunk of the tree right next to him.

[User] “Ngh!” Had he not ducked, Subaru would have died on the spot. Shuddering at that realization, Subaru turned around and looked at his attacker.

[Assistant] Todd was glaring at him with a furious scowl.

[User] “Ngh!” Not wanting to be pinned in place by that gaze, Subaru started sprinting through the jungle.

[Assistant] If he stopped, Todd would catch him.


[User] And if he was caught, Todd would surely kill him. Those eyes were filled with that sort of powerful determination. A pitch-black resolve. Subaru felt a different sort of terror than he’d felt when facing Archbishops, demon beasts, or even Reid Astrea. Those eyes shone with unrelenting tenacity.

[Assistant] "Gah? !" As he ran, there was a heavy thud in his back. Although he didn’t turn back, he could tell a knife had buried itself right by his shoulder blade—it looked like the knife had returned to him in an unpleasant way. Subaru ran desperately, breathing raggedly with the knife still sticking out of his shoulder. Behind him, the demon beast and the soldiers were still fighting, but Subaru kept running to avoid bumping into any other demon beasts or being caught by Todd. Desperately, desperately, desperately running and running and running. Subaru ran—breathing ragged, coughing up blood, tripping any number of times then actually falling, his whole body covered in mud as he continued to flee, desperately trying to get back to the army’s camp.

[User] “Rem… Rem… Re…em…” His speed had fallen to the point where a child could walk faster than him, and as his parched throat itched and he ran out of oxygen, focus, and endurance, he was fixated on only one thing.


[User] As he reached toward that faint dream, Subaru’s leg swung through the air. Having suddenly lost his footing, he couldn’t support himself with his arms as he tumbled and fell upside down. It felt like he was falling upside down. He couldn’t shout. He couldn’t open his mouth. He just fell. He fell, and fell, and like a bubble popping, his dream shattered, too.

[Assistant] "Rem…" His parched voice rang out hollowly as he passed out.


[User] "How long do you intend to sleep, fool?"

[Assistant] "Chokobi? !" A shock jolted his mind out of the dark abyss. The blow landed on the side of his head, like someone was stepping on his head as he lay on the ground—no, not like that. It seemed that was exactly what was happening. The right side of his head was pressed against the floor, and the left side was being stepped on, which made both sides hurt. And thanks to that sharp pain, he had been woken up…

[User] "…Hu…uh? I…gah." Subaru sat up blearily, the metallic taste of blood in the back of his throat. Suddenly, his right shoulder and his back, his left hand and his legs, and all the rest of his body cried out in pain. His vision turned red from terrible agony, and he slumped again, quivering like a fish out of water.

[Assistant] “…I’m…not dead.”

[User] "Of course not. Could a dead man speak? Your current state is more impressive than your half-hearted jester act. I shall at least compliment you there."

[Assistant] "Huh?" As he checked himself in a daze, Subaru was struck by that haughty retort. When his mind had made sense of what was being said, and while he remained cautious of the pain that was surely about to return, Subaru slowly sat up. Looking around, he saw that he had been lying on the ground and that there were several thick branches here and there around him— No, these branches have been woven together. Flashing back to Rem yet again, Subaru realized he was in a prison cell made of tree branches. And he was confused. He felt uneasy, thinking he might have messed up and been caught by Todd or the others, but…

[User] "You need not scramble so. Your pursuers are not here."


[User] Though I won’t deny that the situation is a tad too uncomfortable for me to say, ‘Be at ease.’”

[Assistant] “You’re…”

[User] “I did not expect to see your face again, Subaru Natsuki.” Subaru’s ears twitched in doubt as the man said Subaru’s name with a smirk. Only his eyes were visible, so Subaru couldn’t say for sure, but he seemed to be smiling. The haughty man was laughing, while locked inside the same cage as Subaru.


[User] Subaru quietly inhaled, hearing an arrogant and overbearing laugh. There was no way Subaru would fail to recognize the haughty man who had given him directions when he’d been separated from Rem back at the meadow, the same man who had given him that knife. Because of the face covering, it was hard to say for sure, but his voice and attitude were exactly as Subaru remembered them. And the fact that he knew Subaru’s name was also proof it was the same person. Subaru had been sleeping on the bare ground inside a wooden cage, and his entire body was battered and bruised, so apparently, he had managed to stay alive. He had brought Todd and the other soldiers into the jungle, used his miasma to lure out a demon beast, and then used the opportunity when they were being attacked to escape…

[Assistant] "And then I…"

[User] "From what I heard, you triggered a trap while wandering in the jungle. The villagers were making a fuss about a person getting caught in a trap set for a beast."

[Assistant] "Trap… Village…?" Subaru swiveled his aching head and looked outside the cage. The cage he was enclosed in was far rougher in make than the metal cells he had seen in the army camp. It looked simple, or perhaps like it had been built in a rush. And outside, in the distance, he could see a cluster of tall trees, and an open patch of ground that had been created by clearing the space between those trees—to Subaru, it felt almost like the village in the Sanctuary. The Sanctuary was a village built deep in the Cremaldi Forest. However, unlike the Sanctuary, which had buildings like houses and a church despite being in a forest, this village could generously be described as a bunch of log houses. It was mostly a collection of primitive lean-tos. Seeing that, the words came to Subaru’s lips.

[User] "The Shudrak?"

[Assistant] "Oh—you know of them? Well, judging by your unsightly appearance, you have surely borne quite a number of burdens in a single day. Did you find the woman from whom you were separated?"

[User] "...Yeah, thanks to you." As the masked man questioned him, Subaru let out a deep breath. The man was acting composed, but given that he was also inside a cell, he was in the same position as Subaru—the odds of him being an important member of the village who just happened to like being inside the same cell as village prisoners was incredibly low. Subaru had just been imprisoned in the imperial army camp, and now he was a prisoner here. But that wasn’t all.

[Assistant] "...This is… My shoulder and back?" Touching himself in both places, he could tell from the painfully tight feeling that something was staunching the flow of blood.


[User] And the pungent smell in his nose seemed medicinal, like an antiseptic, or something along those lines.

[Assistant] The man snorted. "If you hadn’t received any care, you would have simply died on the spot. They were probably troubled about how best to deal with you, just as I was.”

[User] “Where does your composure come from…?”

[Assistant] “If I had to say, from my spirit. I should ask you how long you intend to continue your shameful performances, Subaru Natsuki.”

[User] “That’s…” Subaru had been about to say “none of your business,” but then gritted his teeth at the pain from his wounds.

[Assistant] “Crap… How long has it been since I was brought here? !”

[User] “…Around two hours, I suppose. And that was already quite the kindness on my part. Had I felt no reservations, I would have awakened you soone—”

[Assistant] “Why didn’t you wake me up sooner? !” The man’s eyes narrowed as Subaru’s trembling knee hit the ground.

[User] “Rem’s still in the imperial army’s camp… I have to get back before the soldiers who ran into the demon beast in the jungle do…”

[Assistant] “I’m stuck here…!”

[User] “…I see. Presumably, this ‘Rem’ is the woman you were searching for? After you left me, you apparently experienced quite a lot of adversity. There are imperial soldiers outside the jungle?”

[Assistant] “Yeah, that’s right! We were caught! I had to put on an act in order to escape…but I couldn’t bring Rem with me."


[User] "So…”

[Assistant] “And that is the reason for your desperation? That makes sense. I thought your expression seemed like you were accustomed to imprisonment.”

[User] “What are you talking about?! And aren’t you—” —trapped here, too, like me? Even if he owed the man, Subaru had still been about to shout at him because he did not have any composure to spare. However, realizing he was being rash, Subaru then stopped himself.

[Assistant] While he was focused on his argument with the masked man, he felt another gaze cutting into him from the side. Turning around, he saw two lights peering through the gaps in the cage. As the picture came into focus, he realized they were a pair of green eyes. And the owner of those eyes, seeing him turn around, blinked.

[User] “Ah—he noticed.”

[Assistant] “Uu has to tell Mii.” The eyes disappeared.

[User] “Wait!” Subaru quickly tried to call them back, but he was not fast enough. But by the time he’d grabbed onto the branches, they had left, running off without looking back.

[Assistant] “That was…”

[User] “A Shudrak girl. A curious one, I imagine. When I was alone, she peered in several times as well. It was rather grating to listen to her tell me to take off my mask and show my face…”

[Assistant] Apparently annoyed by the girl who’d been peeking at them, the man grumbled, crossing his arms.

[User] Unfortunately, Subaru was not in a state of mind where he could respond to that sort of complaint. His attention had been stolen by the young girl who’d run away. She was maybe around ten years old, with dark skin. She had white clothes wrapped around her body that covered little but were easy to move in, clothes that probably suited this sort of subtropical climate. Her hair was in what looked like a bob cut, and the way the tips of her hair were a pinkish color was probably the result of dyeing it. The roots of her hair were black, which matched what Todd had mentioned about the Shudrak having black hair. But it was not her appearance that shocked him, because it was not his first time seeing her.

[Assistant] “She’s…” She was the girl who’d killed him. She was the one who had hit him with the poison arrow that had sealed his fate. When the jungle had been burned because of what he’d said, she had fled the area where the flames were spreading and glared at Subaru with eyes filled with hatred. That girl… The dots connected in Subaru’s mind. The reason she’d had so much hatred in her eyes was because she was getting revenge for her land and her comrades being put to the torch.

[User] “What happened? You’ve calmed down, as if someone poured a bucket of water over you.”

[Assistant] “…Ah.” Leaning his head against one of the branches, Subaru bit his lip.


[User] The man was sitting where he had been from the start, observing Subaru’s emotional rollercoaster.

[Assistant] Subaru looked away, feeling miserable beneath his gaze.

[User] “You are an elusive man. Either way, though, spare me the shouting. There are enough annoyances here, even in silence. You will only waste your energy. And even if you don’t shout…”

[Assistant] “If I don’t shout…?”

[User] “They will come to speak to you. Look.” The man jerked his chin to the side.

[Assistant] Subaru turned to look in the direction he’d indicated, and his eyes widened. Gradually, flames began to light the darkness—the flames of torches. Several figures appeared and approached the jail cell. Walking in the lead was a tall, muscular woman. The tips of her black hair were dyed red, she had white patterns painted over her dark skin, and there was a powerful sense of purpose in her green eyes. There was a group of maybe ten others with her, and the girl from before was hiding behind her. They were all women. Subaru was overwhelmed by the oppressive mood. The group had a wild air about them, unlike the Lugunica knights or the Volakian soldiers from earlier. There was a beauty to them, like a pack of wild beasts held together by instinct. They gave the impression of a band that was built around a core philosophy of acting on instinct, rather than reason or logic. That was the feeling Subaru got as he watched them walk up. Then, stopping before the cage where he was being held, they—the Shudrak—looked at the two men inside it.

[User] “So you’re awake. Tell us who you are. Both of you.” Her demand lumped Subaru and the masked man together.

[Assistant] “Wait, ‘both of you’…?” Noticing that something wasn’t lining up with his memories, Subaru couldn’t help the question mark hovering over his head. Even though they were in the same cell, Subaru and the masked man’s connection was pretty weak.


[User] “Do not dwell on trivialities. It was I who told them that we were acquainted. That is the only reason she asks.”

[Assistant] “You…! Acquainted… That’s overselling it a bit!”

[User] “I spoke no lie. We both recognized each other on sight. What more is there to the term ‘acquaintance’ than that?”

[Assistant] “Th-that’s a crazy sort of logic…”

[User] As Subaru’s head spun a little… "Hey, what are you whispering about? Answer the question.”

[Assistant] “Ah, right. My name is Subaru Natsuki. As you can see, I am a pitifully and pathetically battered lost soul! And the guy behind me is…ummm?”

[User] “Abel.”

[Assistant] “Right—Abel! A man who hides his face and has a prickly, arrogant attitude, but is surprisingly generous, since he also gave me a knife when I was lost about where to go. I’m sure he’s a playboy who’s made any number of women cry! And you are? !”

[User] “H-hmm…? I am Mizelda…” Caught off guard by Subaru’s barrage, the woman at the front, Mizelda, introduced herself.

[Assistant] “Though finding out the masked man’s name is Abel is a surprising reveal, too…”

[User] “But that is for later! Please hear me out, Mizelda, and the rest of you as well!” Saving the masked man, Abel, for later, Subaru raised his voice and addressed the women gathered there.

[Assistant] “You might know this already, but the empire’s army has set up camp outside this jungle. A girl who’s important to me is being held there, and if I don’t get back as soon as possible, it will be dangerous for her! So please, let me go!”

[User] “Also, their army is trying to find the people of Shudrak. They say they just want to talk, but they are prepared to fight, should it come to it.


[User] “If…” Subaru was about to suggest that he could mediate to create a space for them to talk, but he caught himself. It was true that they might have been able to avoid a fight if he could do that, but it was probably impossible for Subaru to make that happen anymore. As far as Todd and the rest of the squad in the jungle were concerned, Subaru was the person who had led them into a trap with a demon beast. They would never trust him, and it would be asking too much to hold out any hope of that. Subaru had already weighed them in the balance against Rem and chosen to put them in harm’s way for the sake of saving Rem. He couldn’t run from that choice. “Sorry, let me correct what I said. It is true that they are after all of you. And they set up camp with a large number of people, so if it comes to a fight…”

[Assistant] "You're saying we'd lose?"

[User] He had been about to say there was no denying the Shudrak would be at a disadvantage based on their numbers and the strategies both sides could employ. But Mizelda’s quiet voice interrupted him. “Ah…” Subaru realized he had chosen his words poorly. The Shudrak were probably a tribe of hunters. They polished their skills for the hunt and were always improving. To tell them they would lose a fight was the ultimate pitfall, an argument that should never be used in order to convince them. “We know the Volakian army is here. But there is an old agreement between us. It will not come to a fight.”

[Assistant] “Please wait! I don’t know what this promise is, but they’re serious about—”

[User] "Silence!"

[Assistant] “Ngh!” Subaru tried to move closer but recoiled when he felt a shock run through the wooden cage. Mizelda had hit the cage with her fist, her eyes flashing with indignation. Subaru had once again chosen his words poorly. Just as they were proud of their martial prowess, the Shudrak also put extreme weight on this old agreement, whatever it was. And Subaru had unconsciously, and without reserve, stepped all over it. “The Volakian soldiers move their formations outside the forest to train. They have done this countless times before.”

[User] “Training…like a military exercise?”

[Assistant] Mizelda furrowed her brow, not familiar with the phrase Subaru had used. However, the trap Volakia had set was coming into view. They had set camps up around the outskirts of the jungle often under the guise of military exercises, and by this point, the Shudrak were used to it. That familiarity had made them lower their guard, and the Volakian army was using that to encircle the jungle and take on the Shudrak all at once.

[User] “But then why do those soldiers have to go that far to hunt down the Shudrak?” Of course, Mizelda and the other women standing in front of him were certainly strong.


[User] "Neither Subaru Natsuki nor Abel speak true. And so their words fall on deaf ears."

[Assistant] "Ngh! You don’t mean…" Mizelda slowly shook her head, signaling the end of their talk.

[User] "Please wait! I’m not lying! Everyone is in danger! The promise… They’re going to break the promise! Rem and all of you are in danger!" Subaru pleaded with them desperately.

[Assistant] Subaru pleaded until his voice cracked and he coughed up bloody phlegm, but none of them would lend him an ear. "Geh… Damn it. Why is it always like this…? !" Slumping down, Subaru groaned as he let his forehead hit the cage.

[User] "…Just not knowing when to give up and shrewd tricks."

[Assistant] "That was quite the unsightly negotiation." As Subaru bit into one of the branches that formed their cage, trying to see if he could make enough of an opening to get out, Abel’s sneering scorn fell on his ears.

[User] "If I was unsightly, then you were just nothing. Didn’t I warn you not to go into the jungle, since there were dangerous people out there?"

[Assistant] "You did. That suggestion served as a guide.


[User] “I should give you my thanks.”

[Assistant] “We’re still stuck here even if you do… Damn it, are there no spots that are a bit looser?”

[User] Subaru tried to slam his body into the branches but couldn’t find any gaps in the wooden cell that had, at first glance, seemed to have been put together in a rush. The lattice of thick branches was stuck solidly in the ground as if it had been put together using heavy machinery. Of course, there was no heavy machinery like that in this world, so it had been made by human hands. Either they had built it together as a big group, or else they had monstrous strength along the lines of Emilia’s or Garfiel’s. “Making something like this in a village full of women…”

[Assistant] “Do not underestimate the Shudrak people. They are a race of women descended from warrior gods who only have female children, and who have lived in this jungle for hundreds of years. They do not need male assistance beyond what is required for reproduction, and for that, their custom is to capture men from outside.”

[User] “So they’re literally Amazons… Wait, is that why we were captured?” Catching men and using them as tools to obtain their semen. That sort of thing had taken place in desolate mountain villages in the ancient past. And this was a foreign land in a foreign world, where Subaru’s concept of what was normal did not hold. It was certainly possible.

[Assistant] Abel snorted. “Worry not. They choose their seed with discretion. The seed of men who would lie and attempt to deceive them would bear nothing but corruption. I am sure they would refuse such seed.”

[User] “…Lie…” At that, Subaru cursed his shoddy explanation. The weakness of his explanation was why Mizelda and the others had not believed him, even if the suddenness of having to explain it on the spot had partly contributed. It had not become any less of an outrage that he had no understanding of their ways or what they prided themselves on, just because he was trying to explain things desperately and with all sincerity. “But it isn’t a lie. The imperial soldiers are after the Shudrak people. And…”

[Assistant] “And?”

[User] “They will use fire as a last…no, as a first resort.”

[Assistant] For the first time, Abel seemed taken by surprise. Setting fire to the jungle. That was what Todd had done when he’d learned of the existence of demon beasts in the jungle. Last time, the imperial army had chosen to burn the jungle on just Subaru’s word. If they saw the existence of the demon beast themselves, it was unlikely they wouldn’t choose to burn the jungle this time. “…Unless they were all wiped out.” That was certainly a possibility, after he’d decided to set a demon beast on them. His plan had involved knowingly summoning an enemy that might well kill them, so it was at minimum attempted murder, even if indirectly.


[User] Considering that, he felt a heavy lump form in his chest, and a pain like a blockage in his heart. However, even if he would have to live with that guilt for the rest of his life, there was something he couldn’t avert his eyes from.

[Assistant] “…What is that look supposed to mean?”

[User] "Nothing…" Abel commented on Subaru's expression.

[Assistant] Maybe without even escaping this jail. “…In which case, I killed the Shudrak, and Abel, too.”

[User] Subaru didn’t want to die, and he didn’t want to let Rem or Abel or the people of Shudrak die, either. Which was all the more reason he needed to rise up and find a way out of this.

[Assistant] "Do you not understand it is pointless? They are not foolish enough to have left room for someone of your strength to escape. Certainly not with the wounds you have. Why do you go so far for some trifling woman?” Abel sounded exasperated as he watched Subaru gnawing at the branches, still trying to resist with all his might.

[User] “Because she isn’t someone who can be called ‘trifling’ to me. There isn’t anyone who can replace her. She is the only Rem.”

[User] “And you—are you satisfied just sitting there griping about what I do? I don’t know why you’re in a place like this, but are you just going to let it end with being captured?”

[Assistant] “What do you want to do, just sitting there on the cold dirt?”

[User] "I am simply awaiting an opportunity.” Abel answered in a terribly quiet voice. It sounded different from the provocative statements he’d been throwing out, or the ridicule he’d aimed at Subaru. As if his real feelings had slipped out.

[Assistant] “Waiting…for an opportunity?


[User] "As in a chance, a shot? A shot at what…?”

[Assistant] “I do not know the ‘shot’ of which you speak, but what I await is for the board to be set. Until it is, I have stood by so as not to unnecessarily complicate things by my own hand. I had thought the optimal moment was when those outside the jungle acted, but…”

[User] "But if they intend to burn the jungle, then I cannot afford to be complacent any longer.” Abel uncrossed his arms and slowly stood up.

[Assistant] Subaru’s eyes widened, and he froze at the sight of Abel’s slender figure standing before him.

[User] “What is that foolish face for? It is disrespectful to look upon me so idiotically.”

[Assistant] “…You believe me? But the Shudrak…”

[User] “…did not believe you. You, who sullied their pride and brushed aside the old agreement that they zealously uphold. Truly, it was a failure of negotiation that should be remembered for posterity.”

[Assistant] “Ugh…” Even in his own mind, Subaru knew his negotiations had absolutely nothing to redeem them, so he grimaced, completely devastated by Abel’s evaluation.

[User] “However," Abel continued, "I am not a Shudrak. Their pride and their precious agreement are as rubbish to me. What matters is only the unvarnished truth that you have brought.”

[Assistant] “…What would you do if I was lying?”

[User] “I would settle it with your life, of course.” There was a weight to his words that set them apart from joking talk of death. Abel was serious in saying that he would make Subaru atone for a lie here with death. It was neither joke nor play. He was genuinely, seriously testing Subaru’s resolve. Sensing that, Subaru reflexively straightened his back. Having stopped his struggle with the cage, he faced Abel head-on. And as Abel looked into Subaru’s eyes, the force of the light in Abel’s eyes increased.

[Assistant] “Answer carefully, Subaru Natsuki. Do you have the resolve to sacrifice everything for the sake of what you wish to save?” He asked this directly. Neither hesitation nor falsehood would be allowed. There was a power in Abel’s voice that made Subaru believe that if he wove any falsehood into his words here, he would be killed. He took Abel’s question to heart. If he could save what he wanted to save, did he have the resolve to sacrifice everything else? His answer was…

[User] “I don’t have that resolve.”

[Assistant] “All I can offer is myself… But if that’s all, then I can gamble everything.” Subaru put his left hand with its broken fingers to his chest as he said that. That was his true and honest answer. If he was told to sacrifice anything and everything, he couldn’t accept that. There was too much in this world that Subaru cared about, and too many glorious things he had not yet seen, for him to do that.

[User] “What an impudent answer, you spiteful jester."

[Assistant] "However, you did not speak a falsehood.


[User] “In that case, nothing shall burn today.”

[Assistant] Those words made Subaru feel as if he had escaped with his life. Subaru broke into a cold sweat when he realized his life had been in Abel’s hands. Just like before, in the meadow, Abel did not by any means seem extraordinarily strong. Compared to the powerful people Subaru had seen and interacted with in his time in this world, Abel was possessed of a strength within the realm of a normal person. But even so, Subaru felt like he had escaped with his life by the skin of his teeth. Abel possessed a power that was different from physical strength or skill with a sword.

[User] “In which case, it is simple. You there, girl.”

[Assistant] “Wah? !” There was a small yelp in response from the shadows.

[User] Subaru turned around in surprise, and, following Abel’s gaze, spotted a girl nervously watching them from the shade of a tree well removed from the cage. The girl started to run from their gazes.

[Assistant] “If you run, you will miss your opportunity, girl. That is not what you wish for.”

[User] “Ugh…” The girl groaned as Abel beat her to the punch, and then, grimacing awkwardly, she nervously walked back over to them. “Uu… Uu is…” The girl’s lips quivered nervously. “Mii said not to listen to the men. But Uu is curious. Curious about you.”

[Assistant] “...Me?” The girl who called herself Uu pointed at Subaru.

[User] She nodded as his eyes widened at that unexpected callout. "You were so serious before. That we were in danger. But Mii said don’t listen.”

[Assistant] “Ah…”

[User] “Why? You don’t know us.”

[Assistant] Why had he tried to get involved, even though he did not have any connection to them? Subaru’s breath caught in his throat at the way she’d pointed out his meddling. But it had not been her intention to call him out. She was just genuinely curious. Why had Subaru been so desperate for the sake of someone other than himself? Why had he been so desperate for the sake of the Shudrak, too? Subaru did not have an answer to those questions, but…

[User] “I didn’t want you to look like that.”

[User] “I didn’t want to see you glaring at your enemies, eyes clouded with hatred.”

[Assistant] The girl whose eyes were filled with hatred as she’d carefully observed the death of the person she had hit with a poison arrow. Subaru still felt guilty about being the cause of that hatred. That guilt swirled, becoming a thorny bramble that tore at his heart. That was not something that could be repeated. Not something to let happen again. It was better not to return by death.