※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
Translated By :
- Archbishop (/u/Archbishop)
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO TAPPEI NAGATSUKI, THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR OF RE:ZERO STARTING A LIFE IN A DIFFERENT WORLD FROM ZERO, THIS IS A TRANSLATION OF THE FREE JAPANESE WEB NOVEL INTO ENGLISH
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
Regarding Shaula’s welcoming words―― While Subaru did understand that they had been directed to a different person, he decided that he would receive them without denying them in the end.
There was also Beatrice’s advice.
There was no doubt that, in practice, allowing Shaula to mistake Subaru as Flugel was rather convenient for them. With this in place it now meant that an outcome where Shaula became hostile and commenced battle would not necessarily end up in them being scattered about by her overwhelming strength.
Since she was treating them favorably for now, Subaru could at least dullen his hand of attack. Though if he were to do that, considering that he lacked in actual strength even under the best of circumstances, it’d probably be enough to end up as a main factor in him making a colossal blunder.
Emilia: [You don’t need to worry, Subaru. Even if Shaula realizes that you’re not really her Master, I’m sure she wouldn’t do anything awful.]
Those were Emilia’s words, who seemed to have been eavesdropping on their conversation behind them.
Emilia, who had her silver hair styled in long braids, confidently assured that to Subaru, whilst fiddling with the end of one of her braids with her fingers.
Subaru: [I’m glad of Emilia-tan’s seal of approval, but… What’s the rationale behind it?]
Emilia: [I don’t really fully understand what you mean by the expression “what’s the rationale behind it”, but, Shaula’s a good girl, isn’t she? She saved you, and us as well, so I can say that we will all get along. If we do, there shouldn’t be any need to fight, right?]
Subaru: […Right.]
Her opinion was a little too optimistic, but he could say that being too pessimistic was also enough of a bad habit.
Even if Shaula found out the truth, it did not mean that she would become aggressive straight away. Even if the facts came to light, Shaula should keep herself from coming to blows at her own judgement. So, Emilia’s thoughts that they should all get along were not so misguided, at least he could allow himself to think so.
The reason behind that intent was not a calculating goal like appealing to one’s emotions, but rather because he did not wish to fight her.
Ram: [Don’t take Emilia’s rough ideas word for word, Barusu. We’re in the Sage’s Watchtower here, and we need to challenge it to even make our way back to the Sand Dunes. We lose nothing by keeping our guards up as much as possible.]
Emilia: [Geez, you sure were quick to put it like that, Ram. You should really loosen up a little…]
Ram: [The result of having let down my guard was that I ended up being sent down to the underground area with Barusu and Anastasia-sama. With how delicate I am, that feeling of despair was unbearable… perhaps that is why Emilia-sama has no clue about that.]
Emilia: [Mhm, I guess so. But surely, an underground area around here shouldn’t be a big deal for you, no? I don’t know why, but I’ve been in reaaally good shape since coming to the Augria Sand Dunes, you know?]
It seemed like Emilia had replied to the sharp Ram’s words in a rather relaxed manner. Emilia and Ram’s relationship as master and vassal had been pretty good since a year ago. The way Ram spoke and behaved towards Emilia showed a little lack of respect, but Emilia looked like she couldn’t help but be happy receiving that treatment.
Emilia, who had experienced the trauma of discrimination and contempt, may have contrarily felt that Ram’s words didn’t contain that sort of animosity.
Subaru: [At any rate, Emilia-tan, what do you mean by you being in good shape?]
Emilia: [How should I put it, the air goes well with my skin, I guess. Mana too has a slightly different tone to it depending on the country or region you’re in, so I think something like that’s happening, but… The Mana in this place especially seems to go well with my skin. Though I guess I shouldn’t be very happy about that.]
Subaru: [Well, I suppose so. But considering that this is the place where the Witch is sealed, full of these Witchbeasts…]
Emilia had clenched her fist as if she’d felt a surge of strength go through her. However, straight after, a bitter-looking smile appeared on her dismal-looking face. Her opinion had been an emboldened one, for sure, as he sympathized with the mood she was in.
Following from what he had mentioned above, he was silently grateful that Emilia’s strength had grown in this area they were in, which was chock-full of danger with the Witch and the Witchbeasts. Yet even so, the figure which Shaula had defeated remained engraved in Subaru’s mind, so that was not a reason that could end up giving him some optimism.
Subaru: [Though, the conditions have changed. Unlike before where she could attack us from the Tower without us being able to do anything, now that the distance is such that you can see each other’s faces; Emilia-tan shouldn’t end up losing against her.]
Shaula: [What is it? What is it?]
Subaru: [Nothing, was just talking about how you have crazy good eyesight. You managed to hurl attacks at us from the Tower with pinpoint accuracy when we were really far off, didn’t you? How the hell does that work?]
Shaula: [Ohhh, that’s just done by linking myyyyy~ aim and myyyy~ stingers with Mana, and that makes it so it’s pulled to where you are. Hell’s Snipe was Master’s invention, you know?]
Subaru: […I see, you didn’t even have to train her, eh, Flugel.]
He had gone through hell and back again thanks to that. He would probably never get a chance to talk to Flugel, but if he did get a chance much like he had gotten at the Tea Party, he’d definitely be giving him some very colorful, choice words.
Subaru let out a sigh as he heard the upbeat Shaula humming. Then――
Julius: [Sorry to interrupt you in the middle of your chat, but we have arrived at our destination.]
Subaru: [Oh?]
On the spiral staircase which led to the upper floors of the Tower―― He heard Julius’s voice, positioned at the front of the group, leading them up.
Lifting his face up due to the Knight’s words, who was escorting Anastasia by the hand, he could suddenly see the ceiling from Julius’s other side, standing diagonally up from him.
Subaru: [No, it’s not the ceiling, but the floor part of the floor above, I should say.]
Beatrice: [We must be on the Fifth Floor Celaeno, I suppose. All there is here, is a door to the outside, Betty and the others first entered here, in fact.]
Beatrice to his side commented that, just as they neared the Fifth Floor. As he nodded in agreement to her words, Subaru immediately noticed that something was out of place, and said, “Uh?”.
If she was implying that, after they’d been separated, Emilia and the others had entered the Tower from the Fifth Floor, then――
Subaru: [How did the dragon carriage and Gian get down to the bottom floor? I mean, there’s no way that this staircase is wide enough to let a dragon carriage roll by, right?]
Spreading his arms across the spiral staircase he’d walked up, Subaru checked its width. The width of the staircase was reasonably ample, but even so it would not fit two Subarus with arms stretched out abreast. It might have been barely possible to let the huge body of a ground dragon pass down, but there was no way that the carriage part of the dragon carriage was getting through.
And of course, letting the ground dragon walk down this long staircase itself was a path which really should not be trodden even were it to be theoretically possible.
Subaru: [Is there some sort of contraption like an elevator poking around here in fact? If there is, then we need to use it next time. Keeping healthy is great and all, but it ain’t good to always disregard modern conveniences.]
Emilia: [Sorry, I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about… But, how the dragon carriage got down there is simple. Shaula lifted it up and carried it down.]
Subaru: […Pardon?]
Subaru felt like he’d missed something, and so he asked her again. Emilia frowned at his reply which had been spoken in English, but she nevertheless grasped that he seemed to have asked her to repeat herself, so she continued her words by saying, “So”,
Emilia: [Shaula effortlessly lifted the dragon carriage along with the ground dragon, and simply brought them down to the bottom.]
Subaru: [Nononononono, there’s no way. Wouldn’t a dragon carriage weigh over a ton with how huge it is? And you said she did it as a set with the ground dragon too…]
Subaru peeled his eyes wide open at those horrifying remarks, but no one from his companions denied it. Finally, Shaula puffed out her ample chest in pride, and flared out her nostrils.
Shaula: [It’s as she said, the one who carried them down was meee~. Oh man, it was a piece of cake. If I’d left the lizard near the doorway, he may have ended up becoming loopy due to the Miasma streaming in from the outside, don’t you think? I was just a little worried. You can praise me you know!]
Subaru: [I do feel grateful, but now I know that your slender arms aren’t actually slender arms, it weirds me out. A person with superhuman strength… I imagine even Reinhard wouldn’t be able to do this!]
Though in Subaru’s mind, the most frightfully-shocking human was indisputably Reinhard, but wouldn’t it likely be impossible, even for him, to haul something that weighed over what one would expect to be a human’s ability?
Even if he could cut the world into ribbons with his sword pressure, even if he could walk on water, even if he could revive himself again, carrying a dragon carriage with one hand for him would be――
Subaru: [I guess he’d be able to do that. That makes me feel just a bit uneasy. Is that guy really human?]
Shaula: [Hmph, despite myyyy~ story, Master’s thinking of someone else. Jealousy.]
In any case, he now understood how the dragon carriage had been carried to the bottommost floor. He hadn’t in actuality seen her carrying it, so the impact of the scene was diminished, but he had to take it as a new threat potential in the eventuality that the enraged Shaula problem cropped up.
And, just as they’d finished talking about that, the group arrived on the Fifth Floor. Celaeno, as had been pointed out many times, was where the entrance that connected the inside to the outside of the Tower was located.
A huge door had been built in one place at the back of the Tower, which was cylindrical in shape.
It was large enough that one would need to look up at it, and its width was easily close to ten meters. It was an unnecessarily huge door, but how much strength it would take to open it, that too was an issue――
Subaru: [Maybe this is some sort of trial gateway that makes it difficult to get in?]
Julius: [At least, when I attempted pushing it, it would not budge an inch. Thanks to that, we were unable to search for you, Anastasia-sama, and the others.]
As he gazed at the super-huge door, Subaru let out a sigh, and Julius nodded at him. With it being as heavy as it looked, it seemed like this door would stop any challengers in their path.
Opening it may have been possible for Shaula, who could easily carry a dragon carriage in one hand, but for the average person it would have been impossible. Therefore, Emilia and Julius had ended up being unable to leave to search for Subaru and the others, and that looked like it had ended up worrying them a lot.
Beatrice: [But, it sure does look like it’s a bit creaky here and there, I suppose.]
Anastasia: [I think it’s “cause the Sand Wind”s kinda strong, the sand that gets blown up by the wind must be streamin’ in, don’t’cha think? When ya take a bit of a deep breath, it immediately feels like the inside of yer mouth’s getting’ full of sand, “n so it”s darn unpleasant.]
Sticking her tongue out, Anastasia traced it with her finger and cleaned some sand grains from it. Just like she had said, the inside of Subaru’s mouth too felt like it had sand in it. He’d taken notice that minute grains of sand always whirled around the Fifth Floor that led to the outside.
Julius: [The sand from the Sand Dunes is full of Miasma. If it is not taken seriously because it is rationalized as being just a small amount, it could end up eroding your body from the inside. We should move away from here as quickly as possible, so long as we have nothing to do here.]
Subaru: [In that case, let’s hop to it! My goal isn’t here, but rather on the Fourth Floor Alcyone… Though yet more stairs sounds exhausting.]
Shaula: [The same ol’ weakness~. But, rest assured. The staircase between the Fourth and Fifth Floor is way shorter than the one between the Fifth and Sixth Floor. If they were too far apart, even I’d feel tired going back and forth, so that was taken into consideration~.]
Meili: [Stop shaking me abooout~.]
Shaula, who’d spread her arms out wide inside of the sand cloud and ran about in it, was met with a karate chop to the back of her head from Meili. Looking at that scene from the corner of their eyes, the group went through the Fifth Floor and headed to the staircase that led up to the Fourth Floor.
The breeze gently streamed in, and upon looking up, through his sight that was clouded over in a haze of yellow by the gloomy view above, there was a ceiling that didn’t look so far away―― He could see the floor of the layer above, and it looked like her opinion had in fact been true, in that it wasn’t too far away.
And so, as they set their sights on the Fourth Floor Alcyone whilst chatting, the group continued to march on upwards―― And before long, they reached their target floor.
The constitution of the Fourth Floor itself wasn’t too different from the Fifth or Sixth Floor.
The cylindrical constitution of the Tower hadn’t deviated from what it had been, and even its size hadn’t changed dramatically―― Nevertheless, there was still an obvious change of atmosphere.
First of all, the size of the floor that went up the stairs was quite different to that of the lower floors.
The circular floor had become much narrower compared to them. And that wasn’t too surprising, because a circular wall had been built up as a partition like the main partition of a building, and it used the space differently compared to the lower floors, which were comprised of one big floor with nothing else to them.
The spiral staircase from the lower floors connected straight to the heart of the Fourth Floor, and a great number of doors were dotted across the wall that encircled the surroundings, indicating that there were multiple rooms on this floor[1].]
Shaula: [This is the Fourth Floor, Alcyone, that I use as myyy~ dwelling area. And, the Green Room which I think is what Master came here for is right here.]
Subaru: [The Green Room…?]
As Subaru stood in bewilderment gazing at the Fourth Floor’s novel appearance, Shaula, standing on the floor after having come out after him, pointed at one of the doors in front with an overly-dramatic gesture.
The doors on the Fourth Floor were all of a normal size, compared to the doorway on the Fifth Floor. It didn’t look like they’d need any special powers to open them, but there was a strange feeling floating about the door she had pointed out.
Just like the name, Green Room, implied, the door was covered in countless green ivy, its state looking similar to what the unexplored region of a jungle might look like that had been left untouched for centuries.
Subaru: [By saying this is what you think I came here for, do you mean that Rem and Patrasche are here?]
Shaula: [I don’t know their names, but the girl and the lizard are here.]
Ram: [You need not worry. You may rest assured that Rem and that ground dragon are inside.]
For the hesitant Subaru, Shaula’s testimony felt like it had lacked in reliability just a tad. Ram snorted her nose at them like she was looking down at them like idiots, cut into the lead of the group, and headed towards the Green Room.
She stretched out her hand over to the door covered in ivy, which looked like it was made of stone, and pushed it without any hesitation. Even with how thin her arms were, the door opened readily as if gliding open, and therefrom the Green Room came into view.
Ram: [Aren’t you coming in? Barusu.]
Subaru: [I’m coming, I’m coming.]
Subaru let go of his apprehension upon hearing Ram’s question, which sounded more like a test, and moved forward. Confidently entering the Green Room, following Ram who’d entered ahead of him.
However, straight after Ram and Subaru entered inside, the door slammed shut. Subaru turned to look behind him in surprise.
Subaru: [Oy, we’ve been split up.]
Ram: [There is no need to be scared―― This room seems to have a limit on how many people can enter it. The proprietor of the room seems to hate it.]
Ram said that about the debacle that had happened behind them, and briskly kept on moving forward. Subaru scratched his head at her explanation, and then immediately set out after her.
The Green Room did not betray the bizarreness of that door; its interior was covered in a copious amount of green. Wriggling plants stretched out just about everywhere you looked, across the ceiling, the walls and the floor. Every so often, he would need to stoop down to avoid the dangling ivy that got in his way, and sidestep it.
And, laying at the depths of this room dominated by such greenery was――
Subaru: [Rem… and Patrasche.]
There was a small plant-free space at the far back of this room immersed in greenery. Green grass grew dense and thick there, and some beds had been made, covered in small flowers that had taken bloom there.
Rem, her sleeping face ever the same, lay on top of the bed made up from vegetation and flowers.
Her white cheeks had not changed in color, and neither had her sleeping face. Her chest was rising and falling with each faint breath, but when it came to proof that she was alive, those were her only vital signs barring the warmth she gave off.
Yet even so, he felt a great sense of relief to the point that his strength fizzled out of him.
Subaru: [She really was safe, huh…]
Ram: [I did tell you so. Or, did you think that I would lie about Rem or something? What meaning would doing that have for me?]
Subaru: [I’m not saying that, but I couldn’t help worrying until I saw her with my own eyes you know… And Patrasche, I’m glad that you’re safe too.]
Subaru gave a faint bittersweet smile as he heard Ram’s words, and then he walked further in towards where Rem was sleeping on her bed of grass and Patrasche sat crouched down.
She too was lying sprawled on a bed of green, just like Rem. The situation wasn’t all too different compared to when she’d lie down on top of her rushes in a barn. However, one thing was definitely different――
Subaru: […This grass is different from ordinary grass, isn’t it?]
Patrasche: [――――]
Patrasche nuzzled her nose against Subaru’s palm, who’d stepped over to her to make sure she was alright. Whilst affectionately receiving his beloved dragon’s response, Subaru felt a faint surge of warmth coming from the sprawled bed of greenery which Patrasche was on―― he cocked his head in thought.
Ram: [It appears like the Spirit’s power can speed up the healing process.]
Subaru: [There’s… a Spirit here? Where?]
Ram: [You are a Spiritual Arts User and you do not know? This whole room is the Spirit.]
Subaru: [――――]
Subaru briskly looked around the room at Ram’s words as he stroked Patrasche. The existence of the Spirit amongst the moss that grew on the walls or in the overgrown ivy was not reflected in his eyes, however straight after she’d told him that, Subaru took notice of the overwhelming mass of Mana there.
His breathing and body felt at ease as if he was in an area rich in oxygen.
There may have been a similar effect to that in Healing Mana. Even the uninjured Subaru felt like he was receiving its benefits upon relaxing himself and taking deep breaths.
Subaru: [I think I get it. This is the Spirit for sure… Can’t it talk?]
Ram: [The Spirit here is of a different kind… Though, I guess you could easily say that there is no such thing as Spirits who do not differ in some capacity. Emilia-sama’s esteemed Great Spirit, and Beatrice-sama… They are special, it does not seem like the Spirit over here has any sort of volition. It just attempts to cure the wounds and illnesses of anyone who enters inside.]
Subaru: [Pff, hmm.]
Ram: [What’s the matter?]
Subaru: [It’s nothing important. I just thought that sounded like a Witch I know of.]
Ram snorted her nose at that, as if she thought hearing the word “Witch” was just some nonsense of his, then she walked over to Rem’s side. Following that, ivy began growing right behind her, rapidly knitting itself together until it became a green chair that propped her body up, as if it had been cognizant of the elder sister’s intentions to watch over her younger sister.
Ram bowed her head in consideration for the Spirit, and spoke “My thanks”, as she let herself slump on the chair.
Subaru: [Whooooa, awesome.]
Ram: [At least, they are certainly the most gentlemanly amongst the Spirits I have known up until now, don’t you think? You too should follow their example just a tad, Barusu. From both this Spirit, and that Knight, Julius.]
Subaru: [I’d rather not from either of them.]
Subaru drove both of those individuals away from his head, and stroked Patrasche. He stroked her head, and tickled underneath her chin with his palm, before slowly letting her drop her raised head.
Subaru: [Get some rest now. You saved me once again, and overworked yourself. There’s no drawback in taking some paid leave every once in a while, you know.]
Patrasche: [――――]
Patrasche curled her body up, closed her yellow eyes and fell asleep after she heard Subaru’s gentle words. She’d brought them all the way to the Tower, and they’d been able to confirm each other’s safety.
Just that had been plenty, Patrasche’s work had been plenty.
Subaru: [Any changes to Rem? If curing people is this room’s raison d’être[2], then I wonder if it can have that sort of intervention on how Rem is right now.…]
Ram: [Sorry, but that is a slim hope. It is neither good nor bad… But there has been no progress in her treatment. It cannot cure something which is neither a wound nor an illness. Something along those lines, no?]
Subaru: […I guess so.]
Even so, it didn’t look like the Spirit of the Green Room was unwilling to take care of the still-sleeping Rem. It was also devoted to Ram, who watched over the slumbering Rem.
Subaru: [In the end, this means nothing’s changed still, doesn’t it?]
Ram: […If we wish things to change, then we have to fulfill the aim that came up in the Tower, don’t you think?]
Subaru: [The Great Library Pleiades, its Trials, huh?]
Their original purpose had been to get in touch with the Sage who was in Pleiades Watchtower, borrow her sagacity that had been stipulated to be omniscient, and save Rem as well as the victims of Lust and Gluttony that had been left behind in Pristella.
However, Shaula, the Sage of Pleiades Watchtower had been one in name only, and in actuality, what they had encountered was just one weird girl who mistook Subaru as Sage Flugel. Pleiades Watchtower had turned out to be the Great Library Pleiades, and the knowledge that had been touted as Shaula’s omniscience was sleeping inside countless books kept in libraries, or so had been said.
That was it, their purpose had been greatly warped, and their end-goal had shifted in an unpredictable direction.
Subaru: [I’ll get ahold of this knowledge and get Rem back―― I haven’t wavered in that purpose.]
Ram: […Yeah. So I hope.]
Ram cast her eyes down at Subaru rotating his shoulders, nimbly stretching them. With that, she tenderly took ahold of the sleeping Rem’s hand without glancing at Subaru.
Closing one of his eyes at Ram’s attitude, Subaru pointed his finger at the ceiling.
Subaru: [I’ve decided to challenge the Trial above. What about you?]
Ram: [Don’t you think it would be too much of a cause for anxiety if no one is looking after Rem? Considering that, Ram will take on that duty. Since from the start it was for watching over Rem that I embarked along on this journey, even going as far as asking such unreasonableness from Roswaal-sama.]
Subaru: [That’s, well, yeah, I guess so. In that case I’ll entrust Rem to you.]
Ram: [I cannot really do much other than watch her, though.]
Subaru: [You watching over her has meaning you know.]
With that statement directed at Ram, who had unusually disparaged herself, Subaru looked over at Rem’s sleeping face just before he exited the room. She was in a dream such that her facial expression had vanished, and he could not say she looked either peaceful or anguished.
He stretched out his hand to her forehead which her fringe rested against, and gently touched it as if he were tickling her.
Subaru: [Well then, I’m off, I’ll see you later.]
Rem: [――――]
Of course, she did not respond.
Ram understood that he had been talking to himself as well, so she did not interject callously. Satisfied with that, Subaru turned towards the room’s exit.
He could not help himself from stretching his hand out to the wall, and as he touched the ivy, he asked the Spirit “Please take care of Rem and Patrasche”, lest the Spirit forget.
Then, just before he exited the room, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Subaru: [By the way, you said something like you couldn’t leave Rem alone, but just now, you’d left the room empty. Why did you bother to come downstairs?]
Ram: [――――]
Subaru: [No way, could it be that once you heard that I’d woken up, you came to see me as quickly as you could? Please let me know if something was up…]
Ram: [Get a move on and leave.]
Subaru: [Huh? No, but, if there’s something on your mind, then won’t you tell me?]
Ram: [Hurry up and leave.]
Overwhelmed by the ghastly aura spouting up from her, Subaru was rendered anything to speak anything beyond that towards her, and thus was left with no choice but to flee from the Green Room, crestfallen.
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
Subaru: [I never really get what Ram’s thinking about, but especially as of late, I haven’t understood her well.]
Emilia: [Hmm, I don’t think so, Ram is surprisingly open with that sort of stuff. I find it cute that she tries to hide that open part of hers.]
Subaru: [It’s quite rare for you to speak as if you’re her elder… Though I guess you really are her elder.]
Emilia: [Yeah, it’s a little bit like I’m her big sis. I’m older than anyone else here… Oh, wait.]
Beatrice: [Mhmmm, Betty is definitely the big sis here, in fact. That’s carved in stone and no one can paint over it, I suppose. You should all adore me, in fact.]
As soon as he had left the Green Room, he returned to everyone waiting outside, which led to this conversation.
Emilia looked a tad frustrated at having had her seat of being the oldest in the squad taken away from her, whilst Beatrice puffed out her flat chest in satisfaction. Though, to be honest, neither of them had big-sis-like demeanors.
Besides, a conversation of who the eldest was in light of their circumstances, was in fact quite a delicate matter.
Anastasia: [Hmm? Natsuki-kun, what’s up? Do ya have somethin’ ya wanna tell me?]
Subaru: [Not really. Just meant to say that there’s many faces here that don’t match their real age in appearance.]
Anastasia: [Oh? I get told I look younger than I actually am quite often. It’s a lil’ hard for me to take “em as a compliment, but I look down on bein” looked down on, so dependin’ how they say it, I may accept it.]
Though Anastasia smiled with a strong look of business about her face, how she was really feeling was unclear.
Anastasia herself was just over twenty-years-old, but she looked about fourteen or fifteen. However, what Subaru had wanted to point out was not what lay on the outside, but what lay on the inside. Anastasia’s body still remained hijacked by Eridna currently.
If Eridna’s birth had been the same as Beatrice, then it would not be difficult for her to enter into the race for the oldest. However, it would be impossible for him to reveal what he had concealed up until now over such a trifling matter, so Subaru did not say anything else.
Moreover, there were other prominent candidates for the race for the oldest in the present circumstances.
Shaula: [Hey, what’s up Master? Uh huh, hm, didn’t you like the grassy smell of the Green Room? I get that. I toooo~ find that room nasty and dislikeable~.]
Subaru: [Didn’t you say there was a pungent smell coming from me too? You’re cool with mine!?]
Shaula: [Master’s a smell I’ve gotten used to. Truly. This time it’s no lie!]
Subaru: [Shut your trap.]
Keeping Shaula away from him, who had nestled up close to him and sniffed him, Subaru looked up at the floor above. Those left on the Fourth Floor would challenge the Trial above barring Rem and Ram――
Subaru: [What about you? Are you coming with us?]
Shaula: [Meeee~? Weell, I don’t particularly need to, but since it’s been so long, I do think I want to come with you. Because it gets lonely not being able to talk despite being perfectly able to. I’ve been cooped up in silence for centuries, so I want to talk and talk and taaaalk~.]
Subaru still couldn’t act cold towards her with her having said such a heartrending thing with a friendly smile plastered on her face. He imagined that Emilia and Beatrice both knew that sort of loneliness all too well. His feelings towards Shaula were deeply tinged with sympathy, so he didn’t really have any intentions of actively keeping her away.
Meili: [I reaaally~ like this onee-san, so I thiiink~ she should come with us.]
Julius: [It is only natural that the Trial taker is present if we shall take the Trial. It is just for her to accompany us to make sure that we do not commit any irregularities.]
Support for that came in an unexpected form from Meili and Julius. With them having done so, it meant that the majority of them backed Shaula accompanying them.
Lastly, Subaru looked over at Anastasia, who hadn’t made any comments about it, so to unite their consensus.
Receiving that gaze, Anastasia tilted her head and said “Me?”,
Anastasia: [I don’t think there’s any meaning in just me opposin’ this here, “n I ain”t got any reason to oppose it in the first place, “n it”s not particularly a problem? Besides…]
Subaru: [Besides?]
Anastasia: [That girl seems way too attached to ya Natsuki-kun, so if we take her with us, she may tell us stuff ‘bout the contents of the Trial. She may inadvertently come to our side.]
Shaula: [I’m sowwy, but I haven’t the foggiest about the contents of the Trials, so I’m gonna have to let you down there.]
Subaru: [Jeez, did you really have to say it like that.]
Anastasia laughed with a “Tahaha”, and Shaula looked smug as if she’d been praised.
It was questionable whether Anastasia’s anticipations boded good fortune or bad, but for now, no one seemed to have any objections to Shaula accompanying them.
Although he couldn’t deny that it was a little careless, leaving her alone was also an anxiety in itself, so the only difference came from leaving the danger far away or near at hand.
Subaru: [Okay. We shall go together. It doesn’t look like we can count on you, but I have high hopes of you coming up with ideas.]
Shaula: [He’s talking to you, lil’ ankle-biter. Do your best!]
Beatrice: [He’s talking to you, I suppose! What were you listening to, in fact!]
Shaula curled her lips with a look on her face of having brought up a topic that she shouldn’t have. Whilst listening to Beatrice’s angry yells, the group opened the door of a room opposite to the Green Room―― and when they peered inside, they found the stairs that led up there.
Subaru: [We’re done with spiral staircases?]
Shaula: [The Fourth Floor Alcyone and the Third Floor Taygeta are directly connected. I don’t really go up unless I got business, so I’ve rarely been there.]
Subaru: [What’s this business you refer to?]
Shaula: [It’s a young maiden’s secret.]
Moving his gaze away from Shaula as soon as she started to show signs of her inanities, Subaru directed it over at Julius. Him and the others should have already challenged the Third Floor during his slumber.
He expected that he would be able to hear something useful out of him, but that Knight calmly shrugged his shoulders.
Julius: [I apologize for this when you have expectations, but we understood very little about it. Immediately after you climb up to the Third Floor, you’ll come across the room that’s referred to as an Trial, but…]
Subaru: [But?]
Julius: [What lies there is an unintelligible enigma. The honest truth is that we were unable to find any clues to solve it, and we ended up having no idea what to do.]
Subaru: [An unintelligible enigma…?]
Subaru shifted his attention to the top of the stairs without getting the point in Julius’s words. The floor above was dark, and he wasn’t able to tell how it looked from below. However, that stillness made it look more sinister.
Emilia: [But, it doesn’t look like you can just enter and see what to do. Nothing really changed even when we went in and out… We were simply just given the cold shoulder.]
Beatrice: [It makes me so irritated when I think on how we were ignored, I suppose.]
It seemed like Emilia and Beatrice also agreed with Julius’s impression.
In reality, although it was said to be an Trial, none of them had been able to challenge it. His levels of wariness had just shot up, as the word “Trial” closely resembled it[3].]
Subaru: [Well it can’t be helped. Nothing ventured, nothing gained―― Then let’s go?]
Emilia: [Yeah, that’s the spirit.]
Beatrice: [That’s the spirit, in fact.]
Shaula: [That’s the spirit.]
Receiving all three of their affirmations each in their own manner of speaking, Subaru took the initiative and put one of his feet on the stairs. Then, step-by-step, he headed towards the floor above―― unlike the spiral staircases from before, the number of steps to get to the Third Floor was about the same as an ordinary building.
Thus, in contrast to his preparedness, Subaru stormed straight into the Third Floor Taygeta, so much to the point that it felt he’d gotten there way too quickly.
Subaru: [I’m in a…]
Immediately after he entered, Subaru felt an overwhelming sense of unease. A clump of unease, or rather should he say that it was an expanse that invited nothing but unease?
――It was a white, white expanse.
Although it must be an extension of the Tower that had up until now been cylindrical in shape, what greeted Subaru after he had climbed the stairs was a strange expanse completely dyed in white in every direction.
The expanse-like vastness should not have been that different in size to the Tower so far, but neither its walls, nor the end could be seen, in this incredibly white space. Looking up above, and he could not tell where the ceiling was; looking down at his feet, only at the part where the stairs were located was a slightly ajar black. Other than that, the floor was so white that it made him scared to walk on it.
He could not tell that the floor was the floor, or he would end up being hit by an illusion that felt like he was in continuous free fall just about everywhere. The ceiling and the walls were the same―― Subaru felt like he would probably end up going crazy if he lost sight of the stairs that led downstairs here.
And, at the front of this white expanse――right in front of the stairs, there was a strange object floating up.
Subaru: [A stone slab…?]
That was the impression that slipped out from Subaru’s mouth when he looked at that object. In fact, the object was such that it could only be expressed like so.
It was a single, black slab, that had been built in the shape of a quadrilateral, and had an incredibly smooth feeling to it.
He couldn’t call it a stone slab were it not built from stone, but he had no other way of calling it considering that its nature was not metallic as well.
Were it really necessary for him to call it something else with more pizzazz, then he’d probably use the term “Monolith”[4].
The silent Monolith had acquired a strange floating power, floating up dozens of centimeters above the floor.
Or at least it should be. His eyes were thrown completely out of whack in checking how far it was off the ground due to the whiteness of the floor, and it became more and more unclear to him. However, the Monolith, floating in midair, was just there, cool as a cucumber.
It was roughly the same height as Subaru, and its width was about the size of two people lined up together―― if he had to put it as something similar in size, then the impression he got was much like that of a floating tatami.
Subaru: [What the heck is this strange thing?]
Julius: [If I were to try and put it into different words, I would say this is the contrivance that stuck out this enigma before us.]
Julius glared at the Monolith, standing beside Subaru, whose awareness had been gripped by this strange spectacle.
Julius’s face looked sterner than usual, as if he had been already made to experience great hardship by the Monolith many times over. The rest of them had by now made it up to the Third Floor, and were huddled together in an effort to ward off the indistinct atmosphere present inside of the white expanse.
Subaru: [This isn’t a room I want to stay long in.]
Julius: [That I agree. If we stay here too long, it is quite probable that we will lose our sense of balance. And if you end up running towards the stairs and your feet slip, I imagine your life could end up being cut short, wouldn’t you think?]
Anastasia: [Yoohoo, Julius. Stop with the unnecessary prattle.]
Anastasia puffed out her cheeks in protest at Julius’s prattle. It looked like she’d slipped on the way back before, which was what Julius had been referring to.
However, Subaru had no intention of laughing at that mishap. In actual fact, this room had been clearly made with the goal of putting people’s senses out of whack. The room seemed like it embodied the wickedness of the nature of the person who’d made it.
Subaru: [So, what should we do about the main mystery?]
Beatrice: [You should touch that slab, in fact. The Trial begins once you do, I suppose.]
Subaru: [Should I really touch the Monolith?]
Julius: [Monolith? That’s a name that fits quite well with its mysteriousness. Let’s call it like that from now on.]
Subaru stepped away from Julius, who was in admiration of that strangeness, and moved forward on their behalf. Since no one stopped him, he walked all the way over to the Monolith.
He had expected the Monolith to let off a strange, ominous feeling when he approached―― but it wasn’t like that, it was pretty much just a plain old slab of stone. Other than the fact it was floating. Once he thought of it like a tatami floating about, he felt the fear he’d had at first fade just a little.
Subaru: [Anyways, so I’ll go ahead and touch it? Can I get a countdown?]
Emilia: [Ah, right, I’d like to do it. Three, two, one…]
Subaru: [So damn quick! I got you!]
Emilia raised her hand up and volunteered to Subaru’s appeal; then her countdown began. As she counted down, Subaru panicked and turned around to face the Monolith. And then,
Emilia: [Zero――!]
Subaru touched the Monolith at the same time she counted zero―― the next moment, the surface of the black slab glowed from the inside. Just as it did, the scene in front of his eyes grew blurred.
No, it was not exactly blurred.
The Monolith which Subaru had touched began to grow in numbers, whilst glowing with a black radiance.
The Monolith shot out replicated Monolith after Monolith from its back, all the while, its surface shined. They were all hurled across the room at incredible velocity, scattered in strange positions, all floating.
Countless Monoliths had been strewn out across the white expanse, and Subaru had been taken by surprise by that change. Then, passing through the awestruck Subaru’s eardrums―― straight to his brain, a voice echoed.
???: [――Touch the brightest of the Hero destroyed by Shaula.]
Subaru: [――Hk!?]
Subaru jerked his hand away from the Monolith in surprise upon hearing that voice ring out so abruptly. And, as he staggered back, someone propped his back up from behind.
He turned around to look at them. There, he found Julius’s face.
Julius touched his fringe with his left hand as he propped Subaru up with his right, and said,
Julius: [Well look at this. Our first surprise, can I count on you sympathizing with it, I wonder?]
Subaru: [What an assholish thing to say――!!]
Subaru’s protests only made Julius’s sardonic smile grow deeper.
In any case, the Trial had genuinely started now.
The Great Library Pleiades, the Trial of the Third Floor Taygeta.
Time-limit, no restrictions. Number of attempts, no restrictions. Challengers, no restrictions.
――Trial, start.
Translation notes:
[1] If the explanation is hard to digest, then just imagine it like two concentric circles, the inner one far smaller than the outer one which is of course the Tower’s main walls. In the inner circle, there’s a lot of doors, that leads to a bunch of different rooms compared to the Fifth Floor and Sixth Floor which were like one giant circular hall”.
[2] More “Flench”, Subaru does use the French expression (レゾンテートル).
[3] A reminder, “試験”, which is used to describe the Trials in the Tower, can be translated simply as “Exam/Trial”. Meanwhile, the word “試練”, as used by Petelgeuse and Echidna (among others), is translated as “Ordeal” and “Trial” in each respective context. Yeah, this is a bit ass.
[4] Given that this is Engrish (モノリス), it might just be a Space Odyssey reference. Either way, at the very least it may be just a loanword.
Loading comments...