[User] "This can’t be rea…" Looking around the room, Subaru couldn’t believe it and rushed out into the hallway.

[Assistant] Ignoring Ram’s gaze as she stood beside the door, Subaru counted the rooms from the stairs to this one. He’d made no mistake. There was no way he could have. He could find the place with his eyes closed. —Then why…?

[User] "C-could it be Beatrice? Maybe she shuffled the spaces around on me like that first time…"

[Assistant] "Barusu."

[User] "That’s right! That has to be it! Why that little— Playing her games to make fun of me…"

[Assistant] "Barusu, stop it." Seeing Subaru grow hysterically desperate, Ram quietly dropped all hint of affection.

[User] Shocked, Subaru looked at Ram.

[Assistant] She gazed back at him, the almost unthinkable, plaintive look in her eyes expressing just how much she was concerned for his well-being. But it was wrong. That wasn’t what Subaru was looking for.

[User] "Rem… This is her…"

[Assistant] "—There has never been such a person at this mansion." Ram shook her head, her eyes clouding as she said, as if to slap him to his senses, "I do not have a little sister." And so she finally destroyed his doubts.


[User] "I—I…" Did he not even have the right to mourn Rem’s death and plead for forgiveness?

[Assistant] "Barusu, please return to your room." As Subaru stood dumbfounded in the unoccupied quarters, Ram spoke thusly to him.

[User] With Subaru rooted to the floor, Ram, standing beside him, pressed a hand to his back to lead him out of the room and said, "You must be confused about many things because you are tired. Head back to your room and keep dreaming in bed. I have things to do, so I cannot stay with you like this forever." Even though Subaru was beaten down, Ram’s decision was strict toward Subaru. She meant to carry out her assigned duties without coddling him any further.


[User] “Back to your room, and sleep.” Repeating the command one more time as she left, Ram went down the stairs and vanished from view.

[Assistant] Certainly, if he slept as she said, he might be able to escape that sense of alienation. It was all a bad dream, surely. He was dreaming, so he’d go back to bed to dream. He should just run away, run away, run away. He’d fled all the way to where he stood now. If he kept trying to get away, like he always had, like he always would—if he ran and ran and ran and ran, then—

[User] “Then…what…?” Subaru murmured, his foot stopping just as he was about to take the stairs down. Judging that he needed to escape into a dream, he’d dragged his feet over to the stairs. Slightly raising his jaw, Subaru looked at the steps up to the next floor. No matter how far he fled, it’d all be the same. And Subaru would have betrayed Rem again. Rem had protected Subaru, gambling with her own life so that he might escape from the White Whale… And for what? So that Subaru could finish what he’d started. For his goal of saving the people precious to him from the evil clutches of the Witch Cult. If he abandoned that objective then and there, letting go and fleeing into his own mind…

[Assistant] “That’s…a lot lower than begging for forgiveness…” Subaru turned away from the stairs leading downward. This time, there was no hesitation in his gait. Subaru put his foot on the first step and went up, not down, because that was where he would find the reason for his return. Stepping firmly upon each step, Subaru slowly headed up. Arriving at the topmost floor, he breathed out as he found the door he had been fighting toward this whole time. When he reached for the doorknob, Subaru realized that he was oddly calm. It seemed unreal how much his heart had quieted down after its frantic pounding when he’d burst into Rem’s room. He wondered if he had actually calmed down or if he had moved beyond stress entirely and sunk so far that he could no longer hear its powerful thumping. But:

[User] “Rem, lend me…your courage—” When he voiced that name, Subaru felt his hand become stronger. That strength transferred to the doorknob; he gently opened the obstinate-seeming door. And on the other side of the open entryway, a girl was sitting at the desk, looking back toward him as she said,

[Assistant] “—Subaru?” When Subaru heard the chime-like voice calling out his name, he closed his eyes. He finally remembered the deep emotions rushing through his chest that were difficult to put into words…and that he had returned for the sake of hearing her voice. She was a girl with fluttery silver hair, pale skin, and violet eyes. Sadness marred her fleeting, beautiful features.


[User] Emilia—rose from her seat and said to Subaru.

[Assistant] “…Why…did you come back?” It was not the words themselves but the trembling tone of her voice that robbed Subaru of all thought. Here was Emilia, lacking all strength in her eyes, her lips quivering. It had been a little while since he had seen her. He felt like she was thinner than when they had parted. Both her voice and her eyes were clouded with fatigue, enough to suggest she hadn’t been getting any sleep. She’d probably been backed into a corner, her spirit worn down by external influences.

[User] Subaru stepped forward, ignoring Emilia’s question as he offered her his hand. “Come on. You can’t stay here.” Subaru’s forceful behavior surprised Emilia; she pulled back slightly from him.

[Assistant] “Go where…? No, why?” When the original distance between them was restored, Emilia shook her head toward the troubled boy.

[User] “Anywhere will work, as long as it’s not here. If you’re gonna ask what it’s for, my answer is that it’s for your sake. I came back for your—”

[Assistant] “This again, Subaru?” Emilia seemed disappointed in his reply as he spoke. Her velvet eyes watered slightly, glaring up at him through her lashes and cowing him into silence. “Returning all of a sudden, covered in wounds and making everyone worry… Aren’t you supposed to be undergoing treatment from Ferris in the royal capital? Why are you here now?”

[User] “A lot happened! There’s a mountain of things to explain, but I don’t have the time to do it right now. Please listen to me. We have to get out of this mansion this—”

[Assistant] “I told you I can’t, didn’t I? I can’t trust you like this, Subaru… I told you.” Grudgingly, Emilia shook her head and rejected him with a trembling voice. It was a direct continuation of their exchange back in the waiting room at the royal capital, without the slightest progress. Subaru had been unable to convey to Emilia his willingness to do anything for her sake, and he had failed to understand why Emilia refused to understand how he felt. But one thing was different from before.

[User] “I’ll drag you out of here if I have to. In a few days, you’ll know I’m right whether you want to or not, so…!”

[Assistant] “Wait. Wait, Subaru. What’s wrong? This isn’t like you, Subaru. I… And yet—”

[User] “Just shut up and listen to me! !” The instant he shouted, Emilia’s shoulders trembled. Before her unbelieving eyes, Subaru’s ragged breaths came with as much force as his angry yell, and he glared intensely at her. “You can’t stay here. You’ll regret it. I know you will. It won’t help anyone. It won’t save anyone. I don’t want to suffer anymore. I don’t want to cry anymore!”

[Assistant] “What are you talking about…? Subaru, I don’t understand.”

[User] “Shut up! If everyone would just… If you do exactly what I tell you, it’ll be all right! Everything will turn out okay. It’s true!


[User] “Why doesn’t anyone understand that…? !” Subaru clawed at his head, raising his voice—not toward Emilia but at the irrationality of the situation.

[Assistant] Seeing Subaru plead in a tearful voice, Emilia lowered her eyes in sadness. "I’m sorry, Subaru. I don’t get what you’re saying. I really can’t understand it.” Emilia’s eyes remained lowered as she softened the tone of her voice in an effort to soothe Subaru’s spirit. "I want to understand. But even if I could understand with time, I can’t give you that right now… There are so many things I need to do. That’s why right now, I—”

[User] "It’ll all go wrong." Subaru interrupted her show of concern with a few short words, trampling upon Emilia’s feelings. Hearing the malice filling his voice, Emilia was in shock, blinking as he repeated the words. "It’ll all go wrong. You’re no good. You’ll fail. There’s no way you could do it. There’s no chance. You’re all talk. Totally beyond saving. No one can rescue you. You’ll just keep doing rash and reckless things, and the number of corpses in the pile will be the same. That…is your future.”

[Assistant] The satisfaction filling Subaru’s body was pitch-black, mean, ugly, and contemptible. As each word that fell from his mouth sounded in Emilia’s ears, the pain on her face let him truly see the effects of jamming his feelings like blades into the weak points of her heart.

[User] Quietly, Emilia murmured, “Why?” Grief at Subaru’s heartless words, along with pain at his description of an inescapably dark future, caused Emilia’s expression to stiffen. But even then, her violet eyes remained unclouded.

[Assistant] "Why do you look like you’re crying from so much pain, Subaru?”

[User] —Only then did he realize that a twisted smile had come over him while his tears poured out. He knew that everything he’d said had been thrown back in his face. Reflecting upon each and every word with which he’d crushed Emilia’s feelings, eyes running all the while, he realized they amounted to nothing. With everything he said, Subaru had managed only to slice himself to ribbons.


[User] Determination, resolve, actions, past, future—Subaru’s had been rejected as much as hers. He felt like it was futile no matter how hard he tried. He knew that he was seized by an urgent need to do something. As for what he was struggling against, he had no idea. He knew only one thing. "She…she brought me this far… No. She stayed with me this far, and there are things I have to do for her…"

[Assistant] "Rem?" Subaru anxiously searched his heart for the original feelings that had brought him to where he currently stood.

[User] Emilia, listening to his seemingly meaningless utterance, tilted her head slightly. "—"

[Assistant] His breath caught.

[User] "—You too."

[Assistant] "Hmm?"

[User] "You’ve…forgotten Rem, too—" Not only had her own twin sister forgotten her existence, not only had all traces of her vanished, but the person who was the entire reason for Subaru’s return didn’t remember her, either, even though Rem had staked her life on making it happen. The days she had spent, the time, the feelings, the way she’d lived, all had vanished. Her smile, her anger, her tears, the touches they’d shared—what had happened to all the things that made her who she was, that were firm proof she had lived?

[Assistant] "—All right. I’ll tell you everything."

[User] "Eh?" Emilia responded, surprised by Subaru’s words.

[Assistant] Looking up at her beautiful, refined face, Subaru found anew the source of the emotions that had driven him to such lengths. If the alternative was for Rem and her feelings to vanish into the ether forever… "It’s better to get everything out, even if it makes me cough up blood." Subaru had decided. He’d reveal it all. He’d tell her the truth about what clouded the depths of his spirit.

[User] Emilia, seeing that the look in Subaru’s eyes had changed, swallowed stiffly.

[Assistant] Standing before her, Subaru put a hand to his chest. His heartbeats were fast; he knew and feared exactly what was about to happen, what the result would be. That pain. Pain enough to drive a man mad. The suffering of those ministrations on his heart, the sensation of it being crushed, his inability to even let out a sound, continuing on and on, never knowing when it would come to an end… But he had thought about this, too. As if I care. I don’t care. What’s that pain compared to this suffering right now? She couldn’t trust him. She couldn’t understand him. If he would have to endure the suffering of no one remembering Rem on top of that, mere physical pain paled in comparison. —If you’re gonna come, then come, damn it. If it’s my heart you want, you can have it.

[User] "Emilia."

[Assistant] "Yes?"

[User] "I’ve…seen the future. I know what’s gonna happen. And if you wanna know why, it’s because…I can Return by Death—" The instant he reached the verge of revealing everything, the world indeed came to a halt.


[User] As he’d expected, everything gradually slowed, finally stopping altogether. In that instant, the environment lost its color; all the sounds he had heard to that point vanished. The wind, his breath, his beating heart—all grew further and further away and did not return. With all five senses deserting his mind, Subaru was isolated from the world.

[Assistant] —Then, as if unable to leave him alone in his solitude, the hands slowly appeared, bearing their unsought benevolence. The black cloud that spawned seemed to slide through the air as it wriggled, shifting to form arms.

[User] In past times, only the right arm had the well-defined contours of a limb. But as the frequency of the evil hands’ occurrence had increased, they formed a left hand as well with disturbing speed. Both hands drew near to Subaru, with the left stroking his cheek, seemingly fond of him. The right rudely refused to be patient, plunging into Subaru’s chest, slipping past his ribs, and gently enveloping his heart.

[Assistant] The frightening sensation of that alien limb softly, gently toying with his heart coursed through his entire body. Unlike the unimaginable pain inflicted on him previously, the blackness that held Subaru’s life in its hands seemed to be craftily manipulating his ultimate fear to break his determination and resolve.

[User] With the impending agony failing to arrive, a new fear began to quietly take root in Subaru’s mind. He’d made his peace with the excruciating discomfort and had sworn to endure it. The evil hands seemed to be mocking Subaru’s determination, delivering no more pain to his body and mind than pinpricks, and relying on his imagination to fill in the rest.

[Assistant] It was that way of inflicting pain, so different from what he’d expected, that made the immobilized Subaru want to scream. But he clenched his unmoving teeth and rejected the urge. He was in pain, afraid, ignorant, but Subaru did not allow that suffering to affect his spirit.

[User] If he failed, he would gain nothing. If he failed, he would never be forgiven. In a world where no one remembered that Rem had ever existed, Subaru had nowhere left to beg forgiveness for his responsibility in her death, save the confines of his own soul.

[Assistant] If the hand wanted to inflict suffering, he would let it carve as much into him as it pleased. But that determination was the one thing that would not shatter so easily. Subaru glared at the evil hand toying with his own heart, holding his breath as he waited for the inevitable moment. But the hand made no move to do so.

[User] If it could do the deed anytime, it could also delay as long as it wished. In that world of stopped time, all he could do was wage a war of attrition until his mind was worn away. Even if Subaru’s determination held firm for the moment, it would eventually falter, and his spirit would be subsumed and broken.


[User] —If that’s what it thought, it had another think coming. He’d endure the agony, no matter how many hours or days it might take. He hadn’t died over and over for nothing. If it wasn’t going to kill him, he’d endure anything mere pain had to offer. Such was Subaru’s resolve—

[Assistant] “—Ah?” Suddenly, something began to animate that stilled world. All traces of the looming pain, of which he’d received only a preview, vanished from his world. Subaru and his resolve were left intact as sound, color, and time returned. A flood of sounds—his breathing, his heartbeat, of moving things moving in the world—swirled around Subaru, as if that other realm had spat him out in derision. Perhaps the evil hand had judged that it was futile in the face of Subaru’s obstinate resolve? Like hell, thought Subaru. His repeated suffering at those hands led him to scoff at the notion. Even then, he felt the black cloud’s right hand softly grasping his heart. If it’d squeezed, Subaru would that very moment be—

[User] “—” At that point, a doubt crept into Subaru’s thoughts. Subaru had a firm memory of that abominable right hand touching his heart. But what had the left hand been doing during that time? At first, it had touched his cheek, but after that—

[Assistant] “—Hu.” Before he could find an answer to his question, Emilia, standing before him, seemed to murmur something. Her voice roused Subaru to his senses. He recalled the rest of the sentence he had started before time had stopped. Though his sudden release from the nightmare had thrown him off, if violating the taboo would bring no further price, he needed to concern himself with it no further. He’d reveal everything, sharing with her what lay moments into the future, so that Subaru, and everyone, could get the world they hoped for. Finally, his determination to see that through would bear fruit—

[User] “Ahh.” A moment before he could, Emilia’s body abruptly leaned forward toward Subaru, who was standing just in front of her. Subaru instinctively reached a hand out to catch her. Her breath caught a little at the soft, warm touch against his hand when…


[Assistant] Splat.

[User] “—Eh?” Splat, splat, splat.

[Assistant] “—Emi…lia?” Splatsplatsplat, spurt. Emilia made strange sounds while she embraced him as an enormous amount of blood poured from her mouth.


[User] —Where had the left hand gone while the right was touching Subaru’s heart? Emilia rested her head on Subaru’s shoulder, continuing to cough up blood. The sheer amount coming out dyed half of Subaru crimson as her body grew lighter.

[Assistant] "Stop i… Wha? Wai…? Huh?" She lifted her head, seemingly trying to stop the blood she was heaving up, but in that instant, her listless head dropped. She slid down his shoulder. Her lifeless gaze told him everything he needed to know.


[User] Right now, the Return by Death phenomenon was on the third series of loops from Subaru’s point of view. The first set concerned the loops related to the badge-theft incident on the day of his summoning. The second was centered around the demon beast attack on Roswaal Manor.

[Assistant] "This is the third one… I’ve died twice already, and what do I have to show for it?!"

[User] "Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti…!" He, the commander of the oddballs in the Witch Cult, was the root cause of the entire tragedy that had befallen the village and mansion. Eradicating that abominable madman was now the driving force behind all of Subaru’s actions. To escape from the loop, he needed to cast a very wide net and dredge the depths of his memory.


[Assistant] "First, I need to figure out how much time I actually have." The Witch Cult raid on the mansion and village had taken place in the preceding half a day before Subaru had reached the village.

[User] "Working backward from that, I have at most five d… No, four and a half days?" Upon voicing the words, Subaru ground his teeth at just how little time it was. When considering how long it took to travel from the royal capital to the mansion, that didn’t leave him more than two days. In that limited interval, he had to stop the Witch Cult—by wringing Petelgeuse’s neck.

[Assistant] "I can cry about it later… Next is figuring out the victory condition for breaking out of these loops."

[User] "I’m going to butcher Petelgeuse." By putting an end to that crafty murderer, that madman, the root of all evil, everything could be saved. And clearing that simple condition required an equally simple solution—in other words, power. Subaru needed a group of his own to face the Witch Cult under Petelgeuse’s command. When he considered that, the military might of the Emilia faction was actually quite meager. In the first place, Subaru had never seen a hint of private troops under the command of Roswaal.


[User] "Come to think of it, where the hell was Roswaal during the attack…?" Subaru hadn’t caught sight of him during his first or second time through the current series of loops.

[Assistant] "The Witch Cult attacks right when Roswaal’s away? Or maybe Roswaal couldn’t fight because he was assassinated out of the blue?"

[User] “…Besides, I still don’t know anything about that monster that wrecked the mansion at the end of my second time around.” He recalled the sight of the four-legged beast he had caught a glimpse of right before his death, so massive that the creature could have been mistaken for a mansion itself.

[Assistant] "I really don’t have enough strength to put up a fight.”

[User] Subaru knew just the place for that.


[Assistant] After dropping by the shops and stalls along Merchant’s Street, running through the middle strata of the royal capital, Subaru and Rem arrived back at Crusch’s mansion right on the cusp of evening. Holding each other’s hands under a sky gradually becoming scarlet

[User] "I see you have returned." The aged gentleman, dressed in long-sleeve, formal black clothing, narrowed his blue eyes as he saw the two of them nestled so close.

[Assistant] "Sir Subaru, I believe it is the nature of a boy to have a fickle heart, but as an individual, I cannot approve."

[User] "What are you talkin’ about, Wilhelm? I’m just holding Rem’s hand so I don’t get lost. Isn’t that right, Rem?"

[Assistant] "Yes, of course it is. Subaru’s sense of caution is rather lacking, so I would be too worried about what might happen were I to take my eyes and hands off him. Even when we were at the mansion, I couldn’t let my guard down."

[User] "Er, I think that might be overstating it just a little…" Subaru and Rem lightheartedly responded to Wilhelm’s remark.

[Assistant] "Seems like someone’s meeting with Crusch again?" Subaru smiled weakly after hearing Rem’s seemingly earnest reply as he shifted his gaze to the area in front of the mansion’s entrance as he posed the question, looking at the dragon carriage outside the iron-barred front gate.


[User] Subaru saw that the red land dragon drawing it along had a very glossy-scaled hide. The driver, wearing formal clothes of his own, did not engage in pleasantries beyond a simple acknowledgment with his eyes.

[Assistant] "Correct. Now that she is participating in the royal selection, Lady Crusch cannot refuse those who request an audience with her. Of course, she invited some of them herself.”

[User] “Guess all sorts come out of the woodwork to meet with a potential future king. Well, I guess even people like that have their own problems…”

[Assistant] Wilhelm broke into a wan smile as Subaru briskly stated the facts. But then, the old man’s face twitched. His blue eyes peered into Subaru’s, seemingly searching for something. "Sir Subaru. Have you had some change of heart while you were away?”

[User] “Ehh? What is it all of a sudden? Did I become a lady-killer in the two or three hours I was gone?”

[Assistant] “You wear the visage of a man haunted by an ordeal…and one of no small consequence.”

[User] Subaru responded to the words with nonchalance, but his expression changed. It shifted from a vague smile to a “real” one. "Oh, Wilhelm, you big kidder. What, you think I went through some kind of weird transformation?”

[Assistant] “It is difficult for me to call it a minor change. There must be a reason why there is now such a dark glint in your eyes— I understand better than most.”

[User] As the man nodded, Subaru realized that he had never taken a good look at Wilhelm’s eyes. Wilhelm was an individual seething with hatred against someone for some unforgivable sin, which was no doubt why he had noticed the flames of hatred burning within Subaru. "Are you…going to kick me out?”

[Assistant] “No. It is no doubt best to let you do what you wish, Sir Subaru. I much prefer you as you are now, rather than how you were but a short time ago.”

[User] The two exchanged dark smiles. Though neither shared what tormented him on the inside, they understood each other at least on the surface. "Subaru. You are making a bad face.”

[Assistant] “Hee-hee-hee… Er, ow, ow, ow! Hey, Rem! You’ll tear it off…!” The pair’s excessively dark exchange was interrupted when Rem painfully pulled on Subaru’s ear. "Please do not give me reasons to worry.”

[User] “Hey, it’s super rare for you to ask for something, but you’re being way too vague. In any case, you can relax. I’ll deal with everything from here on out, somehow.”

[Assistant] Rem, unable to keep track of the conversation, had grown concerned.

[User] Subaru poured as much affection as he could into a smile. Now that he knew what he needed to do, Subaru didn’t feel apprehensive at all.


[User] Subaru wondered why Rem’s face seemed even more concerned than before.

[Assistant] "It would appear that the guest will be taking his leave." As Wilhelm murmured, a man exited the mansion’s entry hall and began striding toward them.

[User] "My, my. What unusual people." The visitor’s smile was warm as he reached the front of the gate, touching the well-groomed beard on his chin.

[Assistant] "Ahh, pardon my rudeness. I am called Russel Fellow. I hope we can see more of each other in the future…Subaru Natsuki."

[User] “…Thank you kindly. Incidentally, how do you know my name? Someone give it to you? Anonymity is more my speed, so if my name gets around, I’ll be too embarrassed to go about my business.”

[Assistant] "Just a little something I heard through the grapevine. After all, you are a famous man who declared himself the knight of Lady Emilia, candidate at the royal selection conference. That being said, few are aware that this very person is currently staying at Lady Crusch’s residence."

[User] "Mr. Russel. Did your meeting with Lady Crusch go well?" Wilhelm briskly interrupted with an aside.

[Assistant] "Unfortunately, no. Lady Crusch is a remarkably strict person. She turns rather sharp eyes toward us, as she is quite strict in her views. Judging from events to date, swaying her will not be easy.” Russel shrugged and shook his head.

[User] "Is that so? How unfortunate. If you have not yielded, it will be difficult to make others agree."

[Assistant] "With a noble title and you on her side, I think it is the other candidates I should pity, Mr. Wilhelm… You call yourself Wilhelm Trias now, yes?"

[User] Wilhelm nodded in response to Russel’s words, lowering his deeply wrinkled face.

[Assistant] "As I am now, nothing good will come from invoking the name of my wife’s family."

[User] "You are very strict as well, so much so that I am mightily impressed as someone who cannot live in the same fashion. That being said, allow me to cheer on your side."


[User] “Should Lady Crusch succeed in her current endeavors, we would feel nothing but delight. It would help achieve your great ambition as well, Mr. Wilhelm. I have high hopes.” With that, Russel climbed aboard the dragon carriage.

[Assistant] Wordlessly, the driver saluted and spurred the land dragon to a run.

[User] Subaru watched the dragon carriage fade into the distance. "Wilhelm, who was that guy?”

[Assistant] “Russel Fellow, treasurer for the Merchant’s Guild operating here in the royal capital. In name, he is a merchant like any other, but he is a crafty manipulator of both legitimate and unscrupulous movements of goods in the capital. It would be wise to assume he knows more about you than simply your name, Sir Subaru.”

[User] “Eww. It’s downright creepy to have an older man interested in me instead of a girl.”

[Assistant] “Mm, I share that sentiment. Now, then—” After his response to Subaru’s casual banter, Wilhelm turned to face them once more. “Mr. Russel was the last visitor for today. I had thought to finally head in, but…did you have something you wished to discuss, Sir Subaru?”

[User] Subaru scratched his face, feeling awkward about throwing off Wilhelm’s plans. “Sorry, but I’m the last visitor for today. I want to have a talk with Crusch—the topic is…whether she could lend me a hand with something.”


[Assistant] “That you are my final visitor for today is an amusing turn of events.” Heedless of the fact that her schedule had gone awry, Crusch responded with a good-humored smile. Dressed in male attire, Crusch was sitting heavily in a chair in the reception room with her legs elegantly crossed. She stroked her deep-green hair, her amber eyes narrowing as her gaze pierced his chest.

[User] Ferris stood behind Crusch, his feline ears twitching as he glared at Subaru in obvious dismay.

[Assistant] “Fortunately, there is a break in my schedule between now and supper. I am able to humor you without any issues until then.”

[User] “Since mew asked out of the blue, this is the only time she has available, meow. The depth of Lady Crusch’s indulgence should make mew bow your head to the ground in gratitude, Subawuuu.”

[Assistant] “Do not be concerned. I need no thanks nor groveling.”

[User] “Oh my, Lady Crusch. Your gallantry and generosity are making me fall for you even more… I’m in love!”


[User] "Beating around the bush won’t solve anything, and I don’t think you like that stuff, anyway." Subaru needed to be careful how he broached the topic.

[Assistant] "You sought this audience. I shall let you start— What is it you want?" She really did get right to the point.

[User] Subaru licked his dry lips to moisten them, took a deep breath, and dived in. "The Witch Cult or whatever it’s called is planning to attack Roswaal’s territory. I want you to lend me your strength so we can crush them." Subaru cut right to the issue at hand: These were the conditions necessary for fulfilling his goal.

[Assistant] "I see. The Witch Cult, is it?" Subaru’s request garnered various reactions from the others in the reception room, but Crusch nodded. When her glossy lips turned up in a wry smile, Subaru was startled by this side of her he hadn’t seen before. Her response had betrayed all of Subaru’s expectations.

[User] Subaru’s heart beat hard and fast as he waited for Crusch’s next action.

[Assistant] "What is the matter? I told you, this is your time to speak." While Subaru hesitated, the thin smile remained on Crusch’s face as she inclined her head.

[User] "Er, I mean… It’s as I said just now."

[Assistant] "Surely you do not intend to conclude with that request alone? What is your reason for asking this of me? What will come about as a result? What advantage would I gain from accepting your call for aid? One cannot dub this a negotiation when those things are not yet clear."

[User] Urk. Subaru’s voice caught.

[Assistant] Crusch seemed turned off as she closed one of her eyes. From that gesture alone, Subaru knew just how impudent he had been.

[User] "I suppose you’re right about that. Sorry, that was rude of me. I mean, er, bear with me a little; I don’t really have any experience with negotiations like this."

[Assistant] "It’s only natural to acknowledge personal shortcomings. Do not worry. But this conversation lasts only until supper—keep this in mind."

[User] "First, the reason I’m asking for your help… Put simply, we don’t have enough manpower, way too little to stand up against the number of Witch Cult attackers. As a result, we can’t fend off the assault."

[Assistant] "A simple story. But is Lord Mathers not sufficient by himself? He may well be the strongest fighter out of anyone in Lugunica. The Witch Cult should be no match when relying on numbers alone."

[User] "If they all gathered in one place, that might be the case, but it’s not."


[User] "There’s only one of Roswaal, and they’ll be attacking at least two places at once.”

[Assistant] He remembered hearing “sweeping clean” and the like multiple times. It was possible they’d assault even passing dragon carriages and traveling merchants.

[User] “I see. I understand your position. However, is this not Lord Mathers neglecting his domain? The duty of a lord is to maintain his martial might to keep the peace. If his overconfidence has led him to be lax in these duties, his reputation as marquis will inevitably suffer.”

[Assistant] “I can’t disagree with a single word you said. Anyway, for those reasons, we don’t have enough to deal with the Witch Cult. I want something to fight with, the power of numbers.”

[User] He glanced sideways at Wilhelm, concealing that Roswaal and the power he brought to the table might not even be present.

[Assistant] Crusch exhaled as she seemed to sink into deep thought. “The Witch Cult… They are finally making a move, I see…”

[User] “Mm-hmm. Well, we figured as much when Lady Emilia, a half-elf, rose onto the stage…” As Crusch murmured and Ferris agreed, master and servant nodding to each other.

[Assistant] Subaru furrowed his brows.

[User] Subaru shifted his focus to his side—where Rem, seated there, silently pursed her lips as fierce emotion poured out of her. The expression on her profile was intentionally blank, but her internal turmoil was obvious.

[Assistant] The Witch Cult, the object of Rem’s hatred, was now Subaru’s greatest enemy. He probably had the same look in his eyes as she did.

[User] “Your circumstances are clear now. Next, I’ll hear the reason for choosing to ask my house for aid…and your logic in doing so.”

[Assistant] “I picked you and your people because you have the best chance of turning this thing around. Besides, you’ve given Rem and me your hospitality, and I think it’s easier to work with you than the other candidates.”

[User] Subaru had expected this line of questioning, so he had an answer prepared. Deep down, he believed there were others who were easier to deal with than Crusch.

[Assistant] Subaru’s own sentiments, and the ease of contacting her at the moment, had led him to the current meeting.

[User] “Easier to work with, you say.”

[Assistant] “Yeah, that’s right. That’s why I wanted to come speak to you about th—”

[User] “Subaru Natsuki, allow me to correct you about one thing.” As she received Subaru’s reply, Crusch gave him a beaming smile, rich in meaning, as she raised a single finger. "My hospitality for you as a host has engendered a misunderstanding. For this, I apologize.”

[Assistant] “…What do you mean, a misunderstanding?”

[User] “I am not treating you like an enemy."


[User] "However, Emilia and I are already political rivals. Do you see? Emilia stands in opposition to me.”

[Assistant] “Er, but you took us under your roof…”

[User] “Because a contract had been formed. Your treatment is part of that agreement. Regardless of how I treat you in this mansion, it does not change our position as rivals beyond these doors.”

[Assistant] Even the first time around, Crusch had declared that Subaru would be her enemy the moment the contract was over. It was both a sincere statement of fact and a declaration that it was useless to seek anything from her.

[User] “In other words, there’s no chance of joining forces with you?”

[Assistant] “That is a different matter altogether. As I said before, Subaru Natsuki, if there are to be negotiations, there must be acceptable benefits for both sides. Everything until now, including your motivations, have served only to clarify your premises. I merely wish to ask from your point of view what I stand to gain from lending you military strength. After all…” Crusch’s words trailed off. She put down an elbow, resting her chin against her palm.

[User] “It could be said that no explanation was really necessary. Now that Emilia’s lineage is common knowledge, we have been expecting the Witch Cult to make a move. Regardless of the circumstances, we were already sure of this.”

[Assistant] Apparently, Crusch had never questioned that the Witch Cult would try something. Perhaps it could be called common knowledge peculiar to her world. Either way, it was working in Subaru’s favor.

[User] “That being the case, this negotiation hinges on mutual benefit. In your case, you would be able to borrow my house’s might to eliminate the menace of the Witch Cult. What of my house, then? This is what I ask you.”

[Assistant] “S-simply saving people isn’t—”

[User] “It would be ideal, in a sense, if that were reason enough for us to mobilize.” The gaze Crusch turned upon Subaru was like a blade, cutting apart the illusion in his reply as it aimed to inflict a mortal wound.

[Assistant] Subaru desperately grasped for a comeback before he was shut down altogether. "Ahh, right. For example, lending a hand in this time of crisis would mean that our camp would owe you a pretty big favor…”

[User] “—Am I to take that to mean you understand that if I accept your proposal, it would entail Emilia’s forfeiture in the royal selection?”

[Assistant] “Eh?” The sharp thrust of her comment left Subaru’s mouth hanging open.

[User] “It is natural, yes? Throwing yourself at the mercy of another lord when your own territory is in danger is an issue of fitness for the throne. If someone cannot protect their subjects through the rule of law and strength of arms, how can they be expected to shoulder the burden of an entire kingdom? Subaru Natsuki. I shall correct you about one more thing.” Crusch pointed the tip of her finger toward Subaru, cowed into silence, as if ready to drive it through him.


[User] "By conducting these negotiations, you bear Emilia’s fate on your shoulders. Naturally, everything you say affects her, and it carries the same weight as Emilia’s words. This is not a decision you should make lightly, nor are the words you say easily taken back.”

[Assistant] “…Ah, uh…”

[User] “Moreover, I ask again—should you owe me in this matter, it will mean the defeat of the Emilia camp. Are you truly fine with this?”

[Assistant] It was only at this moment that Subaru began to genuinely understand his position. They were not participating in a lighthearted after-school debate club where Subaru had no real responsibility to bear. Theirs was a great stage where a single statement could alter the fates of many people or even decide the direction the entire kingdom would take. “But even so…” Too late, he realized what a heavy burden he carried on his shoulders. But Subaru ground his teeth.

[User] Just as Crusch said, borrowing her strength under the present terms meant that Emilia would lose her place in the royal selection—a failure from which there was no turning back. But if he didn’t lean on Crusch’s strength, all that awaited was the rampage of the Witch Cult’s fanatics and tragedy. Subaru’s brain painfully creaked from the ceaseless back-and-forth of the scales in his head. “—Still, I want you to help us.”

[Assistant] “…Even if it means losing the royal selection?”

[User] “It’s better to be alive than not. If you die, that’s the end of everything.” Subaru’s shoulders fell as he replied, unable to conceal his dejection and despair at his own powerlessness.

[Assistant] If you die, then it’s over. The terrible spectacle of the ruined village, of Rem, who was sitting right beside him, meeting a cruel death—Subaru didn’t have the courage to witness it again. He lowered his head and swallowed the humiliation. It was necessary so he could at least save their lives.

[User] "Understood. In that case, the House of Karsten shall not lend you any assistance whatsoever.”


[Assistant] 4 For an instant, Subaru froze, unable to process what had just been said to him. “—Huh?” It was less a word and more a sound of doubt that was also a simple indication of incomprehension.

[User] But Crusch brushed it off, crossing her slender legs. “I repeat. Your request for my house to send aid to the Mathers domain—to lend military forces to Emilia—is hereby rejected.”

[Assistant] Subaru gritted his teeth as Crusch spelled it out in terms he could understand. Feeling belittled by her composed statement, Subaru flew into a rage. “Don’t f—! Why are you…? !”

[User] “First, the advantage to my side that you so bitterly conceded—Emilia’s defeat in the royal selection—has no weight as a bargaining chip of use in these negotiations. Do you understand why?”

[Assistant] “Wh-what the hell? Kissing one of your rivals good-bye should be plenty worth it for you…”

[User] “Do you realize what you have said?


[User] "As far as Emilia’s defeat is concerned, it will come about without any intervention on my part whatsoever.”

[Assistant] "What are…” …you saying? Subaru would have said, but then he realized it for himself.

[User] "As you have stated, without aid, Emilia cannot protect the Mathers domain. Meaning, at this rate, and completely without my involvement, Emilia will be defeated in the royal selection.”

[User] “Indeed, were I to recklessly lend assistance, the knowledge I was involved in Emilia’s defeat would itself become a problem with the other candidates. As you are aware, my house is currently the favorite to win this royal selection. If it became known that I booted another candidate from the contest, I could not fail to attract the enmity of all the others.”

[Assistant] In other words, as long as she quietly watched, Crusch would gain the benefit Subaru had indicated with no harm to herself. There was no reason for her to court danger unnecessarily; it would be akin to snatching chestnuts out of a fire. But that meant—

[User] “You’re going to let the people in Roswaal’s…in that village be slaughtered by the Witch Cult’s attack? !” Subaru had shouted, but Crusch’s icy gaze gave him pause.

[Assistant] “I shall correct your misunderstanding. And I am changing the subject, Subaru Natsuki.”

[User] "Ugh…!”

[Assistant] “It is Emilia’s lack of power to protect her domain and Emilia’s lack of ability that has invited disaster upon her populace, not mine.”

[User] Lack of power…lack of ability—the weight of those words shocked him. Subaru felt a need to rail against Crusch’s claims. And yet, the childish, emotional retorts welling up within him did not grant him the strength to refute Crusch’s sound argument.

[Assistant] “It would seem you have said your piece.” Crusch checked the time, as indicated by the amber light of the magic time crystal above the reception room’s door. “It shall soon be Earth Time. Time for supper. All according to schedule, apparently.”

[User] Seeing Crusch about to rise from her seat, Subaru was suddenly stricken by nervousness as he called out,

[Assistant] “W-wait!” He raised his hand to stop Crusch from breaking off the conversation, desperately searching inside his head for some way to keep negotiations going. “Y-you’ll really abandon them? The folks in the village haven’t done anything wrong! There’s no reason for them to die!” But the words that came out of Subaru’s mouth were little more than a feeble attempt to appeal to another’s charity. A faint look of disappointment entered Crusch’s eyes as she listened to his immature reasoning.

[User] “I told you. I am not the one whose strength is insufficient…”

[Assistant] “Don’t you feel bad knowing and abandoning them anyway?! If you have the power to save them, why won’t you?! What’s wrong with helping people?! Because it’s someone else’s land, it’s not your problem? !”

[User] “Would you just shut up and listen a little—”

[Assistant] “It’s fine, Ferris.”

[User] “But Lady Crusch! This time he’s gone too far, meow!”

[Assistant] “He has bared his spirit."


[User] “It does not sit well with my beliefs to withhold an answer.”

[Assistant] Though Ferris howled in dismay, he quietly bowed to Crusch’s command.

[User] Watching him from the corner of her eye, Crusch sat straighter in her chair. After taking a deep breath, she mulled over Subaru’s statement. "You ask is it wrong of me to overlook this, to allow them to die?”

[Assistant] “That’s right! You’re aiming to be king, right?! Carry the whole country on your back? What kind of king overlooks a whole village? !”

[User] “I shall correct one misconception of yours.” Crusch raised a finger. Her gaze shot right through Subaru, seemingly reproaching him for his frivolousness. “When I rejected your proposal, I stated one reason. I shall elucidate the other chief reason for my doubts.” Crusch had another reason for not being open to Subaru’s proposal—the reason she was abandoning Emilia. And that was—

[Assistant] “And that is because I do not trust your story enough to order my house into action.” Her statement threw the premise of the entire meeting back at Subaru, stunning him.

[User] “Wh…aa?”

[Assistant] “The Witch Cult? Yes, it’s possible that they would make a move at this juncture. It would be consistent with their creed and their activities to date. I can make a deduction based on those factors. However, the problem lies elsewhere.”

[User] “Elsewhere…?”

[Assistant] “It is a simple matter. How is it that you can determine the exact place, date, and time of where they will strike next?” Pointing her finger toward Subaru, Crusch’s eyes and voice were like daggers. “The Cult is absolutely inscrutable, to the point that its true nature is completely unknown. It’s telling that their organization has survived for hundreds of years while evading destruction, causing immense damage in the meantime. So how exactly have you learned of their next vile act?”

[User] “That’s… But you never said a word of that before…!”

[Assistant] “I did not feel the need to be that explicit. Since you could not accept it, I pointed out the heart of the matter for you. If you still cannot, there is but one possibility.” In place of Subaru, cowed into silence, Crusch slowly spelled it out for him.

[User] “Naturally, wouldn’t you know about the Witch Cult if you were part of it?”

[Assistant] “Don’t mess with—!” This time, fierce, irrepressible emotion rushed to his throat to turn into a scream. But it stopped just on the verge of that, though not because of Subaru’s self-control.

[User] “—” That reason was the increasingly ghastly aura rising from Rem as she silently watched the exchange between Crusch and Subaru.

[Assistant] “Lady Crusch, surely you jest.”

[User] Crusch tilted her head at the modesty of Rem’s tone, no different from before. "There is no way that Subaru could be part of the Witch Cult.”

[Assistant] “Is that so? Judging by Subaru Natsuki’s statement, if he cannot voice the reason he has such knowledge, I can reach no other conclusion.


[User] "Have you not sensed for yourself why I say this?”

[Assistant] "—I have not.”

[User] No doubt Crusch detected the slight hesitation in her statement. “At any rate. For both of these reasons, my house cannot lend Emilia aid due to insufficient trust. Moreover, you have not been granted the right to act as a negotiator in the first place, have you?”

[Assistant] “Ugh…”

[User] “Earlier, I threatened you by stating that Emilia’s advance or retreat rested upon your shoulders, but in truth, the problem precedes even that. At this juncture, you have no responsibility at all.”


[Assistant] He’d charged ahead alone, tried to protect things alone, and failed alone.

[User] Crusch’s words calmly tore into Subaru’s bared heart. “…As you are now, meekly remaining here under my protection, you possess no power that can move me.”

[User] Over and over again, her words crashed into him, exposing Subaru’s helplessness, pressing onto him his ignorance, driving home his spinelessness, and mocking him for being senseless, rash, indiscreet, and ugly, with backhanded sympathy thrown in for good measure. Subaru was overwhelmed by the realization that absolutely nothing had gone the way he wanted.

[Assistant] “The Witch Cult is coming! They’re going to slaughter everyone in the village…!” Subaru pleaded with so much anger and sadness that he felt like his throat was about to burst.

[User] He’d seen it. He’d felt each and every one of their deaths. All the precious people he cared about had turned to white crystal as everything in the world froze over.

[Assistant] “Kill them…just kill them already! Don’t you get it?! You can’t let people like that live! Kill them! Help me, damn it…! !” Subaru fell to his knees, prostrating himself as he earnestly implored her for assistance.


[User] Torn apart by her cold voice and gaze, Subaru was speechless, his shoulders trembling. Engulfed by a torrent of emotions, Subaru no longer knew whether he was feeling anger, sadness, or some strange mixture of the two.

[Assistant] "No… I—I just want to save everyone…"

[User] Crusch’s conclusion was off the mark. The idea that he acted solely because of hatred for the Witch Cult was nothing more than a misunderstanding from an incomplete perspective. Subaru’s feelings were always rooted in trying to help others, weren’t they? And yet, he could not raise a single word in rebuttal.

[Assistant] "You cannot deceive others with the lies you tell yourself. Right now, the glint in your eyes can only be called bloodlust or madness. Have you not noticed, Subaru Natsuki?" Crusch’s gaze was both harsh and yet filled with something that resembled pity. "They have been like that ever since the moment you returned to the mansion."

[User] Unwittingly, he covered his eyes, as if to find out for himself that which he could not see, even though it only further proved that he could not refute Crusch’s accusation.

[Assistant] "I do not know why you are so obsessed with the Witch Cult. The Cult has perverted the lives of many. Perhaps you are one among them. Perhaps your anger and hatred are entirely just. However, that is irrelevant in these negotiations."

[User] "Even if—even if I hate the Witch Cult, so what? Th-they’re the blight of this world. It’d be better if you just killed every last one of ’em. It’s true, that’s what I think, but it isn’t a reason to break off negotiations and abandon people…!"

[Assistant] "Do not change the subject again, Subaru Natsuki. It’s true; my suspicion that hatred is the reason for your conduct is unrelated to negotiations. More precisely, the fact that you are unfit to negotiate with me is of great import, for it brings into question the propriety of what you seek to discuss."

[User] "What do you mean…unfit?" Subaru, clenching his teeth to the point that they seeped blood, kept lobbing questions in an attempt to cling to something. The end of this conversation meant the end of negotiations. That was his pressing fear.

[Assistant] "If my hypothesis is correct, and the motivation for your actions is an unbridled loathing for the Witch Cult, then I can only wonder if you approached Emilia purely to use her as a stepping-stone in the first place."

[User] "I…approach her…stepping-stone…?"

[Assistant] "It was clear that if Emilia participated in the royal selection and the circumstances of her birth were made public, the Witch Cult would predictably move according to its beliefs. If someone was hoping to catch the cultists under their thumb despite the fact that it was normally impossible to find even a trace of their activities, no other plan could have greater odds of success."

[User] "You’re saying I’m using Emilia as a pretense to get revenge?


[User] "Do you think your display just now and simply yelling ‘no’ can convince me…? Hatred shows clearly in your eyes, and bloodlust oozes from your every word, the sort that clings to a person so thickly and grows so hard, it can never be scraped away, let alone forgotten.” Subaru pounded his fist into the table before him, raising a shout at the unbelievable accusation.

[Assistant] “They’re evil whether I hate them or not! You can’t let people like that live! That’s why we should kill them all! That’ll save everyone! It’ll help everybody! No one has to suffer—those bastards just need to die! !”

[User] "I have told you already, Subaru Natsuki. If you do not even believe the lies you tell yourself, there is no chance they will deceive anyone else.” While Subaru breathed raggedly, his eyes bloodshot, Crusch refuted him in a hard voice.

[Assistant] "Bereft of hatred, bloodlust, and bile toward the Witch Cult, your statements are unconvincing.” As Subaru’s shoulders heaved, she looked up at him with narrowed eyes from her seat.

[User] "Wh-why…?” Subaru spoke with a broken voice.

[Assistant] "Do you really not understand?” Crusch looked at him with sympathy and pity in her eyes.

[User] “—You have not said, ‘I want to save Emilia,’ even once.” She lowered her eyes, unable to conceal her disappointment and dismay at his reaction. Subaru’s brows furrowed with perplexity at what Crusch was getting at.

[Assistant] “…Huh?”

[User] “You claim to want to save people, to protect people, smoothing things over on the surface while darker emotions boil up inside you. At the very least, it is inconsistent with what I saw of you in the throne room.”

[Assistant] “—” Subaru wavered, his gaze hollow. Unable to understand the meaning of Crusch’s words.


[User] "I cannot permit you to advance any farther.” Wilhelm stands straight in front of Subaru. The elderly man had placed himself beside the table separating Subaru and Crusch with compassion on his deeply wrinkled face. Subaru’s mind was instantly jolted back to reality.

[Assistant] "—Subaru.” Rem was grasping Subaru’s sleeve, her eyes filled with sadness.

[User] "Please calm down. Nothing will come of losing control here.


[User] "And if you do, I won’t be able to fight off Master Wilhelm.”

[Assistant] “…Control? What are you talking about? I’d never do anything viole—”

[User] “Wait, wait, wait. Then what do mew intend to do with that tablespoon you’re squeezing so hard? Maybe your parents raised you badly, but that’s not how you hold one, meow.”

[Assistant] When Ferris pointed it out, Subaru realized for the first time that he was holding a tablespoon in his right hand—and that he was crudely gripping it backward, like he was going to stab someone with it. —How… When did I…?

[User] "Just like Rem pointed out, violence will get you nothing, meow. If you fly into a rage here, I’ll just keep Rem occupied while Old Man Wil slices you in half.”

[Assistant] “Moreover, I do not want to issue such a command. To do so after you have stayed here for several days would cause political problems, and I would rather not stain the carpet that my father sent me as a present.” In the face of Subaru’s insolence, Crusch still behaved reservedly. This was at once a display of the greatness of her character and scorn for the powerlessness of Subaru, who had nothing to wield in anger save a tiny utensil. All of it really rubbed him the wrong way. But instead of an apology, dogged insistence came out of his mouth.

[User] “…So you’re not going to lend a hand, no matter what, then?”

[Assistant] “Correct. Your statements are not credible, nor does cooperating with you hold any attractiveness for my side. Accordingly, I shall observe from a distance.”

[User] “The Witch Cult…is coming. When they get here, they’re going to kill all the people in that village. Knowing but not doing anything means it’ll be your ‘Sloth’ that kills the village.” Subaru glared at Crusch, invoking the title of a certain despicable madman.

[Assistant] “Quite arrogantly put. Consequently, there is one more thing for me to add.” While Subaru gave her a filthy look, Crusch stood up, staring straight back into his eyes.

[User] “I am able to largely discern whether a person is lying. I can boast that, since far back, I have never once been cheated in negotiations.” Suddenly, Crusch began to speak on a different topic. She continued to peer into Subaru’s eyes as they clouded with doubt.

[Assistant] “If my experience is anything to judge by, what you speak are not lies.”

[User] “Th-then…!”

[Assistant] “You wholly believe that your assertions are the truth, and therefore, they are not lies to you. Those in such a state are called madmen, Subaru Natsuki.” It was then and there that Subaru clearly understood that negotiations had failed.


[User] Continuous clenching of his teeth had cut the edge of his lip, sending blood dribbling down his jaw.

[Assistant] Crusch narrowed her eyes as she watched the painful image. "Ferris, go ahead and heal him."

[User] "I don’t need it!" Before Ferris could move a muscle, Subaru rejected the offer and stood, practically leaping from his chair. "Suppertime is here. Will you not be joining us?"

[Assistant] "You wouldn’t want to eat at the same table as a madman, would you? No matter how eccentric your taste or style might be, that’d be a bit too far even for you.” Subaru replied to sarcasm with sarcasm as he reached for the reception room door.

[User] Following suit, Rem stood at attention and politely bowed to Crusch. “It has been a short time, but thank you for the hospitality. On behalf of my master, I offer my thanks.”

[Assistant] “So this is your…no, Marquis Mathers’s reply?”

[User] “Yes. He instructed me to respect Subaru’s wishes in all things.”

[Assistant] Rem stated her farewells.

[User] “Rem, let’s go.” Picking up the pace, Subaru called out to Rem and opened the door.

[Assistant] “Have you anywhere else to turn to?”

[User] “Make sure you become a good king, okay? The despotic type that tosses aside the weak.” Spitting out his reply without turning around, Subaru slammed the door shut.


[Assistant] It was well into the evening when Subaru bolted out into the Nobles’ District after negotiations had broken down. The sun had already dipped low in the west. The aura of night was slowly creeping over the world. With the light of the crystal lamps lining the road shining down upon him, Subaru leaned back against an iron fence, spitting out curses.

[User] “Shit. One thing after another…” The exchange with Crusch rose in the back of his mind—and with it, the humiliation he had suffered.

[Assistant] “Those know-nothings… Why don’t they understand I’m doing the right thing…? !” The swirling vortex inside his chest was emotion close to hatred toward the woman who had impeded his path.

[User] “Fine. Fine already. My messing up, people with no feelings, gotta forget all that. Right now I need to focus more on what’s in front of me…!”

[Assistant] Rather than stand still and mope, the right choice was to move forward, one small step at a time. After all, to Subaru, with so few cards to play, time was a precious thing.


[User] "Sorry to keep you waiting, Subaru." While Subaru tapped a foot in annoyance, Rem passed through the gate, returning to her spot beside him. She was carrying the luggage they had brought with them to the Crusch residence, neatly packed up and ready to go.

[Assistant] “…Sorry. Gimme the luggage; I’ll haul it.”

[User] “It is fine. The bags are not heavy, and you are still recovering, Subaru.” Rem politely declined Subaru’s offer and hefted the luggage in her arms.

[Assistant] “Come to think of it, you weren’t opposed to leaving, were you, Rem?”

[User] “Correct. It was your choice, Subaru.”

[Assistant] “Well, after all that, I can’t exactly come crawling back for more healing. Whatever Emilia bargained for it, I feel bad for her.”

[User] "Subaru. About the…negotiations with Lady Crusch…”

[Assistant] “She made a big deal about trustworthiness, benefits, and other pointless crap. No shred of human decency in her. How can anyone put up with that high-and-mighty attitude—?” Subaru interrupted Rem with his curses, cutting off her attempt to raise the subject.

[User] “What will we do now, Subaru? If what you say is true, there is not a single moment to lose.”

[Assistant] “If?”

[User] “…There is not a single moment to lose. Will we be returning to Master Roswaal’s mansion?”

[Assistant] Subaru interjected about a part of her line that bugged him, but Rem didn’t bite. Subaru shook his head in response to her latter question. "Nah. Right now, if it’s just us heading back, there’s not a whole lot we can do. We’ve gotta go with a big enough crew to put up a decent fight. And if we can’t do that, we need to find another way somehow.”

[User] “We just don’t have the numbers. What the hell has Roswaal been up to…?”


[User] "Subaru. Actually, in regards to Master Roswaal… There is a very high chance he will be absent from the mansion for several days.”

[Assistant] "—?! You knew? So Roswaal not being at the mansion was preplanned?”

[User] "Master Roswaal was to visit Garfiel’s… Er, the place of an important individual within the dominion, and he planned to stay there for several days.”

[Assistant] "Shit, his timing sucks! So that’s why they can’t repel the attack!” Subaru claws at his head as he spat his frustrations like a curse.

[User] "Looks like I was right. I’ve gotta bring the cavalry with me somehow…” Subaru, revisiting his first conclusion with renewed confidence, nodded to Rem, who watched him all the while.

[Assistant] "Anyway, we’ve got no choice but to look for help from someone else. Rem, how well do you know the layout of the capital?”

[User] "Fairly well, since I have come here several times before and spent quite a bit of time looking around with you over the past few days… But who?”

[Assistant] "First, let’s find an inn. The rest comes after that. At the latest, we need to leave the capital tomorrow or we won’t make it in time. Anyway…I’ll think about everything after that.”

[User] Subaru bluntly told Rem that they had to prepare to the greatest extent possible. Subaru looked up at the sky without another word.


[User] "—I may not look it, but I am a surprisingly avid reader." The girl who spoke was sitting in an extravagant chair, resting one elbow upon it. She was flipping through an exquisitely bound book in her other arm, already perusing the latter half, and the sight made her seem different from the girl Subaru remembered. She wore a long-sleeve red nightgown similar to a negligee with an identically colored cape draped over her shoulders. Her voluptuous body was plain to see in her outfit, but the girl showed no outward sign of concern that a man was present.

[Assistant] The girl was so natural, completely immersed in her book, that it was easy to forget she was in the middle of receiving a guest.

[User] Subaru felt himself unintentionally taken in by the solemnity of her gestures. Her graceful white fingertip traced the characters as her eyes passed over them. The young man felt like he could watch her all day. Perhaps it was because this unknown side of the girl before him had enchanted him.

[Assistant] As Subaru stepped on the carpeted floor in his sneakers, he felt unsure of what to do now that he’d been ignored. He was wondering if he was permitted to enter, but the lady of the household was not paying him any attention. When he’d tried to forcefully begin a conversation, she’d rebuffed him at the first word. Surely she wasn’t telling him to wait until she finished reading her book…

[User] "That’s excessive no matter how you cut it…" Though he tried to deny his unease, seeing her leisurely turn the pages made that difficult. In point of fact, Subaru knew that the girl’s personality was not incompatible with such irrationality. Her hair was orange, reminiscent of the sun; her eyes were crimson, like a fire that would scorch away everything it touched. She had glossy white skin and a striking feminine figure. The thick perfume wafting around her was like poison. It was difficult for the word beautiful to sufficiently capture the sight of her as she silently examined her book. How much favor must the heavens have shown her for her to be loved by all?

[Assistant] Her name was Priscilla Bariel. She was one of the candidates for the royal selection, as well as the next prospective cooperator Subaru sought an audience with.


[User] Subaru arrived without any forewarning.

[Assistant] The two had welcomed him in and lent an ear to his request, but…

[User] “The young master returned to the main household with his liege, Lady Felt, and her family some two days ago. We can offer contact with him from our side, but…”

[Assistant] Just as he’d mentioned during his visit to the Crusch residence, Reinhard had left. Even though he remembered what Reinhard had said, Subaru had still clung to a slender thread of hope, but his pleas went unanswered. Even if he could reach Reinhard somehow, the distance from the royal capital to the main household of the Astrea family, and from there, the distance to the Mathers lands, was fatal. The odds of him joining their forces in time were despairingly low.

[User] Subaru said his farewells to the elderly couple. Then, once he was out of sight of the mansion, he clutched his head.

[Assistant] “Roswaal and Reinhard are seriously useless, and right when I really need ’em, too…!”

[User] This time, everything was going wrong. One prospective collaborator fell through after another, leaving Subaru truly at the end of his rope. If only his Return by Death restore point brought him back to the night when he’d parted ways with Reinhard—

[Assistant] “If you don’t have it, you don’t have it… Think, think, think, think. I don’t have strength, numbers, time—anything. Racking my brain is the only thing I can do.” Desperately turning the gears in his head, Subaru earnestly fought to come up with the next best plan of action. Now that he’d scratched Crusch and Reinhard off the list, Subaru had scant few cards left in his hand to pick from. Considering the circumstances, pleading with the Knights of the kingdom would no doubt produce the same results as his negotiation with Crusch. Besides, Subaru felt nothing but mistrust toward them. —At the very least, now that Crusch, someone he thought he had a good relationship with, had abandoned him, a storm of paranoia toward others brewed inside Subaru. Not even realizing how this was narrowing his already limited options, Subaru could think of only two other people. However, one meant bowing his head to “The Finest of Knights,” someone he hated more than the Knights in general, which was unthinkable. That left Subaru with a single candidate.


[User] Rem caught up finally. Seeing Subaru deep in thought, she called out to him.

[Assistant] “Subaru, what should we do now? I—”

[User] “It’s all right. Leave it to me. You don’t have to do anything. Don’t…do anything. Just stay right behind me. That’s enough.”

[Assistant] After that interruption, Rem turned a frail smile toward Subaru as he continued thinking to himself.

[User] —I absolutely have to stop Rem from bearing the brunt of everything. Subaru knew that if it was to save him, Rem wouldn’t hesitate to hurl herself at danger and cast her life away. He had to protect her, no matter what.


[User] Subaru was certain that she was emotionally dependent on him, and it was his duty to save her. Whatever might happen, he had to avoid losing her. There was no other option. If he couldn’t protect Rem, saving Emilia and the villagers would lose all meaning. Even indulging his hatred of Petelgeuse would be—

[Assistant] "Wait, that’s…" Subaru touched his temple as an exceedingly violent thought instantly came to mind. Just then, it had almost seemed as if eliminating Petelgeuse was a higher priority than saving Emilia and the others. Wasn’t that exactly the thing Crusch had pointed out earlier…?

[User] “It’s all right. Everything’s all right. I’ll…get this right. I’m gonna do it. I…gotta do it.” Subaru reassured himself, seemingly speaking for his own benefit.

[Assistant] He ruminated on those words and pretended he had noticed nothing, as if he were putting a lid on top of a bottomless pit. This was the only way Subaru Natsuki could maintain his own sanity.


[User] The next morning, as dawn broke, the two returned to the Nobles’ District to follow the slender thread that bore Subaru’s remaining hopes. The Nobles’ District on the upper section of the royal capital was lined with dazzling buildings. The showy facade of the stately mansion Subaru and Rem arrived at did not betray their expectations. No, it was more appropriate to say that it was showier and more extravagant than they had imagined.

[Assistant] “No need to ask around for who this belongs to. I can’t imagine anyone would have a hard time figuring out the owner of this place…” Subaru was nonplussed. The sight of the luxurious mansion was not one he’d soon forget, even from afar. The roof was painted over with gold that cast the light of the morning sun in all directions, while a number of intricate images had been engraved into the walls. As far as he could see, there were even reliefs adorning the windows, and a number of statues he could only call avant-garde art dotted the courtyard. The home was an acute reflection of the tastes of a big spender. Subaru couldn’t help a dry smile when he considered how the spectacle so aggressively asserted the owner’s will.

[User] As Subaru was rooted to the spot in front of the gates, Rem stood beside him with a dumbfounded expression on her face for once. If the point of the building’s outward appearance was to give guests a shock, it had accomplished its goal ten times over.

[Assistant] “You’re not gonna tell me this was the previous owner’s style, are you? I feel sorry for him.”

[User] “Ahhhh, well actually this is the Princess’s tastes at work. It was a pretty extreme makeover, you know? I sympathize with the folks who worked straight through the night, but she slapped their cheeks with sacks of gold coins so they couldn’t complain.”

[Assistant] “Hey, that’s completely different from slapping people around with a wad of bills."


[User] "Whacking people with a bag of coins would totally count as actual violence.” The man standing on the other side of the gate laughed at Subaru’s joke. The man slid his thick fingers into the gap between his black helmet and his neck and scratched.

[Assistant] "So what are you doing out here at a time like this? As you can see, I have low blood pressure, so I’m seriously not a morning person. If you’re inviting me to go hunting for a bite or something, I might not be completely up for it.”

[User] “Nothing so tame as a family restaurant. Today, I’m here to speak with your Princess.”

[Assistant] “Princess…?” An unpleasant pause followed as the one-armed man seemed to mull it over. "Well, I did get to recharge my supply of maid energy, so I guess I can take a message.”

[User] “That was more meaningless than I expected. Besides, it’s not like you don’t have any maids in this mansion, right?”

[Assistant] “Hey now, you don’t understand Princess. You think we can have maids waltzing around when Princess thinks she’s the cutest in the whole world? The only thing we have in the mansion is a cute young butler.”

[User] “My fault for asking… It might lower the value some, but yeah, can you pass on a message for starters?”

[Assistant] “Sure thing,” Al answered in a casual voice, leisurely vanishing back inside the mansion.

[User] Rem, standing to the side and a single step behind him, maintained her silence as her neutral expression tightened. But through her fingertips, lightly grasping his sleeve, he could sense the worry she couldn’t hide.

[Assistant] “Well, it is ridiculously early in the morning… In that girl’s case, I’d expect her to say something like, ‘You are interfering with my precious time for slee—’”

[User] “Hey, you can come in and meet her!” Al poked his head out from the mansion’s entrance, his laid-back voice interrupting Subaru’s barb.

[Assistant] “I-isn’t it insanely early, though?”

[User] “You wouldn’t expect it, but Princess is one hell of a morning person."


[Assistant] As they followed behind him, it soon became clear that the building’s interior was similarly intense to the exterior. Even an untrained eye could tell. Expensive-looking fixtures and pieces of art were on display in the corridor, almost to the point of impeding movement. The apparently compulsive need to adorn even lamps and picture frames with gold felt like a form of insanity. “I suppose it’s all a little blinding at first, but you get used to it. It’s not as bad in the morning like this, but the halls are seriously scary at night.”

[User] “I’m not a little kid, so you don’t have to tell me the halls are scary at night. What kind of adult are you?”

[Assistant] “The eyes of the statues glow.”

[User] “Your master’s messed up in the head.” When Subaru examined the statues lining the hallway more closely, he noticed they had something like gemstones embedded in their eye sockets. They probably would glow when it got dark. Both purchaser and designer had a screw loose.

[Assistant] Rem followed behind both of them, and he could hear noises coming from her nose every so often. Rem had a keen sense of smell, and she’d apparently picked up some kind of unsavory scent, staring at the back of the iron helm as they walked along.

[User] The trek of the mismatched trio soon came to an end. “Princess is in the top room up there. The whole floor’s one really decked-out room.”

[Assistant] “Sounds kinda like a hotel suite. Can we go in?”

[User] “Well, you can, bro.” Al’s reply contained a clear implication when he approached the stairs and indicated the floor above with his thumb.

[Assistant] At the unsettling undertone, Subaru shifted a guarded look his way. “Hey now, I’m not saying it to be mean. Princess said she’d only meet with you. The young lady’ll be escorted to the guest room.”

[User] “You think I’ll just hand her over when you were talking about recharging your maid energy earlier…?”

[Assistant] “You got me there, but don’t worry, I’ll be waiting right here in front of Princess’s room. It’s a pity, but I’ll leave escorting the young lady to my senior, Schult.” Anticipating Subaru’s concerns, Al’s voice suggested he was barely restraining his laughter when he snapped his fingers. Immediately, a young man with curly pink hair and red eyes appeared. The only words Subaru could think of to capture the youth’s essence were pretty boy. His small frame was dressed in a butler’s outfit, while his face showed a stern, fervent devotion to his duties, but somehow, he gave off the impression of a pervert. “Take good care of our guest, now.”

[User] “Yes, leave it to me.” When Al gave the youth a pat on the shoulder, the pretty-boy butler offered a formal reply and proceeded to escort Rem.


[User] Instantly, she glanced back at Subaru, seemingly at a loss. "Sorry. Wait up for me until we’re finished talking. All the dangerous people in this mansion, Helmet Guy included, are gonna be on the top floor, so just relax and wait up.”

[Assistant] “That’s harsh, bro, making me out to be some suspicious guy. Though intruders do say that about me pretty often.” Subaru ignored Al’s peevish reply and stroked Rem’s head to put her at ease.

[User] Rem almost closed her eyes like she was ticklish, bowing her head as she resigned herself to the inevitable. Afterward, she gently drew close to him and whispered an additional word of caution. “Understood—please be especially wary of that person.” Rem’s eyes looked at Al for only a single moment.

[Assistant] “Mm, got it.” Subaru nodded and smiled.


[User] “Phew. Not bad, bro. I see she’s really sweet on you.”

[Assistant] “If you’re gonna do that, just do a proper whistle. Not that I can whistle with you.”

[User] “Ah, no can do. Lips aren’t intact. I can’t manage a real whistle.”

[Assistant] “Th-that so. Sorry ’bout that.”

[User] “Well, it’s a pity to keep the young lady waiting like this, and Princess gets annoyed and scary if you make her sit around too long. Better head upstairs, pronto.”

[Assistant] “Short and sweet. Big help… Incidentally, what’s Priscilla’s mood like today?”

[User] “Mm, I don’t think it’s particularly good or bad, so that means you really can’t go in expecting anything. Princess’s moods can change before, after, or during a conversation, and they can go up, down, left, right, or bounce all around the place. What she likes to talk about isn’t set in stone. You need to be good at ad-libbing to get by.”

[Assistant] “So a no-prep match… The worst kind for me.” He climbed upstairs, slipped past a dancing hall, and came to a door—an exceedingly ornamented one.

[User] “This is Princess’s way-too-big private room. She never calls me inside, so I’ll wait here while you go ahead.” Ever relaxed, Al sat on the stairs leading up to the door. As he did so, he drew his curved broadsword from his back-of-the-hip sheath and laid it over his lap. “She’s not in that bad a mood, is she?


[User] "I don’t wanna get sliced to ribbons, and I’m tired of dealing with her when she’s unreasonable and in a temper.”

[Assistant] “…Sorry, but she’s dumped a lot of her unreasonable demands on me, too.”

[User] After Al gave his petition a blunt reply, Subaru took a deep breath and pushed open the door.


[Assistant] And so, we return to the beginning of Subaru’s standoff with Priscilla. After he entered, Subaru spotted Priscilla waiting for him at the far end. She sat in a chair positioned above some stairs, elegantly continuing to read, not acknowledging Subaru at all. Without an opening line to get things started, Subaru’s bewilderment and nervousness only grew as time steadily pressed onward. That’s why when the sound of Priscilla’s book suddenly closing shut reverberated through the room, Subaru’s shoulders jumped in surprise.

[User] “—Now, then.”

[Assistant] Subaru gritted his teeth a little, feeling like his weakness had been blatantly exposed.

[User] Priscilla, not looking like she cared one bit, stroked the cover of the closed volume as she made her remarks. “’Twas a boring tale.”

[Assistant] “…You sure looked like you were into it, though.”

[User] “When reading any book, it is proper to become immersed in the world between the pages and be able to state what was gained after finishing a tale. Only a fool would declare something boring without completing it.” It seemed she was as avid a reader as the claims said. After declaring the foolishness of appraising unfinished books, Priscilla took the volume she had read in full and tossed it into the air without warning.

[Assistant] “—Ahh.” Subaru watched, lost in bewilderment, as the soaring tome suddenly burst into flames. Scorched by the incredibly powerful fire, only black ashes remained dancing in the air.

[User] “Now then, this is robbing me of my precious morning reading time. At the very least, have you brought me a tale to pique my interest more than that book?” With a devious, crafty smile, Priscilla recrossed her lithe legs and pointed a white finger at Subaru.

[Assistant] He felt as if the heat of her fingertip were pressing against his forehead when he willed his parched tongue to move. “—It’s about Emilia, a royal selection candidate, same as you. I want you to lend me your strength so I can break her out of a tricky situation she’s in right now.”

[User] “—” Closing a single eye, Priscilla silently prodded Subaru to continue. Under her red gaze, completely unmoved, Subaru earnestly concentrated on the words he’d rehearsed. And so, he laid out everything over the course of several minutes before reaching his conclusion. “The Witch Cult…is it? …Hmph.” Propping herself up on her elbow, Priscilla supported her head with her hand as her other hand slapped her knee. Having listened to the very end of the modified version of what he’d said at the Crusch mansion, she had murmured to herself with some deep-seated emotion before she closed her eyes.

[Assistant] "Yes, the Witch Cult."


[User] If no one does anything, they’re going to hurt an awful lot of people. Emilia won’t be the only casualty. I want to take them down before that happens. That’s why I need—”

[Assistant] “Hee-hee. Heh.”

[Assistant] Abruptly, Priscilla leaned forward, her shoulders slightly trembling.

[User] Subaru’s brows rose at the small sound from her mouth.

[Assistant] Priscilla’s head snapped up. “Ha-ha-ha-ha! Amusing! You are very amusing. I see, you’ve certainly swayed my heart more than that book. You must be incredibly talented to come up with a farce like this!” Priscilla laughed and laughed, mocking Subaru. It was the howl of a fiendish, carnivorous beast. He instinctively understood that this was the kind of smile that a cat might wear while tormenting a mouse to death with its claw.

[User] “…! What’s so funny?”

[Assistant] "That you do not understand makes it a true masterpiece. Tell me, do you actually fail to comprehend just how illogical your actions have been?" Priscilla ran a finger through her orange hair, twirling it around as she giggled in amusement. Subaru remembered this manner of speaking, proclaiming the speaker had seen right through him.

[User] "I do not know if you simply have no one to rely upon, but going around informing the opposition of your own side’s weakness serves only your enemies’ interests. For us, seeing you lower your head and say, ‘We’re too weak and desperate, please help us,’ is a matter for celebration.” Priscilla tapped her temple with a finger as she ridiculed Subaru’s desperate plea.

[Assistant] He’d considered the possibility that she would brush him off. But he hadn’t expected she would tear into him like this.

[User] “Not caring about appearances is fine, but you have considered this too little—far too little. Aiding the enemy to help your own camp when it falls into crisis… Your behavior is that of a talentless employee. You are hopeless. Death would be far preferable.” Priscilla rose from her chair while hurling insults without restraint, going down the stairs until arriving right in front of Subaru. “Indeed—’twould be better if I severed your head myself.”

[Assistant] Priscilla pulled a fan out from her cleavage, resting it upon the carotid artery on the right side of Subaru’s neck. He had seen neither her step nor the swing of her arm; only a master could pull off this move. Even though the fan was not a bladed weapon, Subaru felt like it could lop off his head the instant it moved.

[User] “You couldn’t even see it?” Priscilla moved aside her fan, speaking as if Subaru’s unwitting gulp bored her. “Not just foolish but slow as well. There’s no saving you… Though, to bear with such terrible treatment and still be thinking of your master—I admit such devotion is admirable.


[User] "And so…” Priscilla narrowed her eyes, audibly opening her fan and using it like a red curtain to conceal her own lips. “Even I would have a bad taste in my mouth if I dismissed you with nothing but a laugh. Thus, I shall grant you an opportunity.”

[Assistant] “...A-an opportunity?”

[User] “Yes, an opportunity. ‘This is your big shot,’ in other words.” Priscilla’s pronunciation of the modern phrase was strange; perhaps she’d learned it from Al. Priscilla folded her fan once more and extended it toward Subaru.

[Assistant] For some reason, Subaru could not evade its straight, silent motion as the end of the fan pressed into his forehead, sending him tumbling onto his backside.

[User] "Lick it.” Priscilla offered her bare foot before his eyes.

[Assistant] “—” Not understanding what she meant, Subaru felt his gaze wander between Priscilla’s face and leg.

[User] “Crawl across the floor, ruminate on your humiliation like a pathetic wild stray, and lick my foot like a babe suckling its mother’s teat. If you can do this, I shall consider your proposal.” With Subaru seemingly lost, Priscilla spoke to him gently, as if explaining for the benefit of a poor student—or to torment her slave.

[Assistant] “Wha—? !”

[User] “If you don’t want to, that’s perfectly fine. If your meager personal pride comes first, wave your tail and your master shall abandon you to the wilds. Either way should provide amusement.” Priscilla concealed her lips and smiled, as if to say she would enjoy his fall regardless of his choice.

[Assistant] Subaru felt his guts boiling over in anger at the pure malice of Priscilla’s behavior. But though he was on the brink of crying out something in a coarse voice guided by emotions, he restrained himself. If he gave in to his feelings and charged ahead, these negotiations, too, would end in failure.

[User] “—” He looked between the foot still hanging before him and Priscilla’s mocking smile. When he closed his eyes, he saw their faces one after another: Emilia, Ram, Beatrice, and the children and adults of the village. Little by little, he cooled the magma seething inside his belly. In anguish and consternation, he came to the conclusion that—

[Assistant] “I…got…it.” Enduring the humiliation, Subaru kneeled and took Priscilla’s foot in his hand. When he thought of the agony-filled deaths Emilia and the villagers had to endure, how could the humiliation Subaru would taste in their place even compare? To avoid that hopeless future, to find the world he needed to reach, he didn’t mind being a dog or worse. His trembling lips neared the top of her white foot, about to press against her fair skin—when—

[User] “Ahh, it seems you truly are—nothing but a very, very boring man.” The kick, from right before his nose, sent Subaru flying, as if he weighed hardly anything.


[User] He flipped head over heels, losing track of which way was up. Subaru couldn’t comprehend what had happened. An incredible blow slammed into his head and, after a few moments in the air, his entire body crashed into something. At that point, he stopped feeling anything. It took his intermittent conscious thoughts an ill-defined amount of time to catch up and realize he was lying on the floor, limbs splayed. A large volume of some kind of viscous liquid poured out from his nose.

[Assistant] “What you have is neither loyalty nor faithfulness. It is filthier than that. It is a dog’s existence and a pig’s greed. A lazy pig that wants, wants, wants. A swine’s greed is the most unsightly of all.” Neither the ringing in his ears nor his nausea would stop. The inside of his skull was spinning. He heard Priscilla’s voice from somewhere, but the details weren’t sinking into his head.

[User] “Even if you drive off the Witch Cult, I shall destroy your camp by my own hand for harboring such a beast. I have reached this decision based on your thoughtless actions.” As he lay down, she gripped his collar and violently lifted up his body. When his torso was raised, more blood flowed out of Subaru’s nose. Subaru coughed, finding it hard to breathe as she insulted him mercilessly at close range. “—Take pride in this. It is you who has invited that woman’s—Emilia’s—destruction.” She thrust him away at full force, and Subaru’s body rolled and slid all the way to the entrance.

[Assistant] “—Aldebaran!” When she yelled in a sharp voice, the sole door to the outside opened from the other side.

[User] Al poked his face in and looked at Subaru, who was covered in blood by the door. “What in the world happened here…?”

[Assistant] “Throw out this repulsive fool. Or cut him in half, I care not.”

[User] "Well, I sure care… Hey, c’mon, bro.” Without a single word of rebuttal to his enraged master, Al easily hoisted up the fallen Subaru and passed through the door. But on his way out, he gently turned his face toward Priscilla in the center of the room. “Don’t be so angry, Princess. Violence ruins your pretty face, y’know?”

[Assistant] “If you do not wish me to break your broken visage even further, take him and go. I will not say it again, Aldebaran.”

[User] “Like I said, don’t call me that.” Quick on his feet, Al descended the stairs with Subaru over his shoulder and spoke in a considerate voice. “Anyway, it’s best if you get out while the going’s good. It’s Princess. If she changes her mind, it’s not unthinkable for her to tell me to cut you down. Get out of here while she still thinks it’s all right to not kill you.”

[Assistant] “A-huu…?”

[User] “This…is bad. I’ll call the young lady you brought with you. Just get outside, okay?” Al shrugged at the barely conscious Subaru, a deft feat under the circumstances.


[User] After that, he picked up his pace even more, leaping his way down the stairs.

[Assistant] "—Subaru? !" When she saw Subaru sitting slumped against the mansion’s gate, Rem’s face went pale as she ran over to him.

[User] Subaru was slack-jawed as Rem touched him.

[Assistant] She checked the state of his injuries as she chanted a healing spell. A pale light enveloped the wound on Subaru’s face. "What happened upstairs?"

[User] "Ahh, that. Looks like our Princess’s mood turned sour. I told him to be careful, but… Well, you have about as much chance trying to perfectly predict the moods of a cat." Al’s reply was rather awkward but his statement did not carry a single shred of guilt or apology.

[Assistant] Rem, aghast at his demeanor, was about to raise her voice in protest. "…You don’t…need to say anything."

[User] "—! Subaru, can you think clearly?"

[Assistant] In accordance with his healing concussion, his fuzzy mind had begun to clear.

[User] Rem’s face brightened at the sound of Subaru’s voice, but she closed her eyes, focusing on his treatment. "I really cannot let you out of my sight, Subaru. You were away not even an hour, and yet you return with such grave injuries."

[Assistant] "Hey, it’s not like I’m trying to get hu—" Now that his circulation had returned to normal, blood poured freely from his nose once more.

[User] Rem immediately caught the trickle with a hand she had held over him, drawing a handkerchief from her side and placing it against his head. "Please hold this on your nose. The bleeding will stop on its own. I will continue treatment."

[Assistant] "……ight" Subaru held his nose as Rem had told him while he received gradual treatment via mana.

[User] Meanwhile, Al watched, nodding as if to say, Looks like you’ll be okay. "There’s no point just standing around, so I’ll head back inside. I don’t know what you were talking about, but from the looks of things, it didn’t go well. If you take too long leaving, Princess’ll seriously tell me to cut you down, bro."

[Assistant] "Cut Subaru down…? !"

[User] "Hey, don’t make that scary face, young lady! I’m saying she will! So get outta here before she gives me any orders. It’s not like I wanna do something like that." After his dramatic reply to Rem’s overreaction, Al’s shoulders sank as he shook his head. "Well, take care of yourself, bro. And young lady… Ah, that’s right, you’re Ram. Take good care of bro here."

[Assistant] "—Ram is the name of my older sister. My name is Rem, Master Al." When Al gave his flippant parting words and turned his back, Rem formally introduced herself.


[User] That instant, Al’s feet stopped. "…Rem?" The one-armed man stopped before he looked up, then slowly turned around. "Don’t be silly. You’re Ram, right?"

[Assistant] "I am Rem… Forgive my rudeness, but where have you met Sister, Master Al?" Rem explained how he’d mistaken her for her nearly identical older sister as she posed the question. However, Al made no reply.


[User] He raised up his one arm and touched his helm, busily poking the metal. "What the hell’s goin’ on here…?" Al sounded nervous, seemingly unable to process the information. The increasingly rapid tapping offered further proof.

[Assistant] "So you’re Rem…and your sister is Ram?"

[User] "Yes, that is correct."

[Assistant] "This might be a weird thing to ask but…is your older sister alive?"

[User] "...? I do not understand the meaning of your question. Sister is alive, as she should be."

[Assistant] The instant Rem gave that answer, Subaru, who had been listening to the conversation in silence, felt goose bumps all over his flesh.

[User] "—This ain’t funny." A low, cold voice accompanied by a grave echo reached his ears. Al was leaning forward, his hand over the forehead of his helm, murmuring as if wringing the words out of his throat.

[Assistant] It was only then that Subaru understood that Al was the source of the dreadful chill he was feeling. An instinctive alarm went off, telling him that he could not stay here.

[User] Rem, sensing the same thing, gently pulled close to Subaru. She suspended the treatment, still bent over as she asked a question in an audibly guarded voice. "Subaru. If I lend you my shoulder, can you stand?"

[Assistant] At those words, Subaru dipped his head in a nod, doing his best to match his movements to Rem’s.

[User] "Hey, relax. I’m not gonna do anything." With a shake of his head, Al reeled in his ghastly aura and acted like they were needlessly concerned.

[Assistant] Subaru’s shoulders subconsciously eased as the tension in the air dissipated.

[User] Even Rem’s neutral expression softened as she, too, felt a sense of relief.

[Assistant] "Sorry to say this when the bad atmosphere just lightened up, but you’d better get going. Feels like I’m not in a great mood myself."

[User] "...Understood. Please tell her thank you for her time."

[Assistant] "Roger that. Take care, now."

[User] Concluding the proper social pleasantries with Al, Rem lent Subaru her shoulder. They walked off together, her petite frame supporting his weight as they put Bariel Manor far behind them. They descended the hill, growing more and more distant from the mansion, as all the while Al continued to stare at their backs.

[Assistant] "You gotta be joking me. So that’s what it was… Makes me wanna puke."


[User] “Setting that aside, that shitty, arrogant woman… She forgot all about the time I helped her…!” Subaru was referring to having helped Priscilla escape the ruffians who had been surrounding her when they’d first met. The corner of his lips warped, and his tongue twisted in disgust.

[Assistant] “Damn every last one of those bastards. They don’t know a thing. They don’t understand… It’s not like they’re protecting anyone, but they still get in my way…!” Subaru ground his molars in irritation. A cut on the edge of his lip dampened his tongue with blood, but the taste of iron didn’t register—only that of anger and humiliation.

[User] “—Switch gears, switch gears. This ain’t the time to get sidetracked by those two idiots.” He had a lot to process. Having sent Rem off in one final act of resistance, Subaru headed to their rendezvous point. His feet took him down the street, out of the Nobles’ District and to the capital’s central strata, the Commercial District. From there, he navigated the crowds, heading straight toward his destination.


[Assistant] “Wow! Hey you, mister! You look really hurt! Are you all right?” The person who hailed him was short in stature, not even reaching Subaru’s hip. It was a beast-man child with an orange pelt, big round eyes, and an adorably joyful face, who was apparently stretching upward to get a better look at him.

[User] “Huh?” Subaru, surprised by the abrupt voice, shifted his gaze down, looking for its source.

[Assistant] "You’re bleeding, aren’t you? Sometimes I cut my mouth when I’m eating, so I know! That must really hurt! You look like you’re ready to cry.”

[User] “I’m not bleeding for a little-kiddie reason like… Er, I’m busy so, later.”

[Assistant] “Don’t you want me to heal it? Sniff-sniff, sniff-sniff. Besides, the smell isn’t just from your mouth, mister. You’re bleeding from your nose, too, you know?”


[User] “Hey, Mimi. Don’t be causing people trouble. You know you shouldn’t make so much mischief.” At the sound of a soft voice, Mimi looked back, waving energetically with her short arms. The person who had found her approached, smiling at her enthusiasm.

[Assistant] “—!” His breath caught.

[User] “I’m very sorry that my girl caused you trou… Mmmn?” She immediately noticed his expression, which made her stop mid-apology. The momentary surprise vanished.


[User] A look entered her eyes that seemed ready to welcome an unexpected event with open arms. "You’re… That’s right, you’re Subaru. Emilia’s knight, Subaru Natsuki— So you’re still in the capital, huh? What an unexpected surprise." She was a small girl with soft pale-purple hair. Her narrowed light-blue eyes suggested she had gentle regard for others—but Subaru knew that the girl was avaricious deep down. Even if he was meeting her in a different place, there was no way he could mistake her aura.

[Assistant] "Anastasia Hoshin…"

[User] "Mm, I see, you actually remembered me. I was right worried I didn’t make much of an impression back there, so I’m kinda relieved… If you still recognize me after everythin’ that’s happened to you, everyone else should be able to, too." Anastasia smiled as she spoke in a Kansai dia—a Kararagi dialect unfamiliar to his ears.

[Assistant] Subaru, shocked to have bumped into Anastasia, scanned the area. If Anastasia was there, that man had to be somewhere around—

[User] "Relax, Julius is on other business. He’s not comin’."

[Assistant] “…That so.” Subaru let his discomfort show in his reply once he realized that the reason for his unease was plain as day.

[User] Anastasia, putting a hand to her mouth in amusement, seemed to be under the impression he held little love for servant or master.

[Assistant] Subaru couldn’t bring himself to think of the unexpected encounter as a golden opportunity. In the first place, there was Julius. Given the antagonism between them at the parade grounds, Subaru assumed joining forces with the Anastasia camp was utterly impossible.

[User] "Well, you seem to be mostly healed up. I was just a teensy bit worried."

[Assistant] “…Thanks. You seem in pretty good health, yourself.”

[User] "I’m muddlin’ through, I s’pose."

[Assistant] "Yeah! Muddlin’ through!" The Western-sounding reply to Subaru’s sarcasm made the kitten laugh with amusement. Apparently, she was called Mimi, and she was accompanying Anastasia.

[User] "Should one of the big players in the royal selection be walking around without an escort these days?"

[Assistant] "I am trying to travel incognito, after all. Is it not working?" Anastasia looked around before showing off her outfit that she had created with the attire of local city girls in mind. Her clothes certainly fit in, but her trademark white fox muffler and huge purse didn’t make for a convincing disguise.

[User] Apparently, Anastasia gathered as much from Subaru’s look of disbelief and laughed. "Well, how do you hide charm like mine? Besides, if anything happens, I have my very reliable, hard-working deputy captain, so no worries!"

[Assistant] "Reliable…deputy captain…?"

[User] Anastasia stuck out her rather flat chest in pride as she spoke, but when he saw that she meant Mimi, Subaru adopted a dubious expression.

[Assistant] Mimi, who was shooting the breeze at the different stalls, didn’t look the part at all.

[User] "I see you don’t believe me, but it’s true. She’s the second-in-command of my private army. I think she’d hold her own against Julius a lot better’n you would."

[User] "Ahh, did I make you mad?