*This chapter is an edited MTL
???: "I may look like this, but I actually like books."
The girl sitting in the luxurious chair with one hand on the armrest said so.
In the hand opposite her arm, she has an elaborately bound book open, and the way she looks at the book, which is already opened to its second half, is somewhat different from the atmosphere she had before.
She was wearing a thin negligee-like robe with sleeves and a white cloth of the same color as the robe draped over her shoulders. The curves of her voluptuous body are exposed in front of the eyes, but the girl does not seem to be aware of this, even though she is facing a man's gaze.
She was immersed in the world of books so naturally that it was hard to believe that she was greeting a visitor.
Stepping on the carpeted floor with his sneakers, Subaru was at a loss now that he was left alone.
Although he was let in, the owner of the room was not interested in Subaru. When he tried to forcefully start a conversation, he only received a single word in reply.
He didn't think she was telling him to wait for her to finish reading the book because she was almost done with it.
Subaru: "No matter how much you want to know, that's not..."
He tried to deny the thought that sprouted in his mind, but as he watched her turn the pages with a gentle grace, he could not dispel his uneasiness.
In fact, Subaru knew that she was a person who could say such unreasonable things.
She has orange hair that seemed to reflect the sun, and red eyes like flames that burn everything in sight. She has clear white skin and feminine, full-bodied arms and legs.
There are no words to describe the beauty of her figure as she quietly gazes at a book without opening her mouth.
So how unfair God would have been to her if her personality was not nurtured to offend others.
The girl's name is Priscilla Barriel.
She was one of the candidates for the king's election and the next person whom Subaru had stepped forward to ask for help.
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It was at the mansion that Reinhardt had been using as his residence during his stay in the capital that Subaru was informed of the fact that he was not in the capital.
The villa was used by the Astrea family, Reinhardt's birth family, and according to the old couple who were in charge of managing the villa,
Old Couple: "In preparation for the upcoming royal election, he has now returned to the main house with his master, Ms. Felt, and his family. It is possible for the main family to talk to each other here with the conversation mirror, but..."
The important thing is that the route between the capital and Astrea's main family would take nearly four days to travel by dragon carriage. Reinhardt left the royal capital two days ago, so he had not yet arrived at his main house.
Furthermore, when he asked about the location of his main house, the earliest he could rush to the Maather’s territory was five days—no matter how he struggled, it was hopeless for him to enter the battle.
Subaru: "Neither Roswaal nor Reinhardt are... useful at the critical point...!"
After saying goodbye to the old couple and once out of sight of the villa, Subaru's head was in his hands.
This time the period of time was amazingly awful. The disappearance of the candidate who might have been willing to lend his help unconditionally had caused Subaru to lose real leeway.
Before he was turned down, it hurt that they had not anticipated his absence. And with his departure two days before, he would not be able to make it in time at the time of his 『Return by Death』.
If he was to ask for his cooperation, he could only do so in the first world, where it was possible to spend two days before his 『Return by Death』. But this was impossible for Subaru, who had spent his days in idleness, unaware of the tragedy that awaited him,
Subaru: "It doesn't matter what I don't have…, think, thinkthinkthinkthinkthinkthink, I… don't have enough power, numbers, or time. I have to think."
Subaru desperately wracked his brain and thought hard to come up with the next best solution.
If Crusch is no good and Reinhardt is no good, Subaru, with few known figures in Capital, had few cards to choose from.
If the news of the appearance of the Witch Cult is to be questioned for its credibility, as Crusch pointed out, it seemed unlikely that he would be able to get cooperation from the knights by storming into their offices.
Above all, Subaru's current position was not able to make a direct appeal to the knightly orders of the kingdom, and before that, he expected himself to be remembered very poorly by the knights.
Subaru had not forgotten the ugliness of those who cheered and shouted as he was beaten to a pulp during his decisive battle with Julius in the training ground. He didn't think those people would lend a hand to Subaru, nor would he want to borrow from them.
—Subaru's doubt and suspicion toward others swirled inside him after being abandoned by Crusch, whom he had thought had been treating him sincerely until then.
As a matter of fact, in the latter half of the incident at the training camp, there were no knights who cheered, but rather many who frowned at Julius' behavior—but there was no way Subaru could have known that at that time, nor could he have had time to confirm it after his subsequent exchange with Emilia.
The knights were, in Subaru's mind, still shameless people to be vilified, and even if he bit back his humiliation and asked them for help, it was unlikely that they would listen to him sincerely.
Therefore, Subaru had no choice but to pretend that he was unaware of the fact that he was narrowing his options by his past actions, and he could only think of the next best thing with bloodlust in his eyes.
If he could not rely on the royal knighthood, there are now only two people Subaru knew in The Capital. And it was absolutely impossible to bow to one of them for the same reason as the Knights.
In that case, there was only one candidate.
Rem: "Subaru-kun, what will you do now? Rem is..."
Subaru: "Don't worry. I'll take care of it. You don’t have to do anything. Just stay behind me."
While Subaru was thinking Rem, unable to bear the sight of him, started to say something.
Subaru interrupted her and continued to think with a weak smile on his face.
It was dangerous to put Rem in the firing line.
He knew that she would not hesitate to throw herself into the fray and use her life as a rock to protect Subaru.
This was the result of Subaru's actions that saved her and made her dependent on him, and he had to accept it. After accepting it, he had to avoid the consequences of losing her.
For this reason, Subaru stubbornly refused to allow Rem to move forward.
Subaru had to do it himself. Otherwise, he could not protect Rem, rescuing Emilia and the people of the village would be meaningless, and clearing his hatred for Petelgeuse—.
Subaru: "That, was...?"
For a moment, Subaru touched his temples as he felt something terribly disturbing come to mind.
It was as if killing Petelgeuse was more important than saving Emilia and the others. Besides, it was crazy to think that Emilia and the rest’s lives must be saved by his own hands.
It was a temporary distraction. As long as he could realize that, Crusch's statement was off the mark.
Subaru: "It's okay. It's okay. I'm doing the right thing."
As if telling himself, as if chewing, as if pretending he didn't see what he saw, as if putting a lid on the abyss within himself, Subaru affirmed himself.
If he didn't affirm, he wouldn't be able to keep his sanity.
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
The next morning, after spending the night at an inn, they visited Priscilla's mansion on the edge of the royal capital.
Built on the outskirts of the aristocratic district, it was the Barriel estate, where Priscilla's late husband, an old man named Leip Barriel, used to live.
He was a man of some standing in the royal court, and Rem knew his name and the extent of what the deceased man had done, but—
???: "At least, this couldn’t have been the dead old man's hobby, right?"
Even from a distance, the splendor of the mansion was clear to the eye as it diffusely reflected the morning sun
The roofs had probably been repainted very recently, and the golden paint was so luxurious and shone so freshly that it looked as if it had been sprinkled with gold leaf. If they were to maintain this radiance, it would need to be frequently repainted.
The walls of the mansion beyond the gate were decorated with ornamentation as gaudy as the roof, and the many windows that faced them were works of art, with designs carved into them.
Although he had no experience with the tastes of the rich and famous, the sight of this kind of money was very intrusive to him.
???: "Well, well, this is actually the Princess’s hobby. It was quite a rush job, you know? We came to the capital from our territory, and arrived only a month ago. I feel sorry for those who had to work through the night, but I can't complain when I get slapped on the cheek with a sack of gold coins."
???: "No, hitting someone on the cheek with a bag of gold coins is no different than hitting them. Don’t try to make it sound like it’s a wad of cash.”
Some of the mysteries out there even use a sock filled with sand as a blunt instrument. You could be beaten to death with a sack of gold coins, cause of death: suddenly joining a rich family.
”That’s the way it is,” the one who said this while tilting his head and scratching the nape of his neck through the gap in his helmet was Al. He was a mercenary hired by Priscilla and, like Subaru, seemed to be a compatriot who was summoned from Earth to another world.
His frequent use of modern language and his eccentric fashion sense were highly consistent with Subaru, but because he was summoned nearly 20 years ago, a generation gap was undeniable.
Anyway, Subaru's inner thoughts were elsewhere when the two met at the gate, Al wasn’t at all alert and with a pleasant attitude he let out a yawn,
Al: "So, what do you want this early in the morning? As you can see, I have low blood pressure, so I'm really weak in the morning. I'm a good match for the King of the Koi."
(T/N: 「キングオブコイ」Unsure what this is, and I couldn't find any info about it online, so I just translated it literally.)
Subaru: "I don't care if you're talking about the super bad guy who shoots a crusher beam when he levels up. I'm sorry for barging in here without an appointment, but I need to talk to your Princess."
Al: "To the Princess?"
Al, who had been swaying weakly and moving as if he had no bones in his body, straightened up and intently stared at Subaru and Rem.
Behind the black helmet, the sharpness of his gaze was unknown, but Subaru couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable at the way he was looking at him, as if he was judging me. Al, who seemed to have been looking only at Rem for quite a long time, rung the joints of his helmet and said,
Al: "Ah, I've replenished the maid supply, so that's good. I'll tell her."
Subaru: "There has to be at least one maid in this mansion. And your reaction was mild."
Al: "Oi, you don't know the Princess. The Princess thinks she's the cutest, so she wouldn't hire a maid. The only ones in the mansion are shota butlers.”
Subaru: "That's the worst thing I've ever heard… her rating is falling, but please get in touch with her anyway."
Al responded in a muffled, unenthusiastic voice, and disappeared into the mansion.
Rem, at Subaru’s side, took a step back in silence and kept her expression blank. However, the anxiety that could not be concealed protruded from her as she pinched Subaru's hem a little, and even if he wanted to comfort it, the same amount of anxiety ruled Subaru and there was nothing he could do to control it.
Even though he couldn’t think of anyone else to turn to, he still shouldn’t have felt this anxious just from talking to her attendant before the person in question herself appeared on stage.
For Subaru, who could not afford to be choosy about his means, this was his last resort.
Subaru: "But maybe it was a mistake to come at this hour. In Priscilla's case, interrupting the mistress’s precious sleeping time—or something like that, normally the opening words are, ‘Hey, let’s meet.’"
The words that had leaked out, fueled by a sense of anxiety, were interrupted by Al's loud voice as he leaned halfway out of the front door of the mansion and waved his hand.
After a moment of stunned dismay, Subaru pushed open the gate and stepped toward Al, who was beckoning him to come in,
Subaru: "H, how did you manage to get an appointment so easily?"
Al: "You may be surprised, but the Princess is actually strong in the morning. Instead, her nights end very early. Anyway, this way, this way.”
Al probably grinned behind his helmet as Subaru flinched, and he led him inside with a carefree attitude. Following his lead, Subaru stepped inside the mansion, and it turned out that, just like the exterior, the interior’s design had been modified considerably.
The corridors, lined with artwork, were rather distracting to walk through, and everything from the lighting to the picture frames were decorated with precious metals, which almost felt maddening.
Al: "Your eyes may flicker at first, but you get used to it. It's better now because it's morning, but it's really scary in the hallway at night.”
Subaru: "I'm not a child, so you don't have to tell me that the hallway is scary at night, you grown man.”
Al: “Do you know that the eyes of the stone statues glow at night?”
Subaru: "That's because your master is crazy."
He looked up and saw that the eyes of the stone statues that lined the hallway have what appeared to be jewels embedded in them. When it got dark, they glowed. Madness.
As Subaru silently watched the desecration of art, Al tilted his head as if he felt something strange, but he did not mention it.
Subaru was trying to make sure that Rem, who was following behind him, would not feel nervous, but Rem, who was pinching his hem and following him, had been sniffling constantly and kept looking at his leading back as if she was looking at something suspicious.
And then,
Al: "The princess is on the top floor of this mansion. She has the luxury of a whole floor.”
Subaru: "It’s like a hotel suite. Can we go up?"
As they approached the bottom of the stairs, Al pointed towards the top with his thumb, and said with a nod, "Only bro can.”
Subaru gave him a quizzical look at the answer.
Al: "No, no, no, I'm not saying that to be mean. The Princess said that only my brother was allowed to see her. You, young lady, will be taken to the guest room."
Subaru: “Do you think I’m going to leave her alone with the guy who was talking about replenishing his maid supply earlier…?”
Al: “I was told to wait outside of her chamber, so don't worry about it. It’s annoying and regrettable, but the young lady will be guided by a shota butler."
A boy with blond curly hair and blue eyes appeared from beside Al, who anticipated Subaru's anxiety. The boy, to whom only the adjective "beautiful boy" can be applied, is dressed in a small butler's uniform, which gives him an aura that makes him look taller than he is.
Al: "Well, don't be too rough with our guests."
Al tapped him on the shoulder carefreely and the shota butler tried to escort Rem by saying “This way,” alongside a flowing gesture. Rem looked at Subaru in confusion for only a brief moment,
Subaru: "Sorry, you'll have to wait until we're done talking. I'll take all the dangerous people upstairs with me, including the man over there, so you can relax in peace."
Al: “Calling me a dangerous guy is cruel, bro. I’ve been called a suspicious guy more.”
Subaru: “I’m more of a low ranking suspicious person.”
Subaru gave a cold look to Al, who responded soberly, and then turned to Rem once again and patted her head to reassure her.
Rem's eyes narrowed nervously at the feel of her hair being mixed with hers as he stroked her, and she spoke in a small voice saying, “I understand,” as she reluctantly accepted.
Rem: “That man over there, please be particularly careful with him.”
She leaned in slightly as she whispered to Subaru.
Her eyes turned momentarily to Al, who must have been the one who had just alerted her to the danger. The suspiciousness of his appearance was certainly outstanding among those he had encountered during his stay in the other world, but it was an eyebrow-raising warning about someone he trusted to a certain extent. However,
Subaru: "Hmm, okay."
Naturally, he trusted Rem more.
Considering the exchange at Crusch’s Mansion, it was impossible to place full trust in a partner just because they were from the same world as him. He had to be aware that he was in hostile territory.
After watching Subaru nod, Rem disappeared across the hallway with the shota butler. In the end, she left the room, and while leaving the reluctant Subaru behind,
Al: "Hyuu, yay, brother. She loves you."
Subaru: "If you're going to do it, atleast whistle properly. Or can you not whistle like me?"
There are few things cooler than whistling effects with your mouth.
Subaru, who could not whistle no matter how much he practiced in the past, felt a sense of familiarity with him, but Al made him retract it with a rather heavy-handed reply, "Ah, it's because my lips aren't in good shape.”
Anyway,
Al: "It's bad enough that I kept you waiting, but it's even worse that I kept the princess waiting so long she'll think I've gone against her. We should go upstairs as soon as possible."
Subaru: "It's great that you're a fast talker… By the way, is Priscilla in a good mood?”
The most important thing in a negotiation is to avoid a situation where the other party is in a bad mood when you’re about to bring up something important. If it were someone else, it would not affect him too much, but because we are talking about Priscilla, the invisible status of her mood would have an extraordinarily large effect on him.
In response to Subaru’s concern Al tilted his head with a languid, "Hmmm,”
Al: "I don't think it's good or bad right now, but you can't really rely on that, can you? The Princess's mood changes before and after conversations, in between conversations, up and down, left and right. I don't even know what she likes to talk about, so you'll have to improvise to get through it.”
Subaru: "It’s up to chance, huh… I'm not very good at this.”
After receiving reassuring advice from the knight, Subaru went upstairs with an anxious look on his face.
He went up the stairs, passed through the landing, and at the end of the climb, there was a door to a room,
Al: "This is The Princess's private room. I haven't been invited in, so I'll wait for you here.
Saying this in an easygoing tone, Al sat down on the step in front of the door. As he did so, he removed the blue dragon sword from behind his waist and placed it on his lap,
Al: "Don't get her in a bad mood, okay? I don’t want to be blamed for anything, and if she’s in a bad mood she’ll ask for a lot of reckless things.”
Subaru: “Reckless things, huh… I’m here to be very reckless too.”
Subaru responds to Al's pleas with a curt response, gulps and then pushes the door open.
—And then,
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
Time then returns to the confrontation with Priscilla at the beginning of the story.
Subaru entered the room after being seen off by Al, and encountered her waiting for him in the hall a short distance ahead. However, she was sitting on a chair placed on a high step, reading a book gracefully and not even taking a glance at Subaru.
As long as he was not kicked out, he should have been recognized as a visitor, but without any action from her side, he was not sure about his course of action.
However, time was ticking away even while he was puzzled in this way.
Deciding that hesitation would only lead to stagnation, Subaru took a breath to broach the subject,
Priscilla: "Well..."
Just as he was about to begin his first word, the thirsty sound of a book being closed echoed in the room.
Priscilla closed the book in her hand, and closed both eyes, tasting the numbness created when she closed the book with her palm, and was silent for a moment as if enjoying the feeling after finishing a book. Then,
Priscilla: "It was a boring story."
Subaru: “Rather, I think you were immersed in reading it…”
Priscilla: "The proper way to read a book is to immerse yourself in the world of the book while you are reading it. And then, after you've read the story through, you can let out your thoughts. You can't say it's boring without reading it."
Priscilla responds to Subaru's feeble prodding with an unexpectedly decent book lover's response.
It seems that she was not lying in calling herself a book lover. She assured him that she would never criticize a book without reading it, and then she roughly tossed the book she had just finished reading into the air,
Subaru: "—Oh."
As soon as the book reached the top of its arc in front of Subaru's stunned eyes, it was suddenly scorched by a high temperature and burst into flames.
The book, which had been burned from its binding to its contents by the tremendous flames,, was destroyed in an instant, and after a blink of an eye, nothing but black ashes fell down in fluttering flakes.
Priscilla: "Well, now you're taking away my precious morning reading time. —Surely you have brought me a story that will interest me more than the book I was reading just now, haven't you?"
Priscilla smiled in a wicked and impure way, and pointed her white finger at him as she recrossed her slender legs.
Subaru felt heat from her fingertips pointed at him, and he felt a cold sweat emerging on his back,
Subaru: "—The candidate Emilia and the current situation surrounding her, I need your assistance to break through that situation."
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
Priscilla: “The Witch Cult, hm…”
Priscilla supported her head with her arm that rested on the armrest of her chair, and tapped her knee with the fingers of her other hand
After he finished telling almost the exact same story as the one he had told Crusch, Priscilla muttered, deeply moved, and closed her eyes.
Subaru noticed that she seemed to be thinking about the Witch Cult,
Subaru: "If left unchecked, they will harm the people. I want to take them out before that happens. That's why I need your power."
Priscilla: "Hehe, fu…."
Subaru: "—?"
Before Subaru could press Priscilla further to get her consent, she hung her head and hid her face as her shoulders trembled. In front of the frowning Subaru, she looked up with a burst of energy,
Priscilla: "Hahahaha! That's funny! You’re funny. I see, you made my heart tremble more than the book I just read. So you were a jester after all."
She laughs, laughs, and laughs at Subaru.
It was not a friendly smile that she had on her face, but the kind of smile a ferocious predator would have, the kind of smile a cat would smile as it claws a mouse to death,
Subaru: "What's so funny?"
Priscilla: "It's the ridiculousness of not knowing. Oh, come on, you. Don't you realize how illogical you are being right now?"
Priscilla asked with amusement as she inserted her index finger into her orange hair and curled it up to her shoulder.
The way she spoke, as if she could see right through him, was familiar. He had heard this tone of voice many times in Crusch’s mansion, a tone of voice that seemed to say Subaru had poor comprehension skills.
Priscilla sniffed at Subaru, whose gaze had hardened without him realizing it,
Priscilla: "I don't know if you have anyone to rely on, but all you are doing is telling the other camps about the weaknesses of your own camp. This kind of thing is why your power is insufficient… You've got a very naive brain, don't you?"
Priscilla tapped her temples with her fingers and scoffed at Subaru's behavior.
Subaru's thoughts involuntarily went blank at her condescending attitude. Up until now, he had not expected to be so blatantly abused.
Priscilla looked down at the silent Subaru, who was unable to sort out his emotions,
Priscilla: “I like how you don’t care about appearances, but you aren’t thinking hard enough. You aren’t thinking hard enough at all. You’re trying to save them, but you are putting them in a difficult position. Your conduct is that of an incompetent worker. I would rather die than deal with the burden of cleaning up after you.”
As Priscilla, who had said all she wanted to say, bent her waist and got up from her chair, Subaru continued staring at her with wide eyes and said, “Rather…”
Priscilla: "I'd be happy to knock your head off."
In the next moment, a folding fan was pulled from Priscilla's chest and placed lightly against the side of Subaru's neck.
She had moved so fast that he could not see when she stepped nor when she swung her arm.
He felt the edge of the fan, which had been warmed by Priscilla's body heat, touch his right carotid artery. It was by no means a sharp blade, yet it gave Subaru the illusion that his head would fall off the moment it was moved.
Subaru involuntarily gasped, and Priscilla muttered in boredom, "Can't you even follow it with your eyes?
Priscilla: “If you are foolish and stupid, then you are beyond help. However… I admire your loyalty, to receive such harsh treatment, and yet still act with your lord in mind.”
As she spoke, Priscilla moved the fan from Subaru's neck, opened it to cover her own mouth, squinted her eyes, and continued, “Now then,”
Priscilla: “It would be a shame for me to turn you away after you made me laugh. So I will give you an opportunity.”
Subaru: "...A, an opportunity?"
Priscilla: "Yes, an opportunity. A chance as that guy says."
(T/N: Chance is said in English)
Priscilla pointed her folding fan out towards Subaru while uncertainly using modern language that she may have heard from Al. For some reason, Subaru was unable to dodge the fan as it gently came at him, and when it pressed against his forehead his upper body swayed and he fell on his backside.
And so, the height of both their gazes were reversed. As the toppled over form of Subaru tried to look up at Priscilla with surprise and protest,
Subaru: "――"
Priscilla: "Lick it."
Priscilla’s foot, which was bare due to having taken off her shoe, was presented close to his face.
Subaru's gaze wandered between her face and the foot in front of him, not understanding the meaning of her words. Priscilla sniffed at Subaru behaving like a lost child, as if she were admonishing a bad kid, as if she were pushing around a slave, in that vicious way she,
Priscilla: "Crawl on the floor, chew your shame and humiliation, and lick your mistress's feet like an unsightly and absurd stray dog. —If you are able to do that, I'll consider your proposal."
Subaru: "Wha—!?”
Priscilla: "If you don't want to, that's fine. If you want to abandon the master you fawn over in favor of your own petty pride, that's fine too. For mineself, that is also a pleasure."
Saying that she would enjoy it either way it turned out, Priscilla hid her mouth as she laughed mockingly.
Subaru's gut boiled with rage at how Priscilla’s attitude was nothing but malicious. But he held back from raising his voice and acting on his emotions.
If he let his emotions get the better of him at this point, the negotiation would collapse.
Above all, it was no doubt an attempt to get him to concede to the other party.
He looked at her foor, which was still held out in front of his face, and at Priscilla's face, which was sneering at me.
When he closed his eyes, he saw a silver-haired girl and a pink-haired maid. And then he saw the faces of the village children and adults, one after another rising to the surface, and the boiling magma slowly died down.
And then,
Subaru: "I, I… understand."
Enduring his humiliation, Subaru took Priscilla's foot in his hand.
Thinking of Emilia and the villagers and the pain they would feel before dying, how could the humiliation Subaru experience here be worse than that? He didn’t care if he had to become a dog or anything else, as long as he could avoid that future and finally see the world he had to reach.
His trembling lips drew near to the top of her foot, and they felt her skin—just before that,
Priscilla: “Oh, you’ve truly—fallen low enough to be such a worthless man.”
With a kick square to the face, Subaru was easily blown into the air.
As he spun and his vision whirled, Subaru did not understand what was happening. His head was shaken by the tremendous impact and his consciousness was scattered. The floating sensation he had felt was immediately interrupted by the feeling of his whole body being slammed into something solid.
After a few moments of silence, he realized that he was lying sprawled out on the ground. A thick, sticky liquid was profusely dripping from his nostrils.
Priscilla: "That is neither loyalty nor devotion. It is filthier, like a dog’s dependence or a pig’s greed. It’s like the obvious desire of a slothful pig. The greed of a pig is the most ugly kind of greed."
An incessant ringing and the feeling of wanting to vomit freely bounced around in his head.
From someplace he heard Priscilla’s voice, but the content did not reach the inside of his head.
Only,
Priscilla: "Even if we were to remove the Witch Cult, a camp with a lowlife like you could be destroyed by mineself even when I am exhausted. Your rash behavior has led to mineself making this decision."
A small hand grabbed his collar as he layed down and roughly pulled him up.
As he was raised up, more and more blood poured out of Subaru’s nose, and more and more merciless words were showered on him as he coughed breathlessly.
Priscilla: "—Be proud of yourself. You're the one who led that woman, Emilia, to her doom."
Throwing him with all of her might, Subaru’s body slid across the floor to the entrance door. As he rolled, the remaining blood from his nose dotted the floor here and there, but Priscilla seemed to look at Subaru himself as if he was more displeasing than the trail,
Priscilla: "—Aldebaran!"
Priscilla shouted in a sharp voice, and the sole door to the outside was opened from the other side.
A figure in a jet-black helmet appeared, lured by the call.
He looked around the room, and when he saw Subaru lying in front of the door, covered in blood, he puts his one arm on his head,
Al: "Hey, hey, what's going on here…?"
Priscilla: "Throw that obnoxious rag out. If you want to, kill him and throw him away.”
Al: "Well, I wonder if I want to do, that sort of thing… Hey, move, bro.”
Without any protest towards his resentful master, Al grabbed Subaru's fallen body and lifted him easily with his one hand, carrying him on his shoulder,
Al: “Don’t be so angry, Princess. Your pretty face will lose its value with such ferocity, you know?”
Priscilla: "If you don't want me to destroy your decaying face more, then take him away quickly. Don’t make me say it twice, Aldebaran."
Al: “Don't call me by that name."
With that reckless remark, Al left the room with Subaru still over his shoulder.
He quietly closes the door and hurriedly began to run down the stairs,
Al: "For now, you'd better get out of here as soon as possible. It's the princess. At any moment she could change her mind and ask to have your head cut off or something. You should run away before you have to kill her."
Subaru: "Ah, aah…?”
Al: “This is no good right now. I’ll call the girl that was with you, and then we’ll do something.”
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
Rem: "—Subaru-kun!"
Rem’s complexion quickly changed as she rushed over to the terrible spectacle that was Subaru as he sat leaning against the gate.
She touched Subaru, who was exhausted and motionless, and while confirming the extent of his injuries, she chanted a healing spell incantation, “Water Mana!”
Rem: "What happened?"
While touching Subaru’s face with a pale light, she asked the one armed figure a question.
Upon receiving her question, Al uncomfortably tapped the ground with his foot,
Al: “Ah, about that. Sorry, but it seems he upset the princess’s mood. I told him to be careful not to do so… but, well, it’s impossible for a human to perfectly predict a cat’s mood.”
Contrary to his uncomfortableness, there was not a shred of guilt in Al’s manner of speech.
He might have felt sympathy for the beaten Subaru, but there was no sense of apology for his lord’s violent outrage. Seeing this, Rem was dumbfounded, and began to raise her voice in protest, but
Subaru: "—Rem, good."
Rem: "Subaru-kun. You’re conscious. Are you okay?"
Subaru called out to Rem as his concussion healed and his consciousness began to come together. Rem's face brightened at this, and she closed both eyes to concentrate even more,
Rem: "Subaru-kun really is someone I can't take my eyes off of. I was only away from him for an hour, and yet he came back with such injuries."
Subaru: "I'm not doing it because I want to, either. ......"
As his circulation began to normalize, blood began pouring out of his nose again. He quickly held up his hand to catch the dripping blood, and Rem quickly took a hand towel out from her breast pocket and held it towards his face.
Rem: "Please cover it with this. Once the wound heals the flow of blood will stop.“
Subaru: "—Yeah."
He held his nose according to Rem’s instruction, and Subaru sank into appreciation of the feeling of the heat spreading throughout his body as he accepted the healing.
And, looking down on the state of affairs, Al said, “You seem to be okay.”
Al: "It's no use staying here, I'm going to head back too. I don't know what they were talking about, but it doesn’t seem like it went well. If I return too slowly, The Princess might seriously ask me to cut down bro.”
Rem: "To kill Subaru-kun…!?”
Al: “Don’t make such a scary face, little lady! I only said that she might say that! So go away before she says it. I don't want to do it either, you know.”
In response to Rem’s overreaction he exageratedly waved his one hand in denial, then Al relaxed his shoulders and took a loose step back,
Al: "Well, take care of yourself, bro. And the little lady over there, too… Uh, I think her name is Ram, right? Take care of her."
Rem: "—Ram is my sister's name. Rem's name is Rem, Al-sama."
After saying goodbye with a light tone of voice, Al turned his back and began to walk away as Rem gave her name.
Immediately, Al's feet stopped.
He stopped walking, looked up slightly, and then slowly looked back at her over his shoulder,
Al: "Don’t say stupid things. It's Ram, right?"
Rem: “I’m Rem… Excuse me, Al-sama, but have you met my sister somewhere?”
Rem asked such a question after being mistaken for her older sister, there was no answer from Al.
He raised his one arm and touched the helmet that covered his head while muttering, “What do you mean…”
Al: "The little lady here is Rem… and your older sister is Ram?"
Rem: "Yes, that's right."
Al: "I know this is a lot to ask, but… is your sister… alive?"
Rem: “…? I don’t understand the point of your question, but naturally my sister is alive."
As soon as Rem responded as such, Subaru, who had been silently listening to the conversation, felt goosebumps across his skin.
Subaru's shoulders trembled in surprise at the mysterious reaction on his skin.
And then,
Al: "—Not kidding, huh?"
Low and cold, the words struck his eardrums with a grave sound.
The words were muttered as if Al had squeezed them out of his throat as he hung his head and touched his forehead covered by his helmet.
At the same time, Subaru realized that the chill that had been hitting his skin was caused by a mysterious ghastly energy emanating from Al.
It was the same sensation that alerted his instincts that he should not be here. It seemed that Rem felt the same way,
Rem: "Subaru-kun, can you stand up if I lend you my shoulder?"
Interrupting her medical treatment, Rem asked this in an alarmed tone of voice as she remained bent over Subaru.
Subaru pulled his chin back in a nod and waited for Rem to make a move. Though they had decided to flee, they had to make sure Al would let them.
But, the two’s vigilance,
Al: "Don’t worry, I won’t do anything else."
Shaking his head, Al suppressed the ghastly energy that was emanating from him, and their fears became unfounded.
The chill that had been there until then vanished, and Subaru realized that he had forgotten to breathe. Rem also slightly softened her blank expression in relief.
And Al, the cause of their reaction,,
Al: "I’m sorry to break the tension, but you have to get out of here fast. As you should understand, I’m not in a very good mood right now."
Rem: "—I understand. Please tell your lord that we thank her for her time.”
Al: “Alright. Take care."
After exchanging some chilly social pleasantries, Rem lent her shoulder to Subaru and began to walk away.
Leaning his weight on the petite woman, Subaru moved away from the Barriel estate. As they descended a hill and increased their distance from the gate of the mansion, Subaru unintentionally turned his line of sight towards the gate for a moment.
—Al was still motionlessly glaring towards them, his gaze on Subaru’s back.
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
Al: "Don’t kid around like that. That thing, it’s so… repulsive."
The muffled mutter echoed only within the jet-black helmet.