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Translated by:
- Archbishop of Transportation
- Archbishop of Valiance
Proofread by:
- Archbishop of Amphibia
- Archbishop of Shipping
- Archbishop of Transportation
Art Sources:
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――Red.
That single color blanketed Subaru’s vision.
Subaru: [――Hk!]
The man in a clown mask who had suddenly appeared, a character whose affiliation and motives were entirely unknown; instead of proper greetings such as “Nice to meet you” or “Farewell”, he had opted to send an enormous fireball hurtling toward Subaru and the others.
The sensation of the surging heat scorched his skin, and the dimly lit sewer became as bright as broad daylight.
However, this had only resulted in arousing a certain despair, as it simply made the flames clearly visible as they expanded to a size that forbade any escape within the narrow waterway as they drew near.
With Crusch upon his back, Subaru was on the brink of running out of gas himself, having already used his daily limit of EMT and EMM, leaving him with no means by which to do anything about it――,
???: [Fucking shiiit!]
And then, he heard a voice, violently spat out, which was followed by a splashing sound that gave a sense of viscosity.
In the corner of his eye, Rachins, who ought to have been by his side, was nowhere to be found. Like Subaru, he had been alarmed by the arrival of Clown Mask and had reacted faster to the fiery onslaught than Subaru. ――Without hesitation, he dove headfirst into the sewage on the side of the passage, his sole path of escape.
???: [Subaru! Betty also thinks we should――]
Subaru: [No――]
Seeing that emergency judgment of Rachins’s, Beatrice clutched at the hem of Subaru’s tracksuit. She immediately attempted to pull Subaru into the sewage with all of her meager strength and light weight.
And yet, Subaru planted his feet and resisted that action from Beatrice. Beatrice’s voice cracked as she exclaimed “Subaru!?” in response to his unexpected actions, but,
Subaru: [Trust me, Beatrice.]
Beatrice: [――――]
Wide-eyed, Beatrice stared at Subaru in shock as he declared so. Their eyes met, and as her round eyes with their distinctive pattern upon them trembled, Beatrice held her breath.
And then, faster than she could say anything, the mass of flames closed in right before her eyes.
Standing still, Subaru and Beatrice, as well as Crusch upon his back; that overwhelming firepower mercilessly consumed them all―― or not.
Subaru: [――Hk.]
The flames closed in, their skin was torched, and the moisture across their entire bodies evaporated in a single instant. ――And then, as soon as the wave of heat, so hot it felt like it had done all of that, began to singe Subaru’s bangs, it vanished into thin air.
Like it had all been an illusion, the brightness of the sewers instantly fell, as if someone had concealed the sun before their very eyes. All that remained was the lamp in the hands of Subaru’s group, the faint light brought forth by the scrap of lagmite ore that had fallen upon the floor of the passage, and the air of the sewer that still held the scorching heat of the extinguished flames.
――No, what remained was not only that, but,
Clown Mask: [――Why?]
Subaru: [Huh…?]
Clown Mask: [Why? For what reason? Just now, from there, from that place… you didn’t move?]
The white mask of Clown Mask floated in the murky darkness.
Tilting his head, tilting his mask, it was as if Clown Mask was making a bewildered face―― actually, he had somehow replaced the truly villainous mask he had first appeared in without them noticing, affixing one with a different facial expression, a design that possessed X marks in place of eyes.
Though he found that poor prank to be aggravating, Subaru, blowing on his singed bangs,
Subaru: [You introduced yourself by saying you had business with Crusch-san. Thus, it would be odd for you to go and burn Crusch-san to death with the rest of us.]
Clown Mask: [――. Ku, kuku, kuhahahaha, that’s it? You’re saying that with only that, with no more than that, you stood your ground? Even though you could have easily gotten that Great Spirit partner of yours caught up in it!?]
Subaru: […But, I won the bet.]
Clown Mask: [Whaaat a confident bastard! As expected of a Royal Candidate’s one and only Knight! Until now, up to here, by trusting in your own decisiveness and insight like that, you have carved your path forward! It’s amazing and wonderful and I am in awe. I am utterly jealous!]
Contrary to his words lauding Subaru in a booming voice, Clown Mask said with his tone of voice that Subaru was entirely unworthy of such praise, as he gave a vigorous round of applause. As that loud applause that seemed to split the air echoed fruitlessly throughout the sewers, Subaru gritted his teeth, silently suffering the abuse wrapped up as praise from his opponent.
All of it was done to avoid pointlessly provoking his opponent, and yet――,
Beatrice: [That just now, was Subaru’s cleverness exceeding your expectations, in fact. What foolish behavior, pretending it didn’t happen and launching cheap jabs at another’s character, I suppose.]
In the place of Subaru, who had not given a retort, Beatrice snapped back at their opponent with a sharp look in her eyes. In response, Clown Mask said “Tahaaa!” as he put his hand to his head, and,
Clown Mask: [How commendable, how loving, Spirit and Contractor, fitting together like lock and key. One cannot carry on without the other. Thaaat is preciiisely whyyy! Bonds can be both a poison and a cuuure!]
Beatrice: [You’re someone who can’t be reasoned with, in fact… it’s the kind of loathsomeness that brings to mind the Sin Archbishops, I suppose.]
Clown Mask: [Wait, wait, wait, wait; give me a break, take it easy on me. There’s no need to call me a Sin Archbishop! I can’t stand being lumped in with that bunch, and in the first place, the one suspected of being so is you over there right?]
Subaru: [Suspected? Of what…?]
Clown Mask: [Of being a Sin Archbishop, that is! That rumor is the talk of the town up above, Natsuki Subaru. “He might be the Sin Archbishop of Sloth inside! What should we do, whatever shall we do?” they say, in a great panic.]
Subaru: [――Hk.]
Flapping and waving his hands about, Clown Mask mockingly informed him, changing his mask back to one with the original expression. His attitude was one that irritated him in every way, but Subaru lacked the leeway to mention it.
That was the extent to which being treated as Sin Archbishop was weighing heavily upon Subaru’s heart.
Subaru: [Me, a Sin Archbishop…?]
Beatrice: [There is a limit to how far you may go with your absurd malicious suspicions, in fact. If it were true, then how would you explain Subaru so thoroughly beating the Witch Cult until now, I suppose? Would you call that the internal violence of a power struggle, in fact?]
Clown Mask: [Weeell, I don’t know, I don’t fathom, and I don’t care! Perhaps no one is interested in something like the truth, maybe they simply wish to spread information convenient for them, staged in a way they like, so that they can take advantage of it. Those kinds of bastards… really just piss you off, yeah?]
In the midst of speaking, Clown Mask swayed dramatically, lacking any composure. And yet, that final remark appended to the end alone came across as the true feelings of the eccentric before him.
While feeling that, Subaru, after taking a deep breath in and out,
Subaru: [In the end…]
Clown Mask: [Hmm? Hmmm? Mmm~?]
Subaru: [What’s your objective? I get that you’re trying to take Crusch along with you. But, for what reason, and for whom? With that appearance, I don’t believe you’re with the Kingdom’s soldiers.]
Not only pursued by the Kingdom’s soldiers, but also being treated as a Sin Archbishop; that fact was enough for Subaru, who was allergic to Sin Archbishops, to break out in hives, but he would have to set that aside for now.
Then, if he were to focus his issues solely on Clown Mask in front of him, what arose was the natural question.
He was aiming to secure custody of Crusch. However, he was not an ally of the Kingdom’s soldiers. ――If that was the case, the natural conclusion was that he was a collaborator of the group who had framed Subaru and the others.
To be honest, even disregarding the matter of Crusch, against an opponent who wielded such mastery over magic, Subaru and Beatrice, low on gas, had no chance of succeeding in a frontal assault.
He needed to somehow extract some information, buy some time, and discover an opening―― and, it was at that moment.
Subaru: [――? Hey you, what is that?]
Clown Mask: [Mmm~? What is it, what are you doing, if you’re just stalling for time… Gegeh.]
In response to Subaru, who pointed that out while frowning, Clown Mask looked down at his own body and groaned.
What Subaru had pointed out was Clown Mask’s black robes, completely concealing his build―― a blinking light faintly shone through from within the breast of that outfit.
The presence of that blinking light reminded Subaru of something.
Subaru: [By any chance, is that a Conversation Mirror?]
Clown Mask: [Aaa! Eee! Uuu! That can’t be true, that can’t be possible, right? And let me tell you! Just because my belly is flashing, that doesn’t mean your fate will be altered――]
Beatrice: [The light seems to be getting brighter, I suppose. It looks like you have quite important matters to attend to, in fact.]
Clown Mask: [Nnggghh…! You two! Right there! In that place! Wait juuust a moment!]
Pronouncing so with such vigor it sent spittle flying, Clown Mask turned his back on Subaru and Beatrice standing there. Subaru was unconsciously caught off guard by how incredibly brazenly he presented such an opening.
With his back turned, Clown Mask rustled about in his breast pockets and produced something in his hand―― a Conversation Mirror in all likelihood, and began to speak with someone through the mirror.
Even with his back turned, full of openings, Subaru’s group was of no threat. The fact that it seemed like they were being told so was supremely infuriating, but――,
???: [It’s now or never. Oi, pull me up…!]
As Subaru decided only that they would make a move, that hushed voice impatiently struck his ears.
Glancing in the direction of that voice, it came from within the flowing gutter right beside him―― there, floating with his head above the filthy water’s surface, was Rachins.
Subaru: [Chin! You were in the sewage this entire time!?]
Rachins: [I didn’t wanna carelessly catch his attention! Also, there’s a chain submerged in the water, and my leg got fucking entangled in it so I couldn’t get back up…]
Beatrice: [If you had drowned, it would have been the worst way to go, I suppose.]
Rachins: [Shaddup already! Now hurry up and gimme a hand!]
As Rachins protested from in the sewage, Subaru hesitated for a moment over what to do.
Obviously, he wanted to help by pulling him up, but both of Subaru’s hands were full carrying Crusch on his back. That would leave them relying on Beatrice, but with her body weight and strength, it was doubtful she would be able to pull Rachins out. If anything, there was a risk that the victims of the sewage might just increase by an extra person.
In that case, they might as well employ Murak, which interfered with gravity, and a parallel breakthrough might――,
Clown Mask: [Aah, fucking shit, damn it! I’m doing a good job! I might be a tad flamboyant and I’m not saying I haven’t made erratic choices, but I’m not doing something so disreputable as ignoring or deviating from instructions!]
Subaru: [――Hk.]
Raising his voice, Clown Mask stamped his feet, complaining to the person on the other side of the Conversation Mirror.
After that, Subaru wondered what his conversation partner had said, and as Clown Mask gave an “I got it, I got it!” as a perfunctory reply, as if he had given up, he then――,
Clown Mask: [Hey you, catch it without dropping it!]
Subaru: [Huh? Eh, Beako!]
Beatrice: [――That was close, in fact!]
Turning back around, shoulders slumped as if to sigh, Clown Mask had suddenly thrown something at them. As soon as he grasped that it was Conversation Mirror, Subaru called out Beatrice’s name.
As previously mentioned, Subaru’s hands were occupied by carrying Crusch. Therefore the one to catch it as it traced a gentle parabola was Beatrice, who hurried to reach out her arms.
Beatrice: [A-almost dropped it, I suppose. You, what were you thinking…]
Clown Mask: [The other side of that mirror wants to chat and exchange words with you!]
Subaru: [With us?]
The seemingly disgruntled Clown Mask caused Subaru and Beatrice to exchange glances with his words.
And then, on guard for any suspicious behavior from Clown Mask, the two of them cautiously peered at the Conversation Mirror in Beatrice’s hand.
Doing so, the form of Clown Mask’s conversation partner rose to the surface of the mirror――,
???: [――Ah, it’s coming through! Umm, can you see my face?]
Subaru: [――――]
That line spoken, seeing the form of the other individual projected upon the mirror’s surface, Subaru was at a loss as to how to respond.
After all, he had hardly expected that the figure that took shape upon the Conversation Mirror passed to him by Clown Mask, would be a girl with childish features.
He did not recognize the girl’s face. Her age was likely a year or two younger than Subaru.
She was a girl, with her long, lovely indigo hair done up high on both sides, and large, round, golden eyes, emanating a powerful will. Within the narrow frame of the mirror, the outfit of the girl with a well proportioned face and an air of a certain fragility was that of a white shirt, its collar tightly adorned by a thin tie, with a pitch-black jacket atop it―― a figure in a black suit prioritizing practicality over ostentation looked at him through the mirror.
The gap between the girl’s earnest gaze and the current situation brought considerable confusion to Subaru.
Subaru: [You’re… sorry, you would be?] [1]
Girl: [Umm, I’m called White Sheep. Black Dog over there… the masked man, I’m afraid he must have caused you considerable trouble… I’m sorry.]
Subaru: [S-sorry, you say…?]
The girl, who had introduced herself as White Sheep, had said so, and then bowed deeply from the other side of the mirror. As the girl went out of sight from in front of the mirror with such force, Subaru’s brain could not process all of this information.
Clown Mask―― the man that the girl had called Black Dog, was evidently a dangerous individual. And yet, this girl who appeared to be on the same side as Black Dog, was bowing her head to them in such a manner―― whether it could be said to be contradictory or incoherent, the only explanation was that they had deliberately come here to throw them into confusion.
Subaru: […To be blunt, I’ve got no clue of what to make of you two. As it is, my own situation is also unclear, and my mind and heart are both in chaos. Give me something I can work with.]
White Sheep: [Something you can work with, you say?]
Subaru: [If you’re an enemy, just say so. ――I’ll smash right through you.]
Beatrice: [As always, I suppose.]
When Subaru made that declaration, Beatrice next to him also nodded in agreement with a fearless face.
As previously stated, Subaru and Beatrice currently had a shortage of mana and were running severely low on stamina, and in such a state, the cards in their hand were scant. However, there was no need to go out of their way to declare that. Even if they held a losing hand without any valuable combinations, bluffing was the trick to survival in this other world.
White Sheep: [――――]
At those words of theirs, White Sheep stared in wonder from the other side of the mirror.
It seemed like she was the type to have a bad poker face. Although it was apparent that she was trying her best to restrain the changes in her expression, her eye movements and facial muscles were clearly not suited to it.
And, having to face herself in the mirror every morning, it seemed like she was also aware of this fact,
White Sheep: [That is very blunt of you… Don’t you find that scary?]
Subaru: [I do. But, it’s preferable to keep a predicament within your own hands. It’s far better than letting a predicament snowball into something out of your control while you’re confused.]
White Sheep: [――. Once again, I’m sorry. Black Dog messed with you guys out of his own awkwardness and concern for me.]
Black Dog: [Sooomehow, I get the feeling that something egocentric and self-conceited is being said, kuhahahaha.]
As White Sheep apologized for the indiscretion of her henchman, the masked Black Dog literally put on a nonchalant face.
Ignoring Black Dog, to whom there was no value in responding, the gaze of the girl on the other side of the mirror shifted―― an indication that her attention had turned to Subaru’s back, visible to White Sheep.
As if to substantiate this, while gazing at Crusch, sleeping on Subaru’s back, White Sheep said,
White Sheep: [We would like to safeguard Crusch Karsten-san’s person… no, we wish to secure her. We require that lady’s power.]
Subaru: [Crusch-san’s… power…? Don’t tell me, are you talking about her left eye?]
With a glance, Subaru turned his attention to her left eye, concealed by the eyepatch of Crusch, carried upon his back.
It was certainly plausible that she was being targeted over her Dragon Eye, the clear abnormality that had occurred within her body. White Sheep going out of her way to correct herself from “safeguarding” to “securing” was probably because she thought that an expression simply guaranteeing one’s safety would not have been honest.
However, betraying Subaru’s expectations, White Sheep said, “Left eye?” with a puzzled expression, and,
White Sheep: [I haven’t heard anything about her eyes. What we require is the power of the Divine Protection of Wind Reading that Crusch Karsten-san possesses.]
Subaru: [――Divine Protection…]
White Sheep: [Yes. That power is indispensable. ――For the battle against the Beloved Children.]
And so, with potent determination and resolve, she had pronounced those unfamiliar words.
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――The battle against the Beloved Children.
For the sake of that battle, White Sheep had said that Crusch’s Divine Protection was necessary.
Being told that their goal was to secure Crusch’s person, unrelated to the Dragon Eye dwelling within her left eye, Subaru felt a disconnect in the focus of this conversation.
To begin with, he had never expected the existence of a completely unknown enemy to be alluded to here.
Subaru: [The confusion is starting to set in again, but… what the hell is the “Beloved Children”?]
White Sheep: [They are our enemies. And more than likely, Natsuki Subaru-san, yours as well… that’s what they are.]
Subaru: […Should I take that to mean they’re connected to my current pressing situation?]
White Sheep: [――Yes. They are the ones pulling the strings behind the chaos currently being sewn in the Royal Capital.]
Receiving the unmistakable assertion that they were the enemy at the crux of this situation, Subaru’s breath caught in his throat.
Honestly, as he was right now, Subaru was more grateful for that declaration from White Sheep than anything else. Completely unaware as to who the enemy was, nor to what their objectives were, the reality of his situation was that he was right in the midst of confusion. Merely presenting the information he desired in a manner that was easily comprehensible was enough to improve his impression of White Sheep.
However――,
Subaru: [If Crusch-san’s needed to fight these so-called Beloved Children, and you made contact with us for that reason, then wasn’t sending that masked bastard as a negotiator a huge blunder in terms of personnel choice…?]
White Sheep: [N-no, well, right now, the Royal Capital is on pretty high-alert, and if you aren’t around as skilled as Black Dog, it would be dangerous to carelessly roam around, or rather…]
Black Dog: [Beeesiiides, it was just an unexpected coincidence that the person I tailed happened to find you, it’s nooot like I was chosen to be a negotiator. So don’t think it’s White Sheep’s fault, okay? You guys.]
Beatrice: [How can you act so high and mighty over that, in fact. No way, was that intended to be an assist just now, I suppose? If so, it’s not a lack of tact, but rather a lack of comprehension when it comes to people’s hearts, in fact.]
Black Dog: [Kuhahahaha, damn brat with her dress stinking of sewage. Shall I shut that damn mouth of yours and plug it?]
Due to the giant flames intended as a threat and his conduct, Beatrice felt a strong animosity toward Black Dog. Given Black Dog’s sneering rebuttals as well, he was an individual whom Subaru held practically no good will toward either.
In addition, there was a part of Black Dog’s statement just then that weighed on his mind.
Subaru: [Just now, did you say you tailed someone? That would mean…]
Black Dog: [You are a keen-eyed and shrewd fellow, Sir Knight! Precisely and indeed! Doing something like haphazardly searching for a target is a waste of one’s time, stamina, and life, no? So I used a different trick. Thaaat is to saaay, I tailed a guy that seemed like he’d find you for me! Right now, he’s in that putrid water.]
Subaru: [In that putrid water…]
???: [Oi! You fucks, how long are you going to keep chatting all buddy-buddy! Just help me already!]
As soon as Subaru looked toward the sewage, his gaze drawn there by Black Dog who answered while shaking his hips back and forth, the one who had been abandoned there, Rachins, shouted angrily.
It was a lucky break that Rachins, familiar with the underbelly of the Royal Capital, had been able to find Subaru’s group on Felt’s orders, but it appeared that this had been taken advantage of by Black Dog and his faction. That said, it did not diminish his gratitude toward Rachins one bit.
Subaru: [I don’t want to leave him treading water forever either. Can we pull him up?]
Black Dog: [Pull him up? The guy drenched in such filthy, rancid water? Though I believe it would be best for the discussion to continue in a sanitary manner by letting him sink, just like that, just like this.]
White Sheep: […Black Dog, if you’ve caused trouble for anyone…]
Black Dog: [Alright, alriiight! Maybe I’m also a little at fault for that guy diving in. I guess I might have thought, just a teensy bit, just barely, that it would have been better to save us the trouble if only the Duchess fell off from his back and the rest of them were all burned to a crisp, you see.]
Beatrice: [Before you can degrade our impression of you any further with your worthless remarks, hurry up and do something, I suppose.]
After the comparatively sensible White Sheep had managed to improve their impression of him, Black Dog went and spoiled it all with more unnecessary remarks. With the true intent behind those threatening flames laid bare, the degree to which he was a dangerous individual had risen even further.
Taking this into account, Subaru and Beatrice took a step back, keeping vigilance over Black Dog as he reached out his hand to Rachins, who had fallen into the sewage.
With the extent of his skill in magic, they could not feel safe just because he had turned his gaze away from them.
And then, with that vigilance of Subaru and Beatrice――,
Subaru: [――Ah?]
Rather than anything to do with Black Dog, as he crouched down and faced the waterway, instead, it was of use in catching wind of an entirely different anomaly.
A scrape. Somewhere, there was a sound akin to that of nails digging into thin ceramic. Reflexively, Subaru turned his gaze toward the sound. ――In the recesses of the sewers, in the faint light of the lagmite ore thrown by Rachins at the feet of Black Dog and promptly left there as it was, the silhouette of someone emerged.
Subaru: [――――]
A woman.
A woman adorned in a mantle dyed with a color that could not be strictly defined as either black or gray, her billowing dark green hair tucked into the collar, with markedly dark circles under her eyes.
For a moment, Subaru wondered if the woman might also be an ally of Black Dog and White Sheep. However, faster than he could inquire about it, the woman moved within Subaru’s field of view.
With one of her arms hanging languidly, her other arm―― in the fingers of her left hand, which she raised in front of her chest, she pinched something that looked like a white shard. That shard was shattered by the movement of her fingers.
――Immediately following that, fissures extended outward from beneath the woman’s feet, writhing like snakes across the cobblestones of the sewers, and closed in on Subaru and the others.
Rachins: [Uwoaaah!?]
At that ghastly phenomenon, Rachins, who had been about to grasp Black Dog’s hand, raised his voice.
The fissures that had begun to run rampant did not stop at just the floor. Across the walls, across the ceiling, they spanned the sullied stones of the sewers one by one, steadily causing the ancient, damp skeleton supporting the foundation of the Royal Capital to turn a cloudy white.
It was almost as if everything within view was being progressively replaced with glass.
White Sheep: [――Black Dog!]
Amidst the anomaly, with it also being transmitted across the mirror, White Sheep cried out, her voice nearly a shriek.
But alas, no matter how much she raised her voice, she could not intervene with the side of Subaru and the others, separated through the mirror. ――And yet, there had been significance in raising her voice.
Black Dog: [Don’t cry, don’t wail with that trembling voice, I got it!]
For at that single cry, any hint of mischief that Black Dog had clad himself in had completely vanished.
He swiftly turned, boldly standing in the way of the extending fissures. Subaru could tell that his gaze, which ought to have been obscured behind his mask, was acutely piercing the woman veiled by the darkness.
Black Dog forcefully clicked his tongue.
Black Dog: [This has to be the worst kind of pure evil! You’re really showing up now, at this time, at this place!?]
Subaru: [You know her!?]
Black Dog: [Someone I never wanted to know nor meet. Clarissa the Shatterer―― of the Beloved Children!]
Both Subaru and White Sheep, on the other side of the mirror as she was, gasped at the name spat out by Black Dog.
The woman who had been called Clarissa did not respond. Merely, she once again picked out another small shard from the drawstring bag held in her limp arm. A pebble, was what it seemed.
Black Dog: [Waitwaitwaitwait, if you do that here――]
Black Dog cried out to try and stop it immediately, but the stone was quicker to break.
With a crack, the crisp sound echoed through the sewers―― at that cue, the subsequent destruction propagated.
Subaru: [You’ve gotta be kidding me…!]
Destruction spread throughout the sewers anew, cracked and fissured as they already were, and the wall right next to Subaru’s group acquired a murky paleness, before the ceiling subsequently came crumbling down upon them.
Subaru: [Beatrice!]
Beatrice: [Understood, I suppose!]
Responding to his cry, Beatrice faced the collapsing ceiling and spread out her five fingers.
Having already employed both EMT and EMM, they were out of fuel, making serious combat infeasible, but to nevertheless make do with the insufficient hand they had been dealt, was precisely the partnership of Subaru and Beatrice.
Beatrice: [Murak!]
The incantation interfered with reality, tinging the fragments of the collapsing ceiling with a faint light and reducing their lethal weight to that of pumice stones.
While protecting Crusch upon his back from that rain of pumice and pulling Beatrice close, Subaru sprung far back―― in that instant, the sewers were half buried in the cave-in as the weight returned.
Black Dog: [Way to go, that was quite something, little brat! Not bad for a split-second judgment!]
Beatrice: [If you shrewdly managed to make it out alongside us, then promptly cough up the details, in fact! Regarding that woman!]
Black Dog: [A person with peculiar powers! She shatters things! Breaks them! A gloomy woman who’s no fun to talk to! She’ll kill us now!]
Black Dog, who had gladly used Beatrice’s efforts to deal with the collapse to escape it, exclaimed as if laughing, and then gave rise to a gale towards the mountain of rubble that piled up from the collapse, launching a tempest of stones into the depths of the passage.
Its aim did not falter, thundering toward Clarissa in the recesses of the passage, and yet―― with a crack, as soon as that slight noise was heard, the stones sailing through the air shattered, reduced to dust by the time they reached her.
Subaru: [Um, does it have something to do with her shattering the rock?]
Keeping a close eye on Clarissa’s actions, and seeing the crushed stone dust fall from her left hand, he conjectured that the reason which brought about this aberrant destruction lurked within that very gesture itself.
In addition, he figured that Clarissa still had many more of the pebbles necessary to do so within the drawstring bag she held.
Subaru: [Oi, use fire! If it lacks physical form, she shouldn’t be able to stop it through shattering!]
Black Dog: [I see, certainly, but what a shame! I already used up my fire, it’s no longer playable!]
Subaru: [Haaah!? ――Wait, shit!]
As he was stunned by that incomprehensible rejection of Black Dog’s, within Subaru’s field of view, Clarissa smoothly pinched and pulled out her next pebble as if performing a sacred rite.
The floor and walls surrounding Subaru and the rest were already on the verge of collapse, and if Clarissa were to shatter that shard, the entirety of the sewers might burst and collapse all at once.
At this rate――,
Rachins: [――Oi! Over here! Get over here!]
Subaru: [――Hk, Chin!?]
At that moment, a frantic appeal from the gutter was heard, and Subaru and the others turned to face it.
Upon examination, it was Rachins, floating in the water, with one hand clinging to the wall of the waterway and dragging something dark with the other. ――A rusted chain.
Rachins, who had pulled it up from the bottom, covered in black sludge, exclaimed in a loud voice.
Rachins: [It’s a sedimentation tank! There’s a buncha sludge clogged up along the side of the stream!]
Subaru: [Sediment…]
A sudden reference to the mechanisms of the sewage system, being told about it; a jolt of electricity ran down Subaru’s spine.
The sedimentation tank, the festering sludge that had accumulated; it was the worst possibility――,
Subaru: [Are you serious, dude…!?]
Rachins: [Heh! You’re a pretty sharp guy, ain’t you?]
Drenched in sewage and hair plastered to his forehead, Rachins was in a terrible state. However, with his shihaku eyes glistening with a fiery blaze, he laughed at Subaru, who had arrived at the same idea, and then pulled back his arm with all of his might.
The rusted chains smeared in filth made a dull sound―― and with a creak, a heavy noise came from the bottom of the water.
Alongside that sound, bubbles rose to the surface of the water near the wall. The small ones frothing there gradually increased in number, making the surface of the black water suddenly begin to roil. ――Instantly, the air of the sewers, in which putrid stenches had wafted through from the start, was filled with an odor resembling that of rotten eggs, far worse than anything prior.
He understood Rachins’s objective.
There was no time to hesitate.
Subaru: [Crusch-san――]
Conscious of Crusch, slumbering on his back, Subaru suddenly found himself at a loss for what to do. Considering his actions from here on, it was far too dangerous for her, unconscious as she was.
The second Subaru wavered, Black Dog took action. ――All of a sudden, he was sent flying.
Subaru: [You―― hk!]
Black Dog: [Rather than throwing it, launching it, and having it be shattered, this is the way to do it!]
As he said this, Black Dog threw himself towards Subaru and Crusch, as well as Beatrice, dragging them all into the sewage in one fell swoop. Just before they hit the water―― unexpectedly, his view was obstructed by something dark, and the anticipated embrace of the contaminated water did not come.
Upon closer inspection, it was an enormous unfinished sphere that had been produced from earthen clods by Black Dog, snugly wrapping and enveloping them――,
White Sheep: [Please! Believe in him!]
In the midst of the fleeting situation, White Sheep, reflected on the surface of the mirror, made her earnest appeal.
Spurred on by that, within the hemisphere of earth as it gradually sank, Subaru entrusted Crusch to Beatrice right beside him, and reached his hand outside the closing ball.
And then――,
Subaru: [――Come on, Rachins!]
Rachins: [Don’t you fucking boss me around!]
Having fully pulled the chain out, Rachins clumsily kicked off the wall and soared toward them. Grasping Rachins’s outstretched arm, Subaru pulled his slender body into the hemisphere in one motion.
Entangled together, they collapsed onto their backs. Immediately following that, the hemisphere closed completely, and at nearly the same time, the faint sound of a pebble fragment being shattered could be heard.
The tremors and thunderous rumble resounded through the closed, bulky walls composed of packed earth.
However, something greater than that was――,
Rachins: [Get blown to bits. ――Goa.]
Rachins, still lying in a heap with Subaru, spat those words as he snapped his fingers. ――As soon as he did, a red light could be seen expanding through the earthen wall, followed later by a delayed sound and impact.
Subaru: [――Hk!?]
The world shook with the might of a gut-punch, and Subaru let out a shout.
Despite being underwater, in an earthen sphere, it burned. It was radiant. As if intent on rupturing his eardrums, the roar of the explosion detonated.
Subaru: [――ah.]
A soundless scream ran rampant throughout Natsuki Subaru’s body.
Heaven and earth spun round and round, round and round, with staggering force, and the earthen sphere submerged underwater was swept away with ferocious momentum, colliding, smashing into large masses, over and over, over and over, threatening to knock him unconscious.
Accumulated within the sedimentation tank had been combustible gases generated from the massive amount of filth.
Rachins had opened the lid of that sedimentation tank, ignited the tremendous quantity of what had overflowed, and blown up the sewers themselves, including Clarissa, who had been after them. ――No, he did not even know what had happened to the sewers. He could not see. He could not hear. His comprehension could not keep up.
Tossed about by the surging water and the bucking ball of earth, Subaru fiercely, fiercely embraced the small sensation he was well accustomed to holding and the individual he needed to protect no matter what, with the entirety of his might.
Gritting his teeth, he endured. ――That was the best Subaru could muster at this moment.
Subaru: [――――]
Gritting his teeth, he kept enduring, enduring, and endured.
Until his consciousness was engulfed by an invisible murky torrent, he continued, and continued to endure――,
△▼△▼△▼△
――When he next awakened, the first thing he sensed was an odor.
It was neither the stench of a rotten egg, nor the stench of polluted sewage.
The aroma was one reeking of alcohol, along with the scent of a dry cloth. The air, heated without the use of fire, passed through his nostrils, and as he deeply inhaled that which had an awfully hygienic sense to it―― it suffocated him.
Subaru: [Gehk! Gohkk! Oeuffhk!]
???: [Wakyaa, I suppose!]
Then, as Subaru’s body sprung up in a horrendous fit of coughing, the weight that had been resting upon his chest and abdomen also jumped up, giving rise to such an adorable scream.
Widening his eyes, he adjusted the focal point of his blurred vision with a series of several blinks. Doing so, he was able to locate Beatrice, donning a sour expression right next to where Subaru had been sprawled out.
Laying his eyes upon Beatrice, with a blanket draped over her shoulders, Subaru’s lips trembled.
Subaru: [Beako… are you, alright?]
Beatrice: [Somehow, in fact. Rather than a hair’s breadth, it was a close call by the breadth of a hundred hairs, I suppose.]
Subaru: [A hair’s breadth means a single strand of hair, so increasing the number actually just changes the meaning… or rather, that doesn’t matter. More importantly, if you and I are safe, then the others――]
Beatrice: [Calm down, in fact. Before you panic, take a look around, I suppose.]
Before Subaru could get too ahead of himself, Beatrice stopped him with a firm hand to his brow. Then, with his forehead pinned by her small palm, Subaru moved only his gaze, and realized.
In the bed adjacent to the one Subaru found himself in, Crusch had also been laid down.
Subaru: [Crusch-san… thank goodness. She’s unharmed… right?]
Beatrice: [From what has been said, she is fine, in fact. However, she has not reawakened even once since then, I suppose. Just how long her exhaustion from that eye will continue, is unknown even to Betty, in fact.]
Subaru: [I see… ah, Chin’s also here, eh. What a relief.]
While he was comforted by the sight of Crusch, who lay asleep on the bed as her chest regularly rose and fell with her breathing, further beyond that sight, sprawled out on a couch and wrapped in a blanket, was Rachins.
Though he was not awake, his brow was furrowed, and he mumbled something to himself as he slept, perhaps because the couch was not a very comfortable place to rest. ――For the actors who had saved Subaru and the others with such tact, this was quite the crude treatment; a wry smile emerged on his face with that thought, but,
Subaru: […Where, is this place?]
His relief compelling him to release his strength, Subaru’s hands fell onto the bed as he finally arrived at that question.
It was a place that completely differed from the sewers not only in smell, but also in appearance. A room of stone construction bereft of windows, the only source of illumination being a small lamp. There were bandages and a water pitcher placed by the bedside, with cloths that had been folded and neatly arranged, prompting the term “doctor’s office” to vaguely flash through his head.
Subaru: [Is this kinda like, a hidden medical clinic? Something like a back-alley doctor’s hideout…]
???: [――Hk! Have you awakened, Natsuki Subaru-san!?]
Upon expressing his miscellaneous impressions, a surprised voice was hurled at Subaru from the side.
When he turned his gaze around, there was a lone girl standing at the entrance of the room―― the person whom he had seen across the mirror. With long indigo hair tied into twin tails on her left and right, was the girl in the black suit―― White Sheep.
Not across the mirror, but now in person, White Sheep clasped her hands together before her chest, opened them, clasped them again, opened them, and after repeating that several times,
White Sheep: [Th-thank goodness… what if something had happened to all of you, I was just so worried thinking about that…]
Subaru: [That’s… thank you for worrying about me?]
White Sheep: [Yes! No! Umm? Which one fits best here…?]
Unsure of the correct order to proceed with his apology, thanks, and complaint, Subaru and White Sheep both short-circuited, unable to make a judgment.
“You helped me out there”, there was no doubt about that. However, before that, it was also true that he had been threatened by White Sheep’s comrade, Black Dog, so he was endlessly confounded about how to correctly approach the situation.
And, just as he thought that――,
???: [――White Sheep, you mustn’t trouble Natsuki-dono. You ought to be different from Black Dog. If not, the need arises to reconsider our course of action.]
White Sheep: [――――]
The voice came from behind White Sheep, flustered as she was at the room’s entrance.
Hearkening that voice, and laying eyes upon the visage of its owner, Subaru gulped down his breath, and his eyes grew wide. Within the course of this single day, he had already received more than enough shocks, and yet, they only continued to come.
After all, the person who had appeared together with White Sheep, was somebody whom Subaru was also familiar with.
Subaru: [You’re… Russell… san?]
In a faltering voice, what Subaru’s lips wove was the name of an individual he had been involved with quite a long time ago―― having been acquainted right at the outset of the Royal Selection, he was someone with whom Subaru had negotiated to provide support and supplies for the White Whale Subjugation that had immediately followed, and while he had not saddled up amongst them on the actual battlefield, he was a merchant who had nevertheless fought against that same enemy.
Bearing the title of chairman of the Royal Capital’s Commerce Guild, it was Russell Fellow who was present here.
Subaru: [――――]
With his mind at the apex of turmoil and confusion, Subaru could only look at Russell’s composed demeanor in mute amazement. Receiving that gaze, the gentleman clad in a well-tailored suit smiled, and gave a deep nod.
For some reason, that smile sent a chill down Subaru’s spine. ――For a person who was supposed to be a mere merchant, that smile felt far too laden with ulterior motives.
And so, Subaru’s chills were right on the mark.
Russell: [It is truly fortuitous that we are able to meet like this, Natsuki-dono. Arriving at this unprecedented crisis for the Kingdom, your strength and discernment, Natsuki-dono, are things we wish to borrow by all means.]
Subaru: [An unprecedented, great predicament for the Kingdom, that would be…]
Russell: [Indeed.]
It was a situation that was by no means laughable; however, Russell maintained his smile, and continued.
That was――,
Russell: [――The enemy’s aim is a silent, thorough invasion of the Kingdom. The very core of the Kingdom has already fallen into the hands of our long-sworn enemy, verging on a crisis of total downfall.]
Translation Note:
[1] – Subaru changes his usual second-person pronoun here from お前 (omae) to 君 (kimi). Subaru’s usual omae can be construed as rude when used with people you aren’t close with or who have high standing, though Subaru doesn’t usually seem to care too much outside of quite formal occasions. In this instance though, he opts for a middle road, using a somewhat more polite but still relatively casual option in kimi as he figures out how he should talk to White Sheep.
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