[User] He was not conscious, and of course, he couldn’t even check to see if she was breathing from where he stood. He quickly scanned her surroundings, but it seemed like the demon beast that had left the girl here was not close by. So the beast had dragged back his prey, then abandoned it? That didn’t feel right. It didn’t, but…

[Assistant] “…It’s a golden opportunity… What to do…?” With every moment he waited during this ideal chance to save the girl, the danger increased, all the more so because Subaru had, at best, a 50 percent chance of actually handling his potential opponent. —Why was Subaru Natsuki the one here? What if it had been Roswaal? Or Beatrice? Or Reinhard? If it were one of them, blessed with power worthy of heroes, the situation could be easily resolved. But it was Subaru Natsuki who stood there. It was Subaru Natsuki who yearned for a miracle. And it was Subaru Natsuki who most assuredly could not bring a miracle about. His rational mind pleaded for him to play the sure hand and wait for Rem. And yet… —Emilia wouldn’t hesitate. The instant he thought it, Subaru’s legs stopped shaking. His pulse, quickened by the decision pressing upon him, calmed along with his ragged breath. Subaru rushed through the grass, flying into the clearing in front of him, and made a beeline toward the girl in the shade of the fallen tree. He sat up her tiny, light body and checked to see if it had a pulse. —Her breathing was frail, but he felt a faint, steady pulse through her veins.

[User] “…I’m so glad.” He was truly relieved that he hadn’t decided to abandon her. The faint breathing and pulse might have meant she was being affected by a curse as well. If that was the case, he needed to get her healed by magic and have the curse lifted without a moment to lose. He wasn’t exactly confident about his endurance, but he figured he could carry a single girl out of the forest…but as Subaru rose to his feet with that judgment in his head…


[Assistant] “—” The sudden chill running up Subaru’s spine made him gasp and look over his shoulder. —The bushes rustled as a four-legged beast crossed the grass and stepped onto the bare soil. It was a beast with short black fur. At a glance, it seemed similar in size to a Doberman from his world, but it was built twice as thickly as the dogs Subaru had seen. The clawlike paws were sharp; slobber was dripping out from its fangs even with its maw closed. It made a low growl as its bloodshot eyes glared at Subaru. It was a demon dog, or rather, a demon beast. Such a name suited its malevolent appearance.

[User] “…This is, uh…not what I had in mind here.” He didn’t even realize his cheek was twitching as a smile and a dry laugh came over him.


[User] The demon beast before his eyes was clearly not the little puppy-size one Subaru had expected. In addition, the timing with which it had showed itself meant that…

[Assistant] “…You used this girl as a decoy and waited for her to lure me out…?” Subaru shuddered. Perhaps it was only feral instincts at work, but the beast’s unexpected intelligence disturbed him. Either way, he didn’t have any time to ponder the matter. His eyes roamed the area, but he saw neither any sign of Rem catching up to him nor any avenue for escape from the demon beast. Indeed, the latter had already lowered its head, clawing the ground. He had no time to hesitate.

[User] “Tch… Shit, if you’re gonna come, come! !” As Subaru vented, he stripped his jacket off, wrapping the well-tailored garment around his left arm. In a confrontation with a wild animal, the thing you had to worry about the most was its sharp fangs. Wrapping thick fabric around your arm to limit the damage was the least you could do against a four-legged beast. He’d remembered seeing police dog training on TV in his old world and instantly copied that. He thrust his left arm out, glaring at the demon beast as it tried to figure out when best to leap at him. The way the demon beast kept its center of gravity low, not moving a muscle, unnerved Subaru.

[Assistant] “Hey, what’s with the laid-back attitude here?! Hey! Come on! C—” It vanished. Suddenly, the demon beast that should have been right in front of him melted into the darkness. Fright froze his throat as an indistinct black cloud headed for Subaru’s outstretched left arm. The next moment, he felt sharp fangs punch through the thick fabric, with the demon beast biting deep into his flesh.

[User] “That—!” In an instant, he felt a jabbing pain, intense enough to turn his vision red, slam directly into his nervous system. But…

[Assistant] “—Didn’t hurt! !” He poured strength into his left arm, tightening the muscles so that the fangs sunk into his muscles wouldn’t come out. As a result, the demon beast clamped on at an angle was now completely unable to move. Its two red eyes met Subaru’s gaze. Subaru bathed in the beast’s overwhelming enmity as he said,

[User] “You bit me, you mangy mutt—!” Wrapping his whole left arm around the demon beast, Subaru whipped his body around, hard. Centrifugal force sent the demon beast floating into the air, spinning it backward toward the fallen tree—and slamming against an outstretched branch.

[Assistant] “—!” The sharp branch ruptured its hide, making a dull sound as it rent the beast’s flesh. Its dying howl echoed throughout the dark forest. The demon beast, impaled through its back, kept Subaru’s arm clamped in its maw for a while, but it finally relented as it stopped moving. Subaru, for his part, fell to his knees.


[User] “I…won?” Seeing that it was not breathing, Subaru murmured as he yanked the demon beast’s fangs from his arm. His forearm was in horrid shape under the bloodstained jacket. Upon actually seeing the wound, Subaru made a soundless whimper as pain assailed his nerves. Even so, he made a sigh of relief, grimacing all the while. Even without Rem’s strength, he had been able to get out of that crisis. He took the time to retie the jacket around his arm, using it as a bandage. He made sure his arm could still move before walking back to pick up the girl for real this time. “Hurts…but that means I’m alive. Crap. Anyway, gotta get back to the vill—” He cut his words off there because he noticed that the grass had rustled once more. His hair stood up as his entire body was gripped by the sense that something bestial still lurked. He looked back.

[Assistant] “Oh come on…” Red eyes flared through the dark forest—a horde of them gazed at him through the trees ahead, their numbers virtually beyond count. Not that he really wanted to count, but all his fingers and toes put together probably wouldn’t cut it. Before he knew it, Subaru had thrust his arms out wide. Not to surrender to the countless points of light—but to shield the little girl behind him.

[User] "—" The beasts were unimpressed by his silent resolve. The red points of light ignored Subaru’s wishes and leaped at him all at once.

[Assistant] “Ooo—!” Subaru realized his own throat howled. He roared, unwilling to give in. His spirit kept up the facade, telling him that he would not lose, no matter how many red eyes were before him. He was, of course, bluffing; his tiger’s mask was nothing more than paper. As Subaru yelled, a demon beast rushed up to rip out his throat—

[User] "—" —when the head of the demon beast before his eyes exploded like an overripe melon. Bludgeoned to death at point-blank range, its fresh blood showered Subaru’s face. The demon beast’s headless body sailed forward and crashed into Subaru. Blown backward by the force, Subaru rolled and, feeling unpleasant from the pain and blood, he shook his head and stood up. —What just happened?


[Assistant] A blue-haired girl had descended onto the field of battle, one hand lightly grasping the hem of her skirt as it made an elegant twirl, the other wielding a malevolent iron ball. "The children are safe and are returning to the village. I see your efforts to buy time have gone well.”

[User] “Rem, look o—!” Subaru’s elation over the arrival of his awaited reinforcements was short-lived, for now that the vanguard of the demon beast force had been cut down, two more leaped toward her slender body.

[Assistant] “—Hah!” Her right arm, wielding the iron handle, whipped sideways; the iron ball followed in the wake of the whirling chain.


[User] The destructive weapon, which ought to have been slow and unwieldy, turned with incredible force, following the arc of the swing of her arm to utterly pulverize everything in its path. Its might mowed down branches and snapped tree trunks before slamming straight into the demon beast’s body. The weapon connected with such power it split the torso in two, turning it into fertilizer for the forest.

[Assistant] The other soared to angrily sink its fangs into Rem’s left flank—but just before it reached her, Rem smashed her left fist into its snout from above, pummeling it out of the sky. The might of her fist caved the beast’s skull in, slaying it instantly with a blow powerful enough to bury its head into the soil.

[User] “Y-you’re so strong! !”

[Assistant] “Are those appropriate words to speak to a girl, Subaru?”

[User] “That’s the only thing a weakling like me can say! You’re really out there!” Ecstatic that Rem proved far more reliable than he’d imagined, Subaru leaped as if to embrace her. He then skirted around right behind Rem as the remainder of the pack spread out and surrounded them. Having lost two more of their number, the pack moved sluggishly. The beasts crouched, awaiting their—well, Rem’s—next move; Subaru could tell that there was bitter enmity in their eyes.

[Assistant] “…Incidentally, Rem, do you plan on wiping them out by yourself?”

[User] “There are too many of them. Alone, they can overcome me with numbers.”

[Assistant] “Well that figures. In that case…” Before the beasts could recover their bearings and come leaping at them, Subaru and Rem had the same thought. Their eyes swept the surroundings before settling on the same place—a weak point in the encirclement with only three of the beasts.

[User] “There!” Subaru yelled in concert with Rem’s attack. The iron ball ripped through the air, with the howl heralding the slaughter. A moment before reaching the cluster of demon beasts, the iron ball smashed into the ground, kicking up a huge cloud of dirt. Subaru sensed that the cascade of soil had thrown the beasts off.

[Assistant] “Now—!” Rem was the next to yell.

[User] Subaru ran like his body had been shot out of a cannon. The blow from a moment before had opened a hole in the barricade, a narrow area that he could break through. As Subaru flew through the gap, the demon beasts howled at how they had left open a path. But when they rushed in pursuit, they became easy prey to the iron snake lashing behind them.

[Assistant] “Whoa, traumatic sound alert—!” As he sprinted full force, Subaru recalled the sound of the dancing chain sending his left arm flying off. Behind him, the iron ball swung ferociously, making numerous bloody flowers bloom fresh in the dark forest.


[User] Subaru vaulted over a tree root, getting smacked on the cheek by a branch as he yelled, “Rem, I can’t see where I’m going!”

[Assistant] “Straight…straight ahead. This will be settled when we pass through the barrier. Head for the bonfires in the village!”

[User] Straight ahead, she’d said, but Subaru couldn’t even tell which way was the front. He never imagined that the darkness, leaving him able to see only a little ways in front, would ruin his sense of direction to this degree. Nor could he grope ahead with his hands when he had a little girl weighing down his arms. He was out of breath. He was full of anxiety that he had lost his way or that the beasts were about to catch up to him. His left arm was going numb. The bleeding had never stopped; the fabric of his jacket was drenched in blood. He could picture in his mind how blooddrops were falling to the earth, leaving a perfect trail that led his pursuers right to him. He saw what looked like the same scenery over and over, as if he hadn’t made a single step of forward progress. A sense of irritation burned in his chest; he felt like he was about to fall to his knees. Yet, all the while… …he heard the sound of a chain whipping behind him.

[Assistant] “Aww, shit! My side really hurts—!” Forward, forward—! Then the darkness before Subaru suddenly lifted. His field of vision broadened and, as his eyes instinctively narrowed at the suddenness of it, he saw man-made light off in the distance. "Rem! I see light! Someone from the village is…at the barrier!” Subaru looked back in joy at the appearance of a literal ray of hope. But a moment later, his eyes silently went wide. He could describe the sight of Rem fighting to protect him from behind only as heroic. Her perfectly sized maid outfit was ripped and gnawed to shreds; the white flesh below it was marked with countless cuts. Her vivid blue hair was all a mess, and there was too much fresh blood in it to make out the original color. He saw Rem in a ferocious battle worthy of legend. And at that very moment, the same Rem was fast approaching Subaru as she reached out to him with a hand.

[User] “Rem—? !”

[Assistant] Rem’s outstretched hand shoved on Subaru’s back, adding enough forward momentum to send him sprawling. He instantly protected the girl in his arms from the shock, but in exchange, he was unable to protect himself as he hit the ground face-first, banging up his body.

[User] Subaru felt the pain and tasted the dirt in his mouth; he wanted to ask Rem why she’d done something so violent just then—but he was at a loss for such words. “…You’re kidding me…” Subaru murmured as, right before his eyes, the soil was sweeping from right to left.


[User] Wind Enveloped the earth, sand and mud rose in a vortex, and trees were torn from their roots as the very terrain of the forest changed. Faced with the violent scene before him, Subaru caught his breath when he shifted his eyes to the point from which the flowing soil originated.

[Assistant] —For there, he saw the little demon beast, surrounded by a golden glow as it unleashed magical power.

[User] —Demon beasts were enemies of mankind that possessed magical energy. This was no curse. Curses couldn’t be wielded the way that energy could. In other words, it was using magic.

[Assistant] “—R-Rem? !” When he belatedly understood what was happening, Subaru realized that Rem was no longer behind him. He also realized that Rem had shoved him to protect him from the river of dirt. And in exchange…

[User] “—” …the dirt and stone had launched her uniform-clad body high into the dark sky. The ground gave Rem a rough welcome, buffeting her small body like a fallen leaf.

[Assistant] The way blood scattered from her and how she flew helplessly in the air proved with crystal clarity that she’d taken more damage than she could bear. Rem was unable to soften the blow when she made a hard landing.

[User] The saving grace was that she hadn’t cracked her skull on the ground left bare by the flow of the soil.

[Assistant] “Re… You idiot! How can you…? What have I been…? !” Doing this for, Subaru was about to yell, but in that instant, his spine froze. No doubt they’d all felt it, too. The little demon beast making the current of earth and the pack chasing after them…they all stopped moving. He could feel it. He was sure of it. What hovered in the air was the heavy presence of death.


[User] —Slowly, Rem’s fallen body rose up. Even though she’d taken such a spectacular blow, Rem didn’t show any sign of injury as she stood up. Indeed, as far as he could see, all her wounds had closed. The incredible healing energy emitted a high temperature, and her very blood boiled, rising as red steam. Rem turned her head, slowly looking around the area. Her eyes had lost all trace of reason. Her face, covered in blood spatter, twisted into an ecstatic smile. Then, Subaru saw.

[Assistant] “—A demon.” —With her headdress now off, he saw a white horn grow from Rem’s forehead.

[User] “Ah-ha…ah-ha-ha—” She laughed. It was loud laughter like that of a little girl but overflowing with naked cruelty.

[Assistant] Twisting herself, Rem’s body moved like the wind as it charged the demon beast pack. Faster than the unmoving demon beast in the vanguard could react, Rem smashed it with her heel. She kicked its body at the demon beasts ahead of her, slowing them down as she swung her iron ball, leaving a large quantity of bloody blossoms and beast corpses behind it.

[User] "Demon beast! Demon beast!"


[User] "Demon beast!—Witch!” Rem continued to yell with each overpowering blow as she slew one demon beast after another. Blood scattered, skulls caved, and innards and gray matter scattered around the forest with great force.

[Assistant] Subaru fell to his knees, forgetting all about his pain as he took in the scene. He didn’t have the courage to raise his voice.

[User] Subaru was taking in the fact that Rem had gone berserk.

[Assistant] But the demon beasts didn’t simply sit and wait for death. Unfrozen after the initial shock, the demon beasts surrounded Rem to take advantage of any opening.

[User] “Even if she’s in her Ultimate Mode, there’s no way she can hold out against enemies with infinite spawn…!”

[Assistant] Subaru, grasping the situation objectively, looked back when he felt another spike in magical energy.

[User] Rem’s face whipped up, apparently sensing the vortex of energy, sending the iron ball flying high so that she could whirl it to dispose of the new menace.

[Assistant] He was reaching for Rem’s back before a single thought entered his mind.

[User] Rem’s breath caught at the impact that pushed her out of the way. Her face stiffened in shock and unrest. Her empty eyes regained the luster of reason, her monstrous smile dropped away, and her emotions spilled over.

[Assistant] "—Gaaaaah! !" The next moment, something crushed the wrist of his outstretched arm. He screamed. His right leg, his left flank, and his back felt fangs sink into them simultaneously.

[User] His ankles were crushed. His belly was rent. Blood and intestines flowed out, a waste of blood and flesh.

[Assistant] "Subaru—! !"

[User] Even though he tried to lift his face toward it, his body no longer moved as he wished. His balance was wrecked.


[User] His crushed ankles were unable to respond at even half normal strength. He collapsed to the ground as such wounds demanded. Right before him, a maw lined with fangs was rushing at him. It went for his windpipe. Also right before him, the iron ball rent the earth and smashed it. Blood scattered.

[Assistant] Was it his blood, or…? His mind was wandering. He didn’t know when it would vanish altogether. He felt his life drain away. He, too, thought it was a stupid thing. He’d put the cart before the horse. What was the point of redoing it all now? Pain. Suffering. Everything was so far away—invisible, inaudible. Dwindling.


[User] His life was oozing out of the hole in his side like grains of sand from an hourglass. I’m fading. It’s over. It’s all…over.

[Assistant] "Don’t die, don’t die, don’t die—!" A voice on the brink of tears. A cry. I—


[User] Subaru nodded as Ram shifted her gaze toward the forest.

[Assistant] “We rewove the frayed barrier last night. Judging from the lack of any issues with it overnight, no Urugarum should be crossing the barrier from here on.”

[User] “That’s only if no one here crosses past it, right? Not much point to it if a bunch of kids crosses it to play on the other side and a ‘puppy’ comes back with them?”

[Assistant] “That makes painful listening. I shall have a word with the villagers later.” Ram’s unchanging neutral expression gave her last sentence some unpleasant subtext.

[User] After that, Subaru snatched a pair of steamed potatoes from Ram before they went their separate ways.

[Assistant] “Man, these potatoes are delicious, though. Going light on the salt did real wonders.” Subaru strolled around the village, munching on his potatoes along the way.

[User] “—” Suddenly, the sight of the demon girl, laughing loudly while covered in blood spatter, rose from the back of his mind. It was a spectacularly ghastly sight. And yet, when Subaru remembered it, he felt no fear to make his body tremble.

[Assistant] “—There you are. Just in time.” A thicket swayed, and through it walked Beatrice, the hem of her showy dress dragging along the ground in the process.


[User] "Aren’t you going to get that long dress awfully dirty, going outside with it like this?"

[Assistant] "I suppose magical power might repel the sources of grime, such as mud and sand—More importantly, I need to speak with you." Beatrice gave Subaru’s silly question a serious answer and beckoned him over. She wanted to go somewhere else—meaning, it wasn’t something she could discuss with him there.

[User] Though that unnerved Subaru a little, he had nothing against Beatrice here. Subaru followed the girl, who was also his savior, then abruptly clapped his hands together. "Come to think of it, you’re here outside the mansion because you were lifting the curses on the kids, right? Thank you."

[Assistant] "…'Tis nothing. I suppose I only did it because Puckie asked me to."

[User] Subaru found himself growing impatient as Beatrice led him to a flower bed right by one corner of the village. With the villagers gathered in the central plaza to discuss the demon beast incident, he couldn’t see even a single person randomly strolling around in such a far-flung corner. "So, what did you bring me all the way out here to tell me?" Subaru spread both arms out as he spoke.

[Assistant] "I thought it had the proper atmosphere to deter you from making boorish jokes." Her gaze seemed to be wandering as she toyed with her skirt, like she was hesitant to say something.

[User] As far as Subaru was concerned, this plainly wasn’t typical Beatrice behavior. She had the air of a little girl afraid of angering her parents. Seeing that expression, Subaru just couldn’t bring himself to drag it out of her. He crossed his arms, leaned back on the wooden fence protecting the flower bed, and waited for her to resume.

[Assistant] The sight of Subaru waiting seemed to spur Beatrice into a decision. She closed her eyes, then gently opened them, gazing straight at Subaru. "—In less than half a day, you will die."

[User] Subaru bit down hard on the words, ground them with his teeth, and swallowed them. He stopped for several seconds as they passed down his throat, into his stomach, and finally flowed through his veins to his brain.

[Assistant] Beatrice raised her eyebrows in surprise at Subaru’s reaction, apparently far more silent than she’d anticipated. "I suppose you are less agitated than I expected. I thought you would be crying like a baby by now." Beatrice still had that look on her face when Subaru raised his right hand before her, showing her a pair of raised fingers.

[User] "Okay.


[User] “There are two possibilities I can think of here.” Subaru bent down one of his raised fingers as Beatrice stood silently before him. “First, this is graveyard humor, a really awful joke. Put bluntly, this really isn’t funny, so…if you’re gonna bring out a wooden sign that says FOOLED YA! and laugh, go ahead, now’s the time.” He closed one eye in an attempt to lighten the mood.

[Assistant] Beatrice’s expression went unchanged.

[User] With Beatrice saying nothing before him, Subaru folded the second finger. “If it’s not a joke, there’s only one possibility: The curse hasn’t been lifted yet.”

[Assistant] Beatrice folded her arms as if to lend support to Subaru’s hypothesis.

[User] This was the result of white scars from demon beast bites covering his entire body. They still throbbed as Subaru looked at them in a new, ominous light. “I’ll ask just to make sure. You can’t lift the curse? You’re not holding out on me here?” He didn’t think Beatrice would say, No one asked me to, so I will not, but he wanted to ask just in case some sliver of hope remained.

[Assistant] Naturally, Beatrice replied to his question with a shake of her head. “If it was something I could remove, would it put you eternally in my debt, I wonder?”

[User] “Hey, give me a break here. I’m already up to my eyeballs in debt to you!” He couldn’t repay her for even a smidgeon of it, not last time, not the time before that, not this time, either. Not in that world. Subaru’s reminiscing brought a suspicious look from Beatrice, but he papered things over with a hand wave. “Mind if I ask why you can’t lift the curse?”

[Assistant] “…I suppose you should at least know how you shall pass on. It is a simple tale. There are too many layers of curses, making the curses too complex to lift.”

[User] “…Curses have layers?” Subaru pondered, trying to come up with an image.

[Assistant] Beatrice spread both hands apart. Suddenly, the two hands were connected together by a red string. “A curse is like this red string, I wonder?” Beatrice took the string she held on each end and tied a knot with it. “This knot is a curse rite. I suppose lifting a curse is as simple as undoing this knot. But…” With a deft motion of her fingers, Beatrice increased the number of strings between her hands. The new strings were blue, yellow, green, pink, black, and white. She entwined the new strings into knots and tied the knots into one another. “If it is only one curse, it can be undone. But if you mix more of them together like this…” Beatrice held out both hands, offering the knots to him.

[User] Subaru slid a hand into the tangle. The string, connecting finger to finger, offered no sign of how it might be unraveled.


[User] “If the curse is like this, too… Aw, crap, yeah, that’s a high difficulty level there.” Even if one or two could be removed, at some point it would be impossible to know what should be touched. Of course, given sufficient time, it was probably possible to undo the whole thing, but… “You said it’s set for under half a day from now. What do you figure happens then?”

[Assistant] “I suppose that part is rather simple. In half a day, the demon beasts’ rite to seize your mana will activate.” Beatrice raised a finger and pointed it at Subaru as she continued. “Would the curse’s purpose be to drain your mana, I wonder? Its aim is to absorb fuel for the creature’s body… In other words, you are the demon beasts’ prey.”

[User] “So they attack people when they’re hungry? That’s a wild animal for you—keeps things simple. I suppose I should be grateful their bellies weren’t empty before now.” Subaru wanted to lash out and hit something, but unfortunately, his hand was buried in the string.

[Assistant] Beatrice watched Subaru glare at the string as he spoke resentful words before she replied. “Are you not afraid, I wonder?”

[User] “Huh?”

[Assistant] “From your point of view, what I have said is a death sentence. Also, even though Puckie and I have the means to save you, we cannot because there is no time for it.”

[User] Optimistically, Subaru had twelve hours left to live. Depending on how hungry the demon beasts were, even that time might be shortened. Having informed Subaru of the fact that he could not be saved, Beatrice waited for Subaru’s reaction. Subaru belatedly thought that Beatrice seemed to want something. “What’s with you—? You want me to blame you here?”

[Assistant] “—” Beatrice didn’t deny it. But she didn’t agree, either.

[User] Since Beatrice chose silence, Subaru couldn’t know what was going on inside her, but he made a pained smile anyway. “Maybe your and Puck’s decision feels a bit inhumane, but it’s the natural, logical choice. The risk and effort involved are too much. You two are right. I don’t think it’s heartless at all.” He really believed that. It wasn’t just because he was thinking long-term about his life. Hence—

[Assistant] “—I wanted to ask you something else, though. Do you mind?”

[User] “…What is it, I wonder?”

[Assistant] “Does Emilia know that I’m still cursed?” That very moment, Emilia was still sleeping in that room, having healed and nursed him to exhaustion. If Puck and Beatrice had given up, he wondered how Emilia took it. Had Emilia abandoned him, too? That was the one thing tugging at him.

[User] “The mixed-blood girl does not know. I suppose Puckie is not attempting to lift your curse to hide its existence from the girl?”

[Assistant] “…Ah, I see. If Puck starts working on it, Emilia will be able to tell.


[User] "She’d probably pick up on the fact that my being cursed like this means the chances of saving me are pretty slim, too.”

[Assistant] "That aside…" Subaru switched the subject as he pointed a finger at Beatrice.

[User] Beatrice raised her eyebrows, looking at the finger pointed at her.

[Assistant] "You don’t look malicious enough to go through all this trouble just to hand down a death sentence to me."

[User] “…What do you know of me, I wonder?”

[Assistant] “At the very least, enough that it feels like I know you four times as long as you think I do.” Subaru saw the creases on the girl’s forehead deepen further.

[User] “You, Rem, and Emilia healed my wounds, right? That’s not the way you treat someone you figure is a goner from a curse and can’t be saved.” He felt Beatrice waver.

[Assistant] “Man, you suck at lying.” Subaru laughed.

[User] “It is a fact that the odds of your being saved are incredibly low. I suppose that is why Puckie did not want the girl to have anything to do with it?”

[Assistant] “So that’s why you’re playing the villain to soak up all my anger. That’s way too roundabout for a little girl. So would you tell me about that really-low-odds possibility?” He formed a circle with his index finger and thumb, showing it to Beatrice in search of a reply.

[User] Beatrice hesitated for a while before sighing in resignation.

[Assistant] “Do you remember when I explained about curses, I wonder? I said there is no way to stop a curse once it has been activated.” Beatrice’s words seemed off.

[User] “Yeah, you did say that. That’s why it had to be lifted before it activ—No, wait. The premise is all wrong. If that’s the case, then…how’d the kids get saved?” Subaru thought hard.


[User] The fact that there was no way to stop it after it had been activated was what made it such a scary thing. The children they’d found in the forest were debilitated. He was certain that the demon beasts’ curses had activated. So the reason the children were alive was— As deductions formed in his mind, a possibility emerged that struck him like lightning. Subaru lifted his face, turned toward Beatrice, and asked,

[Assistant] “What happens to the curse if the caster dies?”

[User] “A normal curse would continue to take effect. But isn’t this rite for eating, I wonder? If the eater loses his life, the feeding would logically cease midway.”

[Assistant] Beatrice’s affirmation rang true to Subaru. The curses on the children had progressed no further because the demon beasts that had inflicted them had perished. Upon the caster’s death, the curse reverted to a simple rite that Beatrice could lift without difficulty. The night before, a considerable number of demon beasts must have lost their lives. If the individuals that had inflicted the curses on the children had been among them, that supported his deduction. And that certainty simultaneously gave rise to a new question.

[User] “So that’s what it is. There were so many who put curses on me, some are still out there.” Subaru looked over his shoulder at the forest in which the demon beasts dwelled. His entire body had been battered by the countless fangs of the demon beasts pursuing him. If each and every bite inflicted a curse, there was no way to know how many Subaru carried. More than that, taking out every single monster in less than half a day didn’t seem realistic. That’s why Puck and Beatrice had dug in their heels, refusing to tell Emilia the truth.

[Assistant] “Puckie was…”

[User] “You don’t need to say it. I know how Emilia is… If she knew, she’d probably try something crazy. That makes me real happy…and also real scared.”

[Assistant] Emilia didn’t hesitate to help others, even if it hurt her. That was why Subaru didn’t consider asking Emilia for help. He didn’t want to even think about it. After all, if by some chance he did lose Emilia right before his eyes, ripping his own body apart a hundred times over wouldn’t come close to the pain he would feel.

[User] “The degree of difficulty’s totally demonic. Not totally impossible but still crazy. Gotta just give u—” Are you giving up, then? Subaru was about to complete the word when the voice emerged from the back of his mind. It was a delicate voice, like a collection of fragments of noise echoing in his subconscious. He gasped, lifted his face up, and looked all around. But there was no one there, except for Beatrice and him. Still, the voice continued. Is there another way to save him? it asked, searching for something to cling to. But somehow the voice was imbued with sorrowful resolve.

[Assistant] “Do you have a headache, I wonder?


[User] "That is to be expected.” Only that, I wonder? You should do as you please, then." Her words overlapped the different ones she had spoken elsewhere.

[Assistant] He didn’t know when or where he’d heard them. But the conversation he’d heard somewhere jostled around in his head. His field of vision narrowed as a ringing echoed like a warning bell. Before he knew it, he began to fall to his knees—

[User] "—I will save him." The voice, echoing with iron resolve, jolted his knees back up. Subaru knew that voice. He knew whose it was and when he had heard it.

[Assistant] "Where…is Rem?" Subaru hadn’t seen the blue-haired girl anywhere that morning. He’d heard she had returned to the village with him, safe and sound.

[User] Beatrice stood silent.

[Assistant] Subaru closed the distance and asked her.

[User] "Beako… Beatrice. Where…is Rem?"

[Assistant] "If you were in her shoes, what would you do, I wonder?"

[User] "That’s not an answer! !" Her self-important, roundabout reply made him shout, which in turn made him bend over. His anemic body wavered; Subaru rocked as he looked back on his own actions. He wanted to tear someone limb from limb. And here was Beatrice, standing there to be blasted by his emotions. He couldn’t even manage annoyance with his own wretchedness in behaving exactly as she had expected. And then…

[Assistant] "I cannot disregard what I heard just now." Quietly, the emotion in her voice suppressed, Ram walked between Subaru and Beatrice. Looking back, he realized that the pink-haired maid had walked over from the direction of the village square.

[User] "Ram…" When Subaru called out her name, Ram looked back. The sheer coldness of her gaze made Subaru’s breath catch. He’d somehow imagined as much, but this was the Ram who had cried out in hatred during the loop she’d lost Rem. With the person she loved most, her little sister, in danger, would Ram come to hate everything like she had then…?

[Assistant] "—" Just when he thought that, Subaru realized it. The hands Ram held crossed in front of her were shaking a little. She was biting her lip to preserve her neutral expression, desperately trying to keep her emotions off her face.

[User] "My Clairvoyance cannot locate Rem… Lady Beatrice…where is Rem?"

[Assistant] "All I did was present possibilities. Puckie and I do not have sufficient reason to act. Our choices are limited, I wonder?"

[User] "That’s not it, is it…? So Rem really did go to…?"


[Assistant] —She went into the forest with the intention of wiping out the entire pack that lived there…by herself. All to save Subaru Natsuki.

[User] "Why…? Why would Rem go that far for my sake…? !" Rem had previously taken Subaru’s life with her own hands. Even if the relationship between them was better than before, he didn’t think they had a connection that made her think his life was worth saving at the risk of her own.


[User] Subaru was having a hard time digesting Rem’s decision, when he saw the dramatic reaction in Ram as she stood beside him.

[Assistant] In an instant, her expression of grief hardened into determination; she turned toward the forest, ready to run after her little sister without any hesitation.

[User] “—Wait!” Subaru instantly leaped in front of Ram, spreading his arms wide to block her path.

[Assistant] His demeanor earned him a sharp glare from Ram. "Move aside, Barusu. I have no time to spare, so I cannot be gentle with you.”

[User] “You can’t just go without thinking! I’ve got a bunch of things I have to ask you, and I want honest answers.”

[Assistant] “There is no time for anything like—”

[User] “I wanna save Rem, too. If you think of me as one of you at all, listen to me. I want to raise the odds here, even a little.”

[Assistant] Hearing that this was about saving Rem, Ram’s hard posture wavered just a bit.

[User] Seeing Ram’s hesitation, raised a finger into the air. “There are just two things I wanna ask. Will you be able to tell where Rem is with your Clairvoyance?”

[Assistant] “…Yes, I will. Once I am past the forest barrier, she will be within range of my Clairvoyance. With my vision set on ‘Beings on the same wavelength as Ram,’ if she is in range, I will find her.”

[User] “Different fields of vision to see through, huh…? It’s like checking on different security cameras in a monitor room. Anyway, if we can use that to link up with Rem, great.”

[Assistant] Nodding at the first condition being cleared, Subaru raised a second finger for question number two. “So, second question: Ram, are you the type of maid who can fight?”

[User] “…What do you mean by that question?”

[Assistant] As Ram narrowed her eyes, Subaru slumped his shoulders. “Well, um…until we hook up with Rem, there’s no telling how many demon beasts we’ll run into. If we can’t protect ourselves, this plan isn’t going anywhere. Just so you know, I’m total deadweight in combat.”

[User] “W-wait a moment. Barusu, you intend to come with me…?” How Subaru so confidently expressed his own shortcomings brought a rare nervous look over Ram.

[Assistant] “I know that threw you off, but it’s mandatory, right? Er, to be honest, if the goal’s just making sure Rem’s safe, then you don’t really need me, but…”

[User] Ram looked even more doubtful as Subaru’s line fizzled out.

[Assistant] Seeing her expression, he hastily waved a hand. “I’ve gotta make it to the fifth day with everyone. That’s what I’ve been fighting for over and over. So please, let me do this.”

[User] Seeing Subaru bring both hands together in supplication, Ram’s lips trembled as if she was at a loss for what to say. But in the end, it was not words that brought an end to that but a sigh. “If you expect me to fight as well as Rem’s horned form, you hope in vain.”

[Assistant] “Meaning?”

[User] “Unlike Rem, I am hornless.


[User] "I can use somewhat violent wind magic, but that is about all.” As she replied, Ram twirled a finger and made Subaru’s hair sway with a gust of wind.

[Assistant] If she’d used that magic to interfere with nature more violently just then, she could have sliced off Subaru’s right leg or gouged out his throat. The thought of it sent a chill up his spine. But he couldn’t ask for anyone more reliable to have on his side of the fight.

[User] “Beatrice! Ram and I are heading into the forest. If Emilia wakes up before we’re back, pull the wool over her eyes, okay?”

[Assistant] “…To bring the younger sister back is to abandon your own life. Do you understand that, I wonder?”

[User] Subaru wagged a finger in response to Beatrice quietly questioning his resolve. “That’s a little off, so let me correct you. I’m not giving up as if I’m used to dying. Life is precious, and you have only one. I know you’ve all worked desperately to save mine. That’s why I’m gonna fight for it, even if it looks ugly.”

[Assistant] They’d saved a life he had once thrown away when he thought all was lost. It was because so many people had reached out to Subaru that he could do this. It was only thanks to them that he’d made it to extra innings.

[User] “We’ll turn this thing around. It was real awful before, but we still got things this far. I’m doing this because I want to see myself in the sequel… I’m greedy like that.”

[Assistant] It was a stupid reason with no legitimate explanation. It wasn’t a direct answer to Beatrice’s question at all, but Subaru puffed his chest out to her nonetheless.

[User] “I have no idea what you are thinking whatsoever… I suppose you should just do what you like? I have presented choices. I suppose it is up to you to select whichever choice you prefer.”

[Assistant] “And that’s how you sent Rem off, huh? Still…thanks, Beako.” He headed toward the forest, his thoughts turning to Rem, fighting within its dark depths even now.

[User] She was a high-maintenance girl who had run off without a word, assuming how others would feel and coming to a hasty, arbitrary decision. Silly and stubborn.

[Assistant] “I mean, geez, I want to help you at least as much as you want to help me here.” He cracked his fist to harden his resolve, heading toward the demon beasts’ forest as he made his declaration—a declaration of war against the pack of black beasts that dwelled within, and against the supernatural force that had dragged Subaru into this destiny, just in case it was forgetting about him. “All right, it’s time for the championship bout. Mr. Fate?


[Assistant] Some fifty minutes after his declaration of war against Fate, in the gloomy forest. "Well, you certainly talked a good game." Ram was walking beside Subaru, looking up at him as he struggled on an area with poor footing.

[User] "It is difficult to hide my dismay at how much deadweight you truly are.”

[Assistant] “Do you even know what the word hide means…? If you let the other person know what you’re hiding, what’s the point…?” And so, Subaru made light of Ram’s grandiose, high-handed declaration, adding a sigh at the end.

[User] Subaru and Ram were in the forest of the demon beasts, walking around and searching blindly for Rem. Consciously slipping past the barrier and walking their way deep into the forest was Ram’s idea, knowing full well the nature of the demon beasts. Normally, they never got close to the village because the barrier hurt them, leaving the mountains as their habitat. Naturally, Rem ought to have headed there with the aim of wiping out the beasts.

[Assistant] “That said, the fact that there’re just game trails makes it tough going…”

[User] “You may not be accustomed to this, but our meager progress is unacceptable…truly.”

[Assistant] “Wait, don’t leave me behind that quickly. I understand how you feel, but just a little longer!” Ram’s maid outfit might have been wholly out of place for going hiking in the mountains, but her practiced gait made her marching twice as fast as Subaru’s. To Ram, full of concern about her younger sister, matching Subaru’s slow-footed pace was a hundred cons and no pros. At the very least, he couldn’t restore his good name by moving so slowly.

[User] “I’m walking wounded with a blood shortage, so I’m getting tired easily… Come to think of it, I didn’t have Emilia-tan telling me to come back soon, either!”

[Assistant] “If you have yet to say, ‘I’m back,’ last night’s ‘come back soon’ remains in effect.”

[User] “It, ah, it works that way…?” Subaru tilted his head at Ram’s sophistry and thrust the sword in his hand into the ground like a cane to support his shaky legs as he chased after Rem. He had borrowed the sword he was using in place of a cane from the young men of Earlham Village. Subaru had a hard time forgetting the look on the face of the young man representing the others the moment he told them he was heading into the demon beast forest. He had been shocked, and when Subaru brushed off his cries to stop and partially explained the circumstances, the young man lent Subaru his sword. The sword, supposedly the finest in the whole village, was a simple one-handed blade. Even an amateur like Subaru could manage to swing it. He had accepted the weapon and the villagers had seen them off. But that wasn’t the only thing they had provided him.

[Assistant] “Inside this pocket are…candy, a pretty stone, and… Whoa!


[User] "There’s a bug in here!” Subaru let out a cry as rummaging through the pocket led to touching something fairly disgusting. Freed from cramped quarters, the winged insect escaped from Subaru’s hand; he watched it fly into the forest.

[Assistant] “Just like those little brats to slip something like that in there. I’ll give them a good sermon later.”

[User] “It is proof that they adore you… What do they see in you…?”

[Assistant] “The sincere eyes of children see how my manly nature sparkles before them. Besides, you’re well aware I’m not the only one they like, right?” Subaru sought Ram’s agreement.

[User] “…I suppose you are right.”

[Assistant] Subaru looked quite satisfied with that, nodding several times.

[User] “‘Bring back Remrin so we can thank her, too…’ Huh.”

[Assistant] “Don’t worry, ya little brats. I’ll make sure she’s right there with her big sister to lecture you about being bad kids for going into a dark forest to play without saying a word to anyone.”


[User] Ram stopped walking forward. She quietly lowered her head, speaking in a commanding tone without looking back. “Barusu, wait a little. I will be using Clairvoyance.” She turned toward the silent forest.

[Assistant] Subaru felt like sound itself had vanished as he rushed to Ram’s side. He drew his sword from its scabbard as he looked around cautiously.

[User] Ram lowered her pale face as she silently concentrated on Clairvoyance, also known as the Sight of a Thousand Eyes.


[User] She’d explained it as a power that could borrow the vision of other living things, and not limited to people, either. By riding the vision of creatures with compatible wavelengths and using the vision of yet other creatures to further expand her range, she was literally able to look around with “a thousand eyes.” Ram had used that power to scry the forest several times since they had entered, but she had yet to locate Rem. Apparently the sheer abundance of life made it rather difficult. However—

[Assistant] "Barusu—there are eyes watching us once again."

[User] "They came, huh…? Should I just walk in front?"

[Assistant] Seeing Ram nod while keeping her eyes shut, Subaru inhaled a little and realized his heart was pounding hard. He gently stepped forward on the grass, leaving the defenseless Ram by herself and making his way up a moss-covered boulder. He stood on top of the rock and took a deep breath. He banged the iron scabbard against the hard surface of the boulder. As the sound echoed, the forest rustled right in front of him.

[User] “—!” The silence was broken as the sounds of running across the ground and unified howls thundered against Subaru’s eardrums. He instantly looked back to see a black four-legged beast above his head, leaping out from among the trees. Its fangs were bared and aimed at Subaru’s throat, pouncing on Subaru’s slow reaction to rip him to shreds. Subaru instinctively used both hands to protect himself, but the wild beast’s speed outpaced his own. Its maw opened wide as it closed in right before his eyes. Just before the tips of its fangs were about to easily puncture Subaru’s flesh, bringing blood and his very life gushing forth, a Blade of Wind struck it in the flank, slicing it neatly into two, slaying it instantly. The front half kept going and collided hard with Subaru and sent him flying.

[Assistant] “Whoa!”

[User] An exasperated-sounding sigh reached Subaru’s ears. "I simply cannot understand why you lose your nerve at the sight of a single one of them, Barusu."

[Assistant] Unfortunately for Subaru, he ended his flight by hitting the slope and rolling downward. He stood up, wiped off his scraped-up butt, and glared defiantly at Ram, who was looking down at him from the top of the hill.

[User] “Hey, you! You can cut that a little less close, can’t you? !”

[Assistant] Ram twisted her lips as she tossed him a nonchalant line. "I was too concerned about killing it with the least amount of suffering to think about your needs, Barusu."

[User] Subaru looked at the body lying beside him. It was already a lifeless corpse. Even though he knew it was a dangerous creature, the thought of a living being lying dead like that tugged at his thoughts. Subaru gently brought his hands together in a prayer.


[User] "Your heart will not hold up if it breaks over a single creature, all the more so because your life is forfeited if they are not annihilated, Barusu… Hunting it like this was your idea, was it not?”

[Assistant] “Let me have my hypocritical sentimentality here, geez. It’s important for my own peace of mind.” It wasn’t so much an issue of sentimentality as it was growing up in different worlds. Subaru couldn’t exactly claim to be a man of deep faith, but he did revere life. His awareness of its value had grown a little stronger over the course of Return by Death.

[User] “So, did you find Rem with your Clairvoyance earlier?”

[Assistant] “No. Unfortunately, she seems to be deeper in the forest. Like just now, it is proving difficult to concentrate on her location with the Urugarum sporadically targeting you, Barusu.” Ram put a hand to her cheek as she said it, looking mystified at how the demon beasts went straight for Subaru.

[User] Subaru had a vague suspicion that he knew the answer, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it directly—he was weak. With Subaru’s lips sealed, Ram glanced back and forth between him and the beast.

[Assistant] “I suppose it is because you are weak.”

[User] “And that’s what you come up with?! That’s rude.”

[Assistant] “It is because you are easy prey, then.”

[User] “That’s a distinction without a difference, Big Sis.” Ram shrugged; Subaru slumped his shoulders. It was hard to tell if Ram meant those words or was just needling him. Probably the latter. Lone demon beasts had attacked them a few times since entering the forest. Either way, Ram had been using magic to strike down the ones targeting Subaru. It was Subaru who’d established the surefire hunting method. They always went after Subaru, even when Ram was defenseless while using Clairvoyance. At first, Ram had had her doubts about it, but that was then.


[Assistant] Subaru halfheartedly thought that now was as good a time as ever to bring up a different subject. “Can I ask you what hornless means?” He’d kept wondering about the term he’d abruptly heard just prior to entering the forest. He could guess up to a point.

[User] “It is what it sounds like, a disparaging term employed by fools to mean a demon without a horn.” Ram took the word in as she continued looking down at Subaru from above.

[Assistant] The word demon brought to mind the sight of Rem from the night before. He would never forget the sight of her covered in blood, laughing hysterically, with a white, faintly glowing horn on her forehead. She looked like a demon straight out of the fairy tales. And Ram had called herself hornless. In other words, Ram’s forehead—

[User] “I lost my one and only horn in a minor skirmish.


[User] "I have had to rely on Rem for everything ever since.”

[Assistant] “…Probably was a bad thing to ask, huh?”

[User] “Why?” As Subaru scratched his face, Ram tilted her head as if she was genuinely mystified.

[Assistant] “Er, well, I don’t know how big a horn is to someone who’s a demon, but I’m guessing it’s a pretty big deal. I thought it might’ve been pretty insensitive to ask.”

[User] “Even if that is the case, there is no getting it back now. Well, you can rest easy.” Ram spoke down at Subaru, putting him in his place before lightening her tone very slightly.

[Assistant] “I may not have been calm about it then, but I am now. I lost my horn, but I gained a life in its stead—I suppose that is not what Rem thinks, however.” Her voice had a painful overtone before she cut things off, a wave of her hand indicating her intent—she was entering Clairvoyance again.


[User] By the time Subaru climbed up the slope, Ram was already deeply enmeshed in viewing the world through the eyes of others. Ram’s eyes were closed, her breathing ragged, and she had a considerable cold sweat on her brow. Both of her legs trembled, looking like she’d run them ragged over the course of the long day; more than once, she looked like she was getting dizzy and was about to totter over. Using Clairvoyance to borrow the vision of other beings simply put that great a strain on her body. But no matter how painful it was, not the slightest sound of weakness passed through Ram’s lips. When you really got down to it, Ram and Rem were twins who greatly resembled each other. If pushing themselves hard was what it took, they’d do it without a moment’s hesitation. When you considered Emilia and Beatrice as well, the mansion’s girl squad prioritized others just a little too much.

[Assistant] “Man, this makes me feel even guiltier for being a weakling…” He kicked the grass at his feet. That was a major miscalculation, for a piece of grass leaped into his mouth and the dirt flew right into his eyes. Spitting out the earth-tasting grass, he cursed his own extremely hesitant nature. But he relaxed a little, thinking that even such stupidity was fitting for him. Even though he knew it wasn’t a good thing to disturb Ram’s concentration while in Clairvoyance.

[User] “Ram. You’re worried sick about Rem, right?”

[Assistant] Ram, her concentration focused on aligning herself with other people’s vision, belatedly replied. “Of course I am. Certainly that girl is much stronger than me, but that is no reason not to worry.”

[User] “…Yeah.”

[Assistant] “Even if she is better than I am at everything, I am still her older sister. That will never change.” Until then, Subaru had seen Ram as someone who used her younger sister for the sole sake of making things easier on herself. He’d gotten it all wrong. Calling it a foolish misunderstanding didn’t come close to cutting it.


[User] Ram understood her own position far more keenly than Subaru ever had. She was well aware that she couldn’t live up to Rem’s constant boasts.

[Assistant] Subaru, seeing how Ram had accepted it, could only harden his own resolve. He scratched his head, murmuring as he stretched to loosen up. “I really figured we’d have met up with Rem by now, but…”

[User] Maybe Ram felt how Subaru seemed unable to calm down. At any rate, she abandoned her fruitless Clairvoyance and brought her mind back in full. She promptly put her sweaty hair in better order as she cast Subaru a suspicious glance. “Barusu, what do you plan on doing?”

[Assistant] “The way things are, I’m just baggage, exactly as you said. I told you before we headed into the woods… I’m gonna make myself useful and help save Rem.” He wasn’t waiting to be sure of his guess, but based on prior events, he gave it about 70:30 odds in his favor. Of course, the remaining 30 percent weighed heavily on his mind, but… “I’ve gotta play the hot hand here. Ram, you ready to cross a somewhat dangerous bridge?”

[User] “I am alone with a young man in a forest full of demon beasts. As a maiden, there is surely no greater danger.”

[Assistant] “Oh, now you’ve said it, Sister.” Subaru laughed, then took a deep breath and reopened his eyes. If Subaru’s thought proved true, he could turn the situation around. Even though he knew it was necessary, it didn’t quell the fear in his heart. He knew he was a scaredy-cat. Even so, there were some things he couldn’t run from. If Subaru was right, this was one of them… “Ram, actually, I—”


[User] He began to speak of Return by Death. Subaru acted like he was about to break the taboo, putting into words that which it was forbidden to convey. Before his eyes, Ram looked like she was wondering what Subaru was saying when her expression froze. No—time itself had stopped. The world lost color, sound vanished, and the very concept of time came to a grinding halt. It was a world where everything had stopped. Suddenly, the sole exception to the rule appeared.

[Assistant] "There you are." His murmur did not actually create a sound, but he hoped his invective still reached that which hovered before his eyes. If even a fraction of his emotions communicated, that would give him great satisfaction indeed. In the frozen world, the only thing unaffected was the black cloud. The cloud that had suddenly emerged before Subaru shifted into a silhouette of an arm to call his bluff. It formed fingers, then a wrist; the biceps emerged to complete a full right arm. Though the previous arm hadn’t even reached an elbow, this one materialized all the way up to the shoulder.

[User] Subaru’s breath felt like it caught inside him as the cloud, more distinct than the first time around, slid its black fingers forward.


[User] They moved past the thin flesh of his chest, stroked his rib cage, and went straight toward his heart. Even though he knew it was coming, there was no way he could endure pain so far past his limits. He had no words with which to express the mad screams inside his head from feeling his heart directly grasped. The long suffering, the time of unbearable anguish, continued. His heart rhythm was thrown off. His blood flow was cranked to the limit, making his entire body scream out. It was such torture that he felt like he was gushing tears of blood, biting down on his teeth hard enough to break them. For Subaru, the only thing he could sense in this world was pain. All he was allowed to do was continue to writhe. The agony seemed to last for eternity as his field of vision was dyed pure white—

[Assistant] "—Barusu?" Subaru realized he had fallen onto his knees and butt.

[User] He hastily wiped off the saliva that had spilled from the corner of his lips and rose back up. "Man, daydreams are bad, bad stuff."

[Assistant] "It is because you forced yourself back from injury too soon. If it is too hard, you should return to the village. If you have some other way to find Rem, at least tell me that before…" Before completing her sentence, Ram gasped, and her expression changed as she looked all around the area. The only sounds were those of the quiet forest: tree branches swaying from the wind and leaves rustling as they rubbed against one another. Ram listened carefully as she looked back at Subaru. "What did you do, Barusu?"

[User] "...I rolled the dice a little, pain and all." Despite how extreme the pain had been, not even a single trace of that remained in his body at that moment. Even as Subaru silently reviled the wounds carved solely into his mind, he was grateful for the saving grace that his body still had enough endurance with which to act. After all—


[Assistant] Within the deep verdant foliage, the rustle of the wind began to lose its tranquility.

[User] Ram frowned and looked to her right. "The wind is astir… The scents of beasts approach, many of them."

[Assistant] He looked that way, too, and saw multiple red points of light approaching from deeper in the forest. Based on the number of eyes, there were about five demon beasts running their way.

[User] Ram made a small click of her tongue. "And we haven’t even found Rem yet…!"

[Assistant] "Well, don’t worry about that. She’s not that far, so we’ll hook up soon enough."

[User] "How can you be certain of such a thing?"

[Assistant] Subaru shrugged in the face of Ram’s sharp gaze and rebuke. "Rem’s goal is to wipe out the demon beasts here in the forest, right? As long as I’m here, they’re going to keep coming to try to eat me.'


[User] “That’ll bring Rem running straight to me in time.” He’d been thinking of it from the beginning. And he’d also thought it strange from the beginning. Why did the demon beasts prefer Subaru as their target for the curse during every loop? When Subaru repeated those four days, the demon beast always cursed Subaru when they’d met in the village. That wasn’t so much unavoidable fate as the operation of some other compulsion. Subaru’s existence provoked a reaction from the demon beasts.

[Assistant] “In other words—it’s the stench of the witch.” Subaru had deduced the answer as to why from the exaggerated reactions he’d received from other sources. Demon beasts were enemies of all mankind created by the witch. And they seemed to be intensely sensitive to Subaru, who carried the scent of the witch. That was no doubt why they’d gone after him and not Ram since they had entered the forest together. If all it took was a whiff of the witch to compel the demon beasts to appear, he’d make full use of that. He’d lure every demon beast in the forest to put their curses into Subaru, a grand feast that would bring Rem running in after them. He called it Operation: Subaru Chew Toy.

[User] When he’d previously tried to tell Emilia about Return by Death, Beatrice had made an offhanded comment in the aftermath that gave him the clue he needed to draw up his plan. Apparently, the appearance of the dark cloud had thickened the stench of the witch hovering around him. That haze was probably related to the witch in some way. Somehow, the scent of the witch around Subaru was related to the power behind Return by Death—but it was not the time to think about such things. All he had was anguish he could not speak of to anyone, ferocious pain without anyone who could hear him complain. In the face of fast-approaching danger, the sheer exhilaration of turning the tables on the hand Fate had dealt him made the corners of Subaru’s lips warp into a malevolent grin. Yeah, I’ve finally shot an arrow off at Fate for putting this loop together! Cheering inside his mind, he re-gripped his one-handed sword, positioning himself to face the oncoming tide.

[Assistant] “So, since you’re super reliable in a fight, please and thank you for that!” Subaru stated in a high-pitched voice.

[User] A sigh trailed behind Ram’s voice as she slammed a Blade of Wind into the throng approaching from the front. “After this, when you look back objectively at what you said, please beg me to kill you.”


[User] He had been truly mistaken to think that there was no sure footing when moving through forests and mountains without any proper roads. All he had to do was run down the natural game trails and not hesitate in his judgment as to where his heels should touch down. Trusting the stoutness of his shoes as he stepped forward made a huge difference in progress.

[Assistant] His breath was ragged. The sweat on his brow was getting into his eyes, so he made painful blinks to give the sweat somewhere to go. He was sprinting full force, tilting his body forward to reduce wind resistance even the tiniest bit. But the sounds of his pursuers’ footsteps did not diminish. They rang out right beside him, as if mocking Subaru’s attempt to escape. The chances of getting away were virtually nil. His lungs hurt, and he gasped as if desperate for oxygen. Subaru’s mouth was open in an unsightly fashion.

[User] "What a horrid face… I shall tell your home village on you.”

[Assistant] “I’ll remember that later, damn it! !" Subaru immediately regretted his unnecessary use of oxygen as he continued to carry Ram in his arms as he ran.

[User] About ten minutes had passed since he’d used the stench of the witch for Operation: Subaru Chew Toy. As Subaru had planned, the demon beast pack had gathered around them. Amid exceptionally harsh combat, the two of them finally…had no option but to run through the forest for their lives.

[Assistant] "And I believed you could fight them, geez!”

[User] “I did fight them. My endurance simply didn’t hold up as well as I had hoped.”

[Assistant] “What about being ready to cross a dangerous bridge there? !”

[User] “It was a bridge too far. We would have fallen before crossing it."

[Assistant] Ram had a comeback for everything Subaru had to offer. Her mana had been depleted from repeated combat; she wasn’t even in any state to properly move her limbs. The demon beasts had treated Subaru’s release of the witch’s stench as a written invitation, arriving one after another, their numbers soon exceeding anything they could handle. The only word he could muster was regret. Ram had used her wind magic to take out some seventeen fiends. Things had gone swimmingly until that point, but Ram suddenly lost her strength and collapsed. Subaru, scared witless right beside her, picked Ram up, carried her, and started running for the hills—

[User] "Nothing changes with you… Still, I appreciate your inability to prepare.”

[Assistant] “You’re cheeky for a girl being carried around! And don’t talk too much! Looks like you bit your tongue…and my strength’s…not…gonna…hold…!” Subaru could boast athletic ability that scored well above the norm, but that was all indoor stuff. Outdoors, his stamina issues were substantial. He’d never dreamed of running a marathon back in school. Even with his pathetic stamina, he wrung out everything he could in that life-and-death situation.


[User] No doubt the demon beasts pursuing them were well aware that Subaru was at the end of his strength. They’d nipped at his heels as if they truly enjoyed preying on the weak, which further fueled his flight instincts.

[Assistant] "Looks like it’s finally time to unleash the power hidden within m—Ow!" Subaru let out a painful yelp as demon beast fangs sank into his right shoulder.

[User] One of the bastards toying with him had run ahead of them. The sharp pain buried deep in his shoulder and thrust into his brain, making his head feel like it was about to burst. He desperately twisted his body in an attempt to shake the beast off him—

[Assistant] "—Barusu!"

[User] "Oh cra—!" Right after Ram spoke from within his arms, the forest suddenly opened wide, and Subaru’s feet were slicing through the air. His feet clawed at the sky as a floating feeling assaulted him, as if every internal organ were rising inside him. The next moment, his heels dug into the slope; Subaru and Ram lost their balance as they slid down together.

[Assistant] "Bastards tricked me…!"

[User] He should never have underestimated them as mere beasts. Even though repeated contact with them had given Subaru an appreciation for their intelligence, when push came to shove, he’d been unable to shake his impression of them as just animals. As a result, the seemingly viable path he’d followed had literally led him off a cliff.

[Assistant] "Damn it all! !" Subaru’s yell made his throat tremble as they slid down at an even sharper angle. He held Ram tighter as he thrust the drawn sword in his left hand into the cliff.

[User] "Owwww, ow, ow, ow, ow!" His left side scraped against the ground as the sword he’d thrust into the cliff twisted, stopping them from sliding farther. When he looked, the cliff ended a short distance below; had he been a single second slower, they would have surely met their deaths.

[Assistant] "Whoaa!" When he looked up, several demon beasts pursuing them were rolling down beside them. The beasts, moving with too much force to stop, yelped like domesticated dogs as they vanished off the edge of the precipice. Their bodies mercilessly smashed against the sharp, rocky ravine below; the sound of their bones breaking reached even Subaru’s eardrums.

[User] "Ah, we came very close to needing condolences ourselves…"

[Assistant] "Arm…hurts…!" Ram complained as Subaru’s arm tightened around her.

[User] Her body was light, but when added to Subaru’s own weight, the burden on the sword thrust into the ground, and on Subaru as he gripped it, was more than two hundred pounds. His limit would not be long in coming.

[Assistant] "It will of course be dangerous if we fall down the cliff. Can you climb, Barusu?"

[User] "I’d love to tough it out…but the demon beasts up there are still a problem," he said as he put more strength into his left arm.


[User] He let the blade, thrust in at an angle, support their weight as he tried to somehow get in a more stable position, when…

[Assistant] “—Ah.”

[User] “—Ah.”

[Assistant] The same moment, the high-pitched sound of steel breaking rang around the area. The blade thrust into the cliff snapped, leaving the end of the sword stuck in the slope. He hastily thrust the warped blade into the ground anew, but the dull edge didn’t penetrate very deep. He clung to the slope with all his body, resigned to however scraped up he might become, but friction alone could not slow two people. His efforts proved fruitless as the blade popped out. They began to fall once more.

[User] “Aaaaa! We’re done for—! !”

[Assistant] “—You owe me for this, Barusu! !”

[User] Subaru fell headfirst, every hair on his body standing up as he recalled flinging himself over a cliff. Even so, he never abandoned his duty as a man, continuing to hold Ram in his arms to try to shield her from the fall.

[Assistant] Ram let him handle the physical work and twisted in his arms to aim her hands toward the ground. "—El Fulla!” Mana welled up in Ram as she chanted, causing a powerful gust of wind to erupt at their estimated landing point. As they fell straight down, Subaru’s body hit the ascending air current and rode on the pressure underneath them; he managed to get them upright again as their fall slowed further. We can do this, he judged while the world spun all around them. He focused all his strength into his legs, biting down hard enough to split his teeth as he endured the impact of landing.

[User] “Nguuuuuuh, aaaaaa—we made it! !” —They had endured. He labored to leap onto his numb, incredibly unhappy legs as he looked up at the cliff from which they had fallen. He was aghast at the height—over thirty feet, the rough equivalent of jumping out from the fourth floor of his high school. That, combined with the hardness of the ground, made their very survival quite a feat.

[Assistant] “You totally turned into my Buddha there, Ram. If it wasn’t for your wind magic there, we’d be—” It was when Subaru tried to express his gratitude for Ram saving his life that he realized she wasn’t moving within his arms. Ram’s head drooped as a thin line of blood trickled down from her nostril. Her eyes were closed, her breaths shallow, and the only sounds she made were painful moans.

[User] “Ah, er, Ram? Uh, geez, this is bad.” He gently rocked her body and called out to her, but Ram made no reply. From the beginning, she’d been exhausted from using Clairvoyance and fighting the demon beasts. No doubt Ram had really overdone it with that spell, putting her mind in a precarious state.

[Assistant] “Ah, crap. My timing really is shitty…” Subaru cursed his own impulsiveness as he re-embraced Ram more carefully.


[User] He laid her down beside him, awkwardly slid the broken blade into its sheath, and looked up. "Oh, come on, you’ve gotta be kidding me!"

[Assistant] The very moment Subaru looked above his head, a large number of rocks flowed down the slope that they’d barely survived falling from—and riding atop them was a pack of demon beasts, with a pup deploying its mana leading the way.

[User] "I’m starting to hate you, Lady Witch—that perfume of yours is overkill." Duly lodging his complaint, Subaru checked on his numb legs as he prepared to flee once more.

[Assistant] "Er, wha…?" A moment before Subaru started running, he tilted his head, sensing that something was off. "Huh? Uh, I’m over here, guys…?" The sight of them scattering like little spiders was a bit much for him to take in. The heck’s going on here…?

[User] "—Heh?" When he looked up again, the change atop the cliff surprised Subaru, but he instantly understood.


[Assistant] His eyes met that murderous gaze, breaking out in a cold sweat as he experienced a bad feeling like no other.

[User] "This is just…a tiny bit unfair, don’t you think?" His plea died on the breeze blowing through the forest, unheard.


[User] 6 Ram and Subaru had entered the forest of the demon beasts fully aware of the danger.

[Assistant] “That’s how I imagined it, but, yeah…” In a pathetic voice, Subaru mused about how his smooth-sailing scenario was now in tatters. Subaru didn’t see a single shred of friendship in Rem’s eyes as she stood before him. All he sensed was pitch-black bloodlust. Though he couldn’t be sure, she didn’t look like she was in any mental condition for them to talk things through. The pressure rolling off her made him hesitate to even blink. He didn’t know what might happen if he took his eyes off the threat in front of him for even a split second. —That very thought brought a strained smile to Subaru as he realized Rem viewed him as her enemy. What the hell am I doing all the way out here, then?

[User] “Heya, Remrin, it’s your pal Subaru! Your buddy!” Unaware that his face had gone stiff, Subaru nonetheless managed to call out with a cheerful voice.

[Assistant] Rem turned her head toward him, locking on with a look so sharp that he could practically hear it.

[User] “If you give me steamy looks like that, I’m gonna get singed…” Subaru felt the entire weight of her attention on him. Perhaps he had failed. Rem’s dreadful appearance certainly warranted that thought. The familiar servant’s outfit on her was fully covered in blood spatter. Under her right hand was her iron ball for “self-defense” and a pool of blood and little bits of flesh, an exceptionally ominous combination.


[User] To Subaru, even though the horn was the very symbol of Rem’s malevolent demon state, it was the only thing that seemed out of place in contrast to the rest. But the circumstances did not permit Subaru such leisurely thoughts. When he looked, he saw scattered demon beasts waiting behind the shadows of boulders and among the trees of the forest. No doubt the beasts were watching their every move. He’d be lunch the instant he showed them the slightest opening. Rem standing before him, the demon beasts standing behind—his life was truly dangling by a thread. Subaru couldn’t move. The demon beasts couldn’t move. The entire situation would hinge on Rem’s next action. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and looked straight back at Rem once more. He didn’t know if he could make Rem’s eyes waver, but he had to give it everything he had and leave no stone unturned.

[Assistant] "Sister…" Her voice was tired and faint. However, the sound and its meaning thrummed in Subaru’s ears. Her lips quivered, and she seemed out of sorts as her eyes fixated on the side of Ram’s face. Even amid a frenzy sufficient to make her lose her sanity, Rem still recognized the sight of her other half, the sister she loved above all.

[User] Subaru sighed in astonishment. "If I didn’t know better, I’d say you had a sister complex. If that brought you back to sanity, I’m all for—"

[Assistant] "—Let her go." She interrupted his words as she flung the iron ball at him with the force of a typhoon. It was close to a miracle that he’d managed to bend his body to the left in time. It was perhaps fortunate that Subaru’s knees were a little wobbly, having not yet recovered from the earlier hard landing. The spikes of the iron ball grazed his right shoulder as it passed. The anguish clawing out his flesh sent his brain into hysteria.

[User] Biting down to hold back a pain-filled shout, Subaru advanced at an angle. "That hurt, damn it!" Subaru turned his gouged shoulder before sidestepping the chain as it lashed downward. A moment later, the chain violently slammed into the spot where Subaru had just been, leaving a snakelike trail on the ground. If Subaru had been any slower in dodging, his back would have borne an identical mark. He shuddered, imagining his flesh rending as he looked at Rem. But Rem looked no different from before. Her eyes were steeped in enmity without having regained their sanity. "Horned form isn’t the problem; it’s whether or not you can control it…" That was Subaru’s guess based on Rem’s current demeanor. If that was the case, the issue was how to restore her sanity. She’d been in a frenzied state the night before, too, but her mind had been more Rem than mad demon in the moments before he’d blacked out.


[User] “Maybe I should try getting hit by the iron ball once? Wait, I’ll be mincemeat then…”

[Assistant] “—” Subaru licked a drop of sweat trickling down his cheek, using the moisture on his tongue to lubricate his lips.

[User] "Hey, Rem! Don’t just look at your sister in my arms here, look at me! My name is Subaru Natsuki! The absolutely useless newbie doing odd jobs! The doe-eyed manservant at Roswaal Manor! I probably caused you and Ram a lot of trouble, but we got along some of the time, ri—Whoa!” He was in the middle of appealing to Ram’s memories and emotions when her short temper put an immediate stop to it, dodging her next attacks with a pretty hop-step-jump and looked back.

[Assistant] “It’s rude to beat someone to death midsentence! I saw my family’s faces before my eyes there… Ah, here we are!”

[User] As Subaru yelled, Rem leaned forward and murmured, “Give Sister back…!”

[Assistant] “—!” Rem’s backward spinning kick connected with the torso of the demon beast leaping at her from behind.


[User] One of the beasts drew its head back, so she crushed one of its front paws; now that it had stopped moving, she used her other foot to kick it in the head, snapping its neck. Her heel continued up, then back down into the torso of the next beast. A third pounced at Rem to avenge its comrade, but she gripped its throat below its wide-open maw and hurled it high into the sky. The demon beast arced through the air, curling its tail as it made a faint yelp. It flew farther and farther, then closer and closer, until finally smashing against the hard ground with a sound resembling that of an overripe fruit. Slaughter followed slaughter. It was carnage for the sake of carnage, a massacre even by massacre standards. It was already plain that the beasts could not compare to the destructive power of the single, mighty horned demon who had descended upon them. Yet even so—

[Assistant] “Damn, numbers really are a weapon all their own.”

[User] Though the demon beasts saw their brethren cut down one after another, they showed no sign of disengaging. They bared their fangs, brandished their claws, and howled menacingly as they sprang at Rem. Even as they were blown away, crushed, smashed, and dismembered, adding to the pile of demon beast corpses, they carved shallow wounds into Rem’s body little by little. When Subaru saw that the maid outfit, drenched in blood spatter, was reddening not just from the outside but fresh bleeding from the inside, he realized the tide had begun to turn against them. The battle before his eyes between horned demon and demon beast was extremely intense; they no longer paid any heed to Subaru and Ram whatsoever. Both sides were leaving low-threat opponents for later as they concentrated their rampages on their mortal enemies. If Rem had been dominating the battle, Subaru would no doubt have let her hunt the demon beasts to extinction without it weighing on his conscience. But her situation was gradually getting worse.

[Assistant] Rem’s arms flung about, mowing down demon beast torsos. She gasped in pain as claw after claw reached her own body. Blood scattered; lacerations carved into her white skin. Subaru couldn’t just sit and watch. There was a way. All he had to do was butt into the fight. But charging in to join the fray directly would only get him wrapped up in the typhoon and blown back the way he came. For him, interjecting meant drawing the horned demon’s and the demon beasts’ attention to something besides one another—it was the only way to save Rem. He resigned himself, spread his legs, took a deep breath, and looked right at Rem.

[User] —I can do this. Girls have charm, boys have courage.

[Assistant] “Don’t make that scary face, Rem. Smile. I’ve Returned by—”


[User] Even though he’d resigned himself to the extreme pain that would arise, it was not pain one could endure. All the more so because this time, it was not just a right arm but a left arm that emerged with it. Perhaps the completed right arm had developed a taste for this. Before Subaru’s unmoving, wide-open eyes, the right hand slid past his rib cage and brushed against his internal organs as the left hand split off. The right hand went for his heart; the other caressed Subaru’s cheek like it was fond of him. —Terror welled within him, and the next moment, pain shot through his every nerve. He ceased to be himself. From the top of his head to the tips of his toes, he had a horrible, unendurable sense that something was wrong. His brain boiled in a tempest of negative emotions; his consciousness faded in and out. And yet, the soft touch of the palm on his cheek bore warmth that brought relief when he felt like his mind and body were about to melt. But Subaru knew a feeling of beyond that.

[Assistant] “I’m…back!” His vision was blurred. His soul had been whittled down. None of the pain and suffering had carried over to the real world. No time had passed. Rem and the demon beasts were in front of him, at each other’s throats just like before. —But the instant Subaru returned to reality, a great change came over the field of battle. Rem and the demon beasts poured all their attention onto Subaru; it was as if some anomaly had emerged then and there that could not be ignored. No doubt the cause was that, just as Subaru had planned, the witch’s stench was erupting from him.

[User] “—!” Rem roared.

[Assistant] The demon beasts howled in unison.

[User] Yells at the top of his lungs. With split-second timing, he evaded the claws of the leaping demon beasts and the iron ball slamming toward him, as if his life, his very soul, had been set on fire. —And so the great melee began.


[Assistant] As the unquestionably odd one out in a battle of horned demon, demon beast, and ordinary boy, Subaru paid attention to every detail of the melee as he bobbed and weaved. His conduct was exceedingly simple. He’d hold his position as the battle grew more intense, making no effort to increase the distance, dodging only the sparks that fell in his direction—end of story.

[User] “—” Once again, the demon beasts pounded by the iron ball became wall paste before his eyes. Heedless of their comrades’ deaths, three demon beasts teamed up to attack Rem without pause, aiming to inflict greater wounds upon her. But such crude intelligence went to waste, for her hand knocked them away; once they were immobile, they became easy prey for the iron ball’s descent.


[User] Subaru glanced at the spectacle as he shifted his hold on Ram, in danger of falling out of his grasp, and jumped back.

[Assistant] He barely evaded the fangs of one demon beast, only to dance right into Rem’s range of attack.

[User] Rem instantly moved to intercept.

[Assistant] Subaru came to a very abrupt stop to escape the thrust of her iron handle, then leaped back and ducked to avoid the lash of the chain that followed, with the iron ball passing over his head to change the head of the demon beast chasing behind him into a spectacularly blooming crimson flower. Subaru heard the body crashing down behind him as he threw shame and honor to the wind and crawled on the ground, cockroach-style, to escape immediately.

[User] Rem, hot on his heels, found her path obstructed by demon beasts.

[Assistant] Escape successful. Subaru held his distance as he rewarded himself with a single sigh of relief for the quick thinking that had saved his life.

[User] "—Hah! I’m actually doing pretty well here!” He’d desperately bounded away to avoid being bitten, foisted the pursuing demon beasts on the maid girl, and had crawled like a bug to escape the angry girl’s wrath. If his actions were ever recorded for posterity, he would want to die then and there, but he focused on the fact that his conduct was intended to keep him alive. At that moment, things were unfolding according to Subaru’s plan. The situation could be worse—they were at least buying time and reducing the number of demon beasts. When he glanced up, he sensed the eyes of demon beasts all around the valley. Once they spied the battle, they joined the fray one by one. The demon beasts were obeying their instincts in response to Subaru’s spreading the stench of the witch throughout the forest. This could work. He saw a chance for victory. That, at least, was what Subaru thought.

[Assistant] "—Uh?” Subaru engaged in more evasive action when he suddenly felt dizzy and tilted heavily. It wasn’t that he’d been careless with his steps. He was suddenly assailed by a feeling of lethargy as a chill ran through his entire body… He knew.

[User] “The curse… At a time like this…? !” Subaru looked up to try to see if the demon beast from which the curse hailed was one of those surrounding Rem. But he had no way to tell which was the caster. Besides, it was unlikely the demon beast had triggered the curse just to make Subaru suffer. It was the simple result of being faced with the menace of Rem and craving the mana with which to fight her. And Subaru was right there with them, rite ready for activation, his mana there for the taking. A simple reason but also a fatal one. The curse got the better of Subaru, making him lose his balance and crash to the ground.


[User] "—Aah!” A great shout echoed loudly enough to rend the air and split the ground as she swung down, her fist turning one demon beast into dog food. In a single instant, with incredible, explosive force, Rem had broken through the monster ranks to kill a demon beast far away from her.

[Assistant] Subaru was shocked by the sight, but immediately realized he was breathing easier and the lethargy had abated. He had been freed from the effects of the curse.

[User] "—Rem.”

[Assistant] "—!” Rem returned to butchering the demon beasts surrounding her as if she hadn’t even heard Subaru call her name.

[User] Subaru watched Rem in the midst of combat as it keenly sunk in that, though she wasn’t lucid or in a state to recognize who Subaru was, Rem had saved him by turning that demon beast into paste.

[Assistant] If that’s the case… Subaru scraped his mind for the thing that only he could do.

[User] "In other words, I’ll have the heartthrob maid sisters, Ram and Rem, send that curse packing!”

[Assistant] Subaru's business was not with the murderous demon but with the superficially polite, quick-to-jump-to-conclusions girl whose running off on her own caused everyone else so much trouble—Rem.

[User] "—The horn.”

[Assistant] Ram, still in his embrace, faintly opened her eyes, giving Subaru an unfocused upward glance.

[User] "You’re…awake? !”

[Assistant] "I think my timing here is quite…excellent…” Ram was smiling a bit.

[User] "Yeah, you’ve got awesome instincts, Big Sis. What do you mean, the horn?" Subaru smiled back half seriously as he replied.

[Assistant] "It is that horn that has led Rem astray… A single, powerful blow will…bring her back…” Ram pulled her chin in with a look of annoyance.

[User] "You’re sure that’ll work?"

[Assistant] "Fairly. Largely. I believe that it will.”

[User] "That’s kind of vague, you know?! But I wanna believe you." Subaru cut off his words and looked at Rem.


[User] "Doesn’t that seem kinda…impossible?”

[Assistant] “Use your intellect and courage and just do it.”

[User] “Well, I do kind of have a way to do this that involves intellect and courage, but…” Subaru’s unexpected reply made Ram raise her eyebrows.

[Assistant] He smiled weakly at her, as he had difficulty putting it into words. “It’s probably gonna give you a scare.”

[User] “If it brings my little sister back to sanity, I shall not be upset.”

[Assistant] “Really?”

[User] “Really-really.”

[Assistant] “You swear on Rozchi?”

[User] “…You must really not mind dying to pick that. Yes, I swear on Master Roswaal.”

[Assistant] It was because Ram had said it in such a thoroughly valiant way that Subaru respected her view so highly. Before them, Rem slowly turned in their direction. The bulk of her attention was trained on them, with the remainder toward the demon beasts surrounding them to warn her if they came close. In contrast to Rem, on guard for attacks from every direction, Subaru was focused solely on smacking that horn. Namely—

[User] “Aaaaand, off you go!” He lifted her up by the hips…and chucked her forward.

[Assistant] “—Ah?” Ram had a distant look of shock on her face.

[User] No doubt that the thought he’d throw her had never entered her mind.

[Assistant] Ram looked aghast.

[User] Rem, still in her horned form, stood agape for a brief moment before reaching out as her older sister flew through the air toward her. The iron ball fell from Rem’s grasp as she welcomed her big sister with open, bloodstained arms. In an instant, her expression, so hard and painted over with hostility and bloodlust, changed into something much softer.


[Assistant] Subaru sprang forward to not let that instant go to waste. The same moment he hurled Ram forward, Subaru lowered his body and charged. Rem’s gaze was aimed up, preoccupied with her big sister, while Subaru approached from the blind spot closer to the ground. His feet slid as his right hand drew his sword from his waist. In one motion, he sliced through the wind as he slid the blade out of the scabbard, aiming it at the horn on Rem’s forehead—the timing was perfect. Even Rem could not respond in time to the sudden attack. But—

[User] “—Ah? !” Through a combination of the blade’s broken tip and Subaru’s own timid, halfhearted step at the end, the blade missed a direct blow to her horn, passing a few millimeters short. Subaru was appalled at having let his tiny moment of opportunity slip through his hands.

[Assistant] “I chickened out! I didn’t have enough courage for the last part! !” His body swam as he got nothing but air. Subaru’s momentum carried him past her, exposing his back, and Rem raised her left hand to stab him. The long claws on her fingertips would surely go right through Subaru’s back and stick out the other side. He regretted dying one step away from success, and at Rem’s hands at that. The very moment he thought it—

[User] “Whoaaaa—?


[User] "!” The ground beneath his feet exploded, with the resulting cascade of rocks vaulting Subaru straight up. The scattering rocks pelted his body all over. Skin breaking and bleeding, Subaru looked down from midair to see the cause of his pain.

[Assistant] South of the point where the ground had exploded under Subaru, he saw the demon beast puppy in a low crouch. The Urugarum had kept a low profile since leading the pack down the cliff, waiting for its opportunity to take Subaru and Rem out in a single cascade of rocks. And so, seeing Subaru create an opening, it had spectacularly intervened with the goal of sending both him and Rem flying.

[User] “—! !” Rem roared and stomped onto the ground from which the rocks were erupting. Force canceled force, ending with only her blue hair heavily disheveled. She’d canceled out magical force with raw violence—smashing the spell with brute force. The cascade of rocks ceased, and Rem’s shoulders eased as she held her big sister preciously in her arms. Subaru, still above her, had vanished from even the furthermost reaches of her mind.

[Assistant] Buffeted by the magic spell, Subaru whirled head over heels with no idea which way was up. But his right hand kept the sword firmly in its grip even then; fortunately, he landed not against the rock wall but merely on the hard ground. And Rem stood right below him, her head exposed, not noticing him whatsoever. There would be no better chance, nor no chance after. It was now or never. He gripped the single-handed sword’s hilt with both hands and swung with all his might.

[User] He had arrived at this point at the end of a long string of coincidences. Opportunism for the win. Miracles were awesome. Even if purely by whim, sometimes God did good work—although God’s work would also have helped tremendously with the previous attempt. And now he was right above Rem, unnoticed, her head fully exposed… He made a strained smile. There was no time. Rem was close at hand, and so was a slow, leisurely world with her. He saw the horn. He swung the sword past its apex with all the energy he could muster.

[Assistant] "Laugh, Rem. Today, I’m more demonic than any demon!” The blade flashed straight down, aimed at the white horn—


[User] Rem did not understand the details of what occurred after that point. What she did grasp was that at some point, they’d lost consciousness, only to awaken far from home with a huge mansion all around her, and that her sister, who had lost her horn, was there with her. Her sister had regained consciousness first and was overjoyed to see Rem awaken, but Rem was lost in thoughts of her twin, whose abilities ranked lower than the average person’s now that she had lost her horn. On the surface, her behavior was largely unchanged, but there was no trace of the talent she had commanded in every area. Now that she struggled with even minor things, Rem had many opportunities to help her. And so, one would think that Rem would develop a superiority complex toward her now universally inferior sister—but one would be wrong; the inferiority complex took root in Rem’s spirit even deeper than before. In other words, Rem felt shame at the fact that her sister had gone from beloved by the whole world to having to endure life at the bottom. Rem’s guilt was spurred on by the admiration she had for her older sister. Had Rem’s heart been filled with only jealous thoughts, no doubt it would not have been so. But Rem loved her sister. And she was not so shrewd or self-serving to live and forget the thought she’d had that moment when her sister’s horn was broken.

[Assistant] “I have to do everything in Sis’s…Sister’s place…” Rem changed how she addressed her older sister and put her days of hiding in her shadow behind her. Rem’s battle had begun. In all things, in all duties she was assigned, all she could think was, Sister would do this. She’d always been right behind her sister, watching. Her sister’s judgment had never failed. Even so, the results were always less than she expected. That was natural, for her sister was incredible. With a flawed little sister like her, even both of them working together could not reach the same place. Rem had to blaze the trail that was properly her sister’s to have blazed, to have walked, to have led her down, and to lead her older sister along it by the hand.


[User] The lord of the manor had benevolently given them a place to stay, and moreover, she adored her older sister enough that she did not mind offering up body and soul. If problems arose during these untroubled days, Rem took full responsibility.

[Assistant] "You have done well." The master would say in praise.

[User] She had heard such words from her homeland many times over.

[Assistant] "Don’t force yourself." Her sister would say to Rem out of concern.

[User] But even forcing herself was not yet enough.

[Assistant] "Why do you push yourself so hard?" One irresponsible person had asked Rem.

[User] That was obvious. Because she was inferior in anything and everything. Even if she pushed herself to the breaking point, whittling away her soul and burning her body to ash, she would never reach that which ought to have been.

[Assistant] What could she do to atone? And so, Rem dedicated her life to cutting open the path that her sister ought to have walked herself but that Rem had stolen from her. For Rem was a substitute for her sister in all things and nothing more.

[User] With her obsession strengthened, the seven years wore upon Rem. Others dutifully commended Rem on a daily basis for her earnest hard work, though to Rem these efforts never yielded satisfactory results. Even Margrave Roswaal praised her as a capable worker, to the point that he commanded her to serve at his side during that significant time when the royal selection was underway. And yet, all the praise she earned filled Rem’s chest with vague unease. The days and months had not made her sense of guilt fade away; indeed, they had only reinforced it—and she continued to live her life for the sake of her older sister.

[Assistant] And then, Lady Emilia and Sister had returned from the royal capital, bringing a foreign element into the mansion.

[User] "My name is Subaru Natsuki. Zero work experience! Pleased to meet you!" The wounded lad had been brought into the mansion because he had saved Emilia’s life. Upon waking, the young man negotiated with Roswaal and gained for himself the position of apprentice servant in no time at all.

[Assistant] Naturally, Rem was gripped by a deep sense of distrust toward the youth of uncertain origin. In particular, she could find nothing to like during the first two days, when the young man had plastered a smile on his face and worked constantly to win her and her sister’s favor. Furthermore, there was a scent wafting around him that triggered memories in Rem that she could barely endure. It was the scent of the witch—the miasma that surrounded only a few beings in the entire world. Ever since her homeland had become a sea of flames, Rem’s nose had learned how to pick out the scent. She did not know why. She knew only that it triggered abominable memories and that seven long, bitter years had taught her that nothing good came from that which accompanied the scent.


[Assistant] "—Worst case, the whole village might get wiped out." Rem, ordered by her older sister to accompany Subaru, half doubted the extreme scenario he’d suggested so seriously. However, when they reached Earlham Village, the children really were missing, and the barrier that should have blocked off the forest had been breached and was no longer functioning.

[User] "Rem, let’s go. We have to do something."

[Assistant] Rem had recoiled at Subaru’s invitation to go into the forest to rescue the children from their plight. Of course it was strange. Rem could not grasp why someone so powerless would act so desperately for children he barely knew. Subaru was not being reckless. He was well aware of his own weakness. And still he did not hesitate to ask others for the things he lacked. What incredible arrogance, she had thought.