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Translated By:
- Garcar
Proofread by:
- Anonymous
Art Sources
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This Prologue comes from the end of Light Novel 38. It is hidden from the table of contents, but is placed right after the end of the chapter “Priscilla Barielle”. It is the second Prologue to appear in the series, the first being Prologue – “Waste Heat of the Beginning”.
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――A place that was not here, a time that once was, a world that may someday come to pass, a dream that would shortly fade, regrets that would never cease for all eternity.
???: [――“Following Star”, such is the meaning that it seems to bear. Despite shining the brightest of all the stars in its constellation, it is still called so; do you not believe it a name that befits you, who has carried all of our expectations upon yourself and yet still betrayed them, ironically too well?]
The one to speak those words, with black eyes upon white hair, with black dress upon white skin, with black desires upon white hopes, was a Witch; a Witch who, from the top of her head to the tips of her toes, was entirely split between the color black and the color white.
Albeit emanating a smile ripe with intimacy, no warmth whatsoever was present within the Witch’s eyes.
Such was the kind of person she was. Neither disdain nor ire was being directed towards the individual known as himself, rather, she was merely that kind of person by nature, a being incapable of treading any other path―― proof of a Witch.
From her, a Witch by birth unlike all others, he could not hope for any warmth.
Witch: [My, now that is a tiny bit vexing. It is certainly a flaw in my personality… I will admit that I can lose sight of what is right in front of me when I get passionate, but is it not rather charming when coming from a girl with an appearance like my own? My body is physically warm. I can give you warmth.]
It was not as though she had gotten worked up. He knew that this was just an imitation of such a response.
Because he knew, he could not help but want to enquire. Did she truly feel nothing; did she truly think nothing; and about him, did she truly――.
Witch: [――Why must love fade?]
A brief comment killed the question he had begun to utter, mercilessly so.
Along with that, it had also killed any and all motivation to ascertain whether that had been because she wished not to be questioned, or because she wished to not allow him to question her.
Witch: [Why, must it fade? A feeling that is never lost, a radiance that never disappears, an obsession that never dims, are those things not called “love”? If they are, then, why?]
The words that followed drove a blade deep into the remains of the motivation, of the question that had already been slain.
The blade of words raised aloft, the Greed desireful of that knowledge, caring not for the blood flowing from those remains, repeated that act many, many times; hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of millions of times.
Witch: [You have fully expended yourself. You have betrayed our expectations.]
He knew that he would be blamed. ――No, that was incorrect. He hoped he would be.
Having reached this point, he still wished for somebody to guarantee him a connection.
Having turned against unperishing Wrath, against unfulfillable Lust, against unquenchable Gluttony, against unforsakable Pride, against Sloth of just wanting to be held complacent, and against the utmost important Envy, he still wished for that.
Witch: [――You are Greed. A matter of course, is it not? For it is I who made you like so.]
The Witch’s quiet condemnation, was a lethal poison resembling kindness.
Far too many would not avert their eyes despite knowing that drawing near would mean their demise, afraid to even let out their voices; a fatal poison that, amidst a sweet fragrance, implored for their death.
However, for only those born and raised within that poison, there existed a sole possibility.
Thus, as long as there was a possibility――,
Witch: [Will you pick it up no matter what? Why shall we still harbor expectations in you, when you have already betrayed our expended expectations. What do you have? What can you say? I am not condemning you, it is purely a question. Thus, I also ask if there is anything I can do.]
Raising both her arms, the Witch of white and black smiled.
Witch: [Supposing you possess the willpower to continue, and that your motivation is able to influence the results, I am willing to do anything in my power to help you. If such is to your liking, I do not even mind you using my body. Albeit frail, if it can help you not give up, I will offer it with delight.]
Smiling as she spoke so, the Witch thought nothing of it.
If he were to start thinking like that, he would end up going in circles. To begin with, even he knew that such was not the case.
If she was truly such a being, one who thought, felt, and knew nothing, then.
Witch: [――Why must love fade?]
This time, it was clear that it was a rejection; he understood.
The role he was expected to play, the process he had to carry out, both were included.
All that remained was to put it to practice. Until he got it right, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of millions――,
???: [――Even if it’s beyond the realm of a billion, only I can reach it.]
He would continue to challenge it. As long as that possibility remained, he could keep challenging it.
By doing so, without fail, he would accomplish it. Without fail, he, having been reduced to a Following Star, would――,
???: [I, no matter what―― will definitely kill you.]
Witch: [――――]
With a gaze that could not be pinned to neither expectation nor despair, the Witch watched over that determination.
By nature, a Witch would neither wish for such to succeed, nor would she wish for it to fail. But, this was different.
Words of consolation, she would provide. Before the Following Star could burn out, its heat becoming no longer able to reach the ground, she would deliver words to save the heart of the Following Star, acting as his teacher.
Witch: [Your luck was… No.]
Indeed, revising the words she had been about to say, the Witch continued.
Words most appropriate for that Following Star, words that would serve to comfort his fate, those were――,
Witch: [――Natsuki Subaru failed you.] [1]
Translation notes:
[1] The base sentence for this line is exactly the same as Al’s catchphrase of “Your stars were bad”, however, the Kanji 星 is accompanied with 菜月・昴 as furigana, which is Natsuki Subaru’s full name (in Kanji). Because of this, the sentence may be read as “The stars known as Natsuki Subaru were bad” or even “Natsuki Subaru messed up” if you stretch it a teeny bit further. In the text, we have rendered the sentence as “Natsuki Subaru failed you” since it is the closest thing to what the Witch is actually audibly saying, just keep in mind that it is meant to overlap with the meaning of “Your stars were bad”.
[2] In this prologue, the Witch uses the pronoun ボク (boku) instead of ワタシ (watashi).
Tappei casually dropping a LN exclusive, hidden prologue titled Aldebaran is hilarious to me
Dude’s a bully. As a writer I suspect Puck will return before the wedding but as a Tappei fan I fully expect him to appear during their wedding night.
Thanks for the translations!
Al’s named chapter was hidden away in a prologue, how fitting.
Soooooo, Aldebaran is Subaru from the Greed Route that changed his name and somehow went back in time to another timeline or something? I gotta say that is kinda huge
I think you’re right because when olbart infantisized him he was terrified because something was missing maybe his connection with echidna was missing like how subaru’s connection with satella was tampered with back then.
His Authority was missing, he couldn’t use it.
subaru absorbed his authority. he mentioned it was different from satella’s help.
wait a second. i just got a brain blast and i need to vent it out asap
current subaru has so much mana because each time he dies he goes back in time and combines with past him, mana and all
Pretty sure that’s just because Subaru’s connection to Satella was severed, causing RBD to update on its own rather than Satella updating his save points herself.
(translator) As far as I know, those stories never happened, it’s just another joke by the author. So would you mind throwing out this theory that Subaru and Aldebaran are the same person?
Preach, reading people talk about them being the same person as if it is a fact wears down my weary soul.
Same. Sure, there have been “hints” in the past, though those felt like intentional misdirections to me. But this chapter? I’m not sure how Echidna telling Al that Subaru failed him means Al = Subaru…
I’ve always been under the impression they were the equivalent of fanfiction from the author. But if he does canonize one of them in any meaningful way (sharing characters isn’t meaningful, just lore-accurate), it could potentially canonize all of them as ‘all paths did exist, and these are the results’. I hope not. But also hope so, kinda? Because while Lust If would make me upset for existing, it would give Greed, Gluttony, Wrath, and Sloth If much more meaning in their existence.
I have a theory people, let’s rewind and lookback at the end of arc 4. Two echidna’s were present at the time, one dead and another failure of a copy. So she could have used the same technique to make an incomplete copy of subaru too. Maybe that’s why he is so mind broken or something like that, since he has only soul his body must be made from mana but we can technically never witness Aldebaran’s death in the series on screen.
The next part is gonna be more speculation than anything
Maybe return by death is not just the authority of envy but a high level Shamak, Shamak can directly stretch and warp space or maybe space-time to be more optimistic. The authority of envy is the one checking and managing the check points to find the fatefull moment across space and time.
It has nothing to do with the IF routes echidna is referencing the Pleiades using Subarus name since Aldebaran and the Pleiades are part of the same constellation (or Pleiades was close to the one Aldebaran is from I forgot but I know the distance looks close)
Tl:dr it’s a pun because of the stars Subaru and Al’s names are based of off with Al’s “your stars were bad” line as a base
Pleyades = Subaru
Aldebaran is a Star, tha brighest star of the constelation of tauro
that in the myth is following the pleyades
wut
Most interesting I suppose so
I know people expect his target to kill is either Satella or Echidna, but actually going through and reading this, I wonder if his target to kill is now Subaru… I can’t tell. I hope his target is Echidna…
There might be a confrontation at the end of the story, with Subaru trying to save Satella and Al trying to kill her.
Is his goal to kill Subaru?
I mean it’s likely Satella due to his future trial line but he will definitely be confronting Subaru one way or another. I predicted this confrontation since arc 5. Can’t wait.
RBD vs RBD would go crazy but im sure theres bigger plans for this than just a fight sequence
Though Subaru’s RBD is kinda more overpowered than Al’s. His is like much lesser version
Or he could do a “Arc 9 Chapter 11” (don’t want to spoil it here for those not yet caught up).
Actually came back to read this to see if could connect it to the latest chapter…
Future trail line? What was said
Wtf we bouta have rbd vs rbd then
Looks like Al was offered a contract by Echidna much like Subaru in arc 4.
So that means Al went to Echidna’s tomb? and he was accepted then??
I’m pretty sure that if it’s at the end of a volume, it’s an Epilogue, not a Prologue – unless I’m missing something
Prologue for Arc 9?
That’s how it’s written in the LN though… it’s a prologue to the story to unfold for Arc 9 and not a prologue to the story ending in Volume 38.
What if this is Al talking with his witch factor like Subaru in arc 6 and he unexpectedly has greed lol
Regulus had Greed though, and now Subaru has it
and, authorites dont seem to be streamlined. for example we still dont know what clind has. for him to have a witch factor the marquis needs to be either dead, or clind IS the marquis
The number of authorities seem to outnumber the number of witchfactors for some reason (tappei confirmed 7 witch factors but we’ve seen 8 authorities from 400 years before the present story and pandora in Emilia’s backstory which doesn’t have a set time frame yet so possible 9)
Maybe authorities is like divine protections, in a sense that there’s many different. But witch factors compared to them are much more powerful and capable of doing much more. Like Al’s authority vs Subaru’s RBD. While Al’s can affect only some local area around him, RBD can rewrite the entire world directly.
dont forget the guy who first killed the witch of greed he musta had a authority too right ?
Al, no. Don’t turn this on Subaru. Don’t listen to her.
No. This is the way. Let’s see a battle between these two and with Echidna fighting alongside Al? This is going to be a dangerous and epic showdown. Teppei has to lock the fuck in and cook with all the oil he has in his kitchen!
This should be like a Rika vs Satoko like battle from Higurashi.
Horrryyyyyyyy shhhiiiiitttttt you’ll definitely eat dirt this time echidna
Bro wtf is going on. Can the mystery of Al be revealed already? Soon there’ll be a flashback of him drinking tea with Reid and Satella while getting massaged by Puck with no explanation and then the author’s gonna ignore all that for the next 2 arcs like it ain’t a big deal.
While we may want it right now it’s neither the time or the place to reveal it yet. Beside all the build up will make the reveal better.
Dona was offering a pact to Al?
I understand that Al has a contract with Echidna and now Al’s target is Subaru or a Satella?
Aldebaran is alec hoshin
This is freakin’ complicated! Tappei really goes all out to mess us up with a complete gibberish. What’s Al’s deal? Does he have a contract with Echidna? Why does she look disappointed? At this point, it doesn’t surprise me that the next arc starts in such a convoluted way. I’m not smart enough for this!
Wait, I thought Echidna loved Subaru. Why is she having one of his friends go against him? I mean, I know she’s evil and shit, (which the greed if shows her how scummy she is) but I thought she had mellowed out in arc 6 and cared for Subaru or something. Although, I am curious and intrigued to see where this goes. Not to mention, I’m intrigued on what’s going to happen with Ram in this case, because in arc 3, Al got mad at Rem and had a surge of bloodlust and anger towards her and Subaru due to the fact that he thought Rem was Ram. I wonder if teppei is going to expand on that interaction and we see an encounter or an even a battle between them.
because the one Al was talking to was the original echidna, not the artificial spirit that subaru met in the tomb later. they do look alike and are similar, but the original and tomb one are different. conformed by beatrice and roswald in the novel.
Woaaah holy shit I didnt think of that. Ty for explaining.
The stuff with Ram and Al is covered in the side story “Ram’s Flirting Refusal” where it’s implied that Al, trying to convince Ram into joining forces with him to search they’re missing partners (Emilia and Priscilla in the capital) RBD’s multiple times to no avail.
I’m so lost oml
The fact this is called a prologue and echidna is with Al (meaning it mostly is in sanctuary or 400 years ago) makes me think the events of this chapter happened before Al met Subaru at some point (since sanctuary’s trial got deleted when Emilia passed within 5 days of Subaru getting there)
ok. but, echidna is really spamming mind reading here. and seems somewhat more of a jerk than the other we met in the tomb. still, that she knows subaru despite never seeing him before is interesting.
The witches cult gospel and rosawaals book of truth are said to be based on echidna’s authority which would mean her authority is just to know the path to a desired future in some regard since that’s what the book of truth does it’s possible that specific names came with it as well
I am blown away man
Fire
Honestly, heavy Kasaneru vibes from their interaction. Dona mirroring words from her speech to Baru when she offered the contract; talking about “gladly offering her body for comfort”…the motif of love fading, calling Al “greedy”, Al talking about trying “hundreds of millions of times”, and potentially Echidna saying Subaru has failed Al, all really give the vibe that Al has essentially been through a Kasaneru route of his own even if slightly different.